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Community Newsletter: Q&A: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data
- 8/8/08 10:24 AM
Ben -- External Hard Drives Footnote to my #44
by perstare - 7/28/08 6:11 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I posted #44 and I now learned more than I knew before.
Ben, Several things that will help:
1. When considering the purchase of a drive and/or an external enclosure, READ the user comments of people who have already bought the item. Many intelligent and honest people have made contributions that have helped ME. I've found New Egg and Amazon to be very good. My criticism of the Maxtor External 300 gb is posted on Amazon.
2. If you go the route of buying the enclosure separately, think ahead to future needs. For example, not all enclosures have firewire interface. That might be good to think about. Also, check to see if the enclosure CAN HANDLE the capacity of larger drives. Just your luck to buy a 750 gb drive and separate enclosure, only to discover that the enclosure could not handle the 750. (Somewhere out there in the electronic ether, there's a fellow who posted a comment describing that.)
3. On occasion, I've used the Rosewill RCW-605 barebones (no enclosure) as a temporary means to get files off an old, retired drive that I had. Take a look at the newer RCW-608, which now includes a utilitarian (read: shabby looking) enclosure. I plan to buy two of those if the Rosewill people get back to me and answer my question about the gigabyte capacity of the RCW-608.
Good Luck.
Mike B
Use an online service
by Rickybee - 7/28/08 6:21 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Backing up to an external hard drive is all well and good as far as it goes. But to be safe you'd need to have at least 2 where you could have one offsite at all times. After all, it isn't much protection if a fire or some other disaster takes out your house and your backup device is sitting next to your computer.
Personally I have an Amazon S3 account and the software from www.jungledisk.com. With Jungledisk it is all done automatically. I don't have to worry about carrying drives around or running the backup software manually. It is all taken care of overnight, my files are secure and as a bonus I have the Jungledisk software on my thumbdrive so I can access my files from anywhere with an Internet connection.
I have just a few GB's of data with a lot of photo's and my monthly bill is under $2. There are also other services such as Carbonite which may be better if you have a lot of data as with them you pay about $50/year for unlimited storage.
Of course if you don't have a broadband connection to the internet then this won't help but I definately recommend it if you do.
Rickybee
www.rickybee.com
get a RAID
by Practical-Mac - 7/28/08 6:39 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hard drives can and do fail.
If you want to store all your data an HDD's, get a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks), type 1 to 6 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID), although 1 and 5 most common.
If one drive fails, your data is preserved. Best of all, you can have 2 RAID's in different locations, and that is what some backup services do for clients.
more NOTES about external HDD boxes, RAID and FireWire
by Practical-Mac - 7/28/08 6:55 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
After I read some posts, some more notes:
Even EXTERNAL HDD's used rarely WILL fail. Though rare, you must consider this a possibility.
Use a separate HDD for media (movies/music), inside PC or eternal, with external HDD (preferably a RAID, see previous post) for backup.
Use FIREWIRE of eSATA connections. USB2 is the WORST data buss to use, slow, and good chance for corrupted files (relatively speaking). FireWire 800 and eSATA are some 4-5x faster then USB2 (USB2 actual transfer rate is about 350mbps, not 480).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESATA#External_SATA
...Backups are now more reliable.
by rlessmue - 7/28/08 9:45 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Well Ben for myself, I have had great success in using "Acronis True Image" for doing my backups.
I use XP myself and backup my photos and music to
a easy to use 500GB Western Digital drive that is
on USB. This unit requires "external" power, and
can not be powered from the USB power like some
portable USB drives. I have had good luck with this
drive and would recommend it. I use it on a regular
basis, and when it is not being used it "spins-down"
and goes to a rest mode, until I need to access it.
It has a short delay before it's fully "up", but I
have come used to it.
I would suggest in getting another drive of equal
size and do a image backup after you get all your
photos and music on your "original" backup drive.
This way in case your original backup drive decides
to stop working, you will not have as much data lost
(depending up when you did your last backup). I have
done this with a 500GB Buffalo drive, which seems to
work for this. I don't leave this one connected to my
system, and I only connect it to make another backup
(of my backup).
Acronis True Image, I found to be one of the most reliable
and easiest programs to use when doing backups. I use
it mostly to create a image backup of my current running
system, (onto a simular size drive) and in hour and a half
I have a complete exact bootable image of my current system.
You might consider doing this for your primary PC drive.
Acronis True Image allows you to create a bootable CD that
you can use to boot from and restore your system. I have done
this with a laptop, after replacing the hard drive with a
new drive, and my system was back to normal when it was done.
You can put this "system" backup on your 2nd backup and restore
your current system when needed.
With any backup system, I think you will have to "manually
search" to some extent, if you are looking to backup certain
files or folders. I use Acronis True Image to backup all my
music easily, because they all sit in one folder (with other
folders inside of course), and I have to just specify that
folder. I comes down to how well you "arrange" your folders...
So, I would recommend:
Acronis True Image (for backup software)
Western Digital 500GB (My Book)-USB- for your main backup
500GB (doesn't have to be a Western Digital) -USB- for 2nd backup
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Backup and Beyond.
by OldRusty - 7/28/08 12:15 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a 500gb USB Seagate Free Agent and I really like it. Having an older computer, I started running out of HD space on my (2) 80gb SATA internal drives, so with having the Free Agent hooked up, I'm now able to off load the "nice to have but totally unnecessary" files(like already installed game patches, etc.) onto the Free Agent and cater to my "pack rat" mentality. I do occasionally backup my numerous Outlook Express folders(like CNET Membership and HowStuffWorks newsletters), my pictures, documents, and music, and I also store and organize my MP3 Transfer Folders there as well.
Anyway, if I have the Free Agent installed on my PC then it must have been a piece of cake. One problem I did have initially though was having the Support for a Legacy USB Keyboard enabled in BIOS. For some reason this prevented my PC from recognizing the Free Agent, however, once I went into Setup and disabled the Legacy USB Keyboard support, everything went smoothly and the drive came online immediately.
As far as reliability goes, I've always used Seagate drives. They may not be the fastest drives on the planet, but they do come with a limited 5 year warranty, they're very competitively priced and in my opinion, Seagate's Tech Support has always been Top Notch .
External Drives
by JCipo - 7/28/08 3:58 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Get an external FLASH drive, no moving parts. Infact, because the price is low...get two flash drives (2 gig $15). You are concerned with backing up drives but you don't want to be bothered with what folders to back up and you want an automated system? I'm a photographer and want to always be sure that the complete folder is downloaded without a hitch. Guess what...no automated system is 100% accurate. Just drag and drop files onto the flash drive. Window to window. This might take ten minutes a week. You really that busy not to check those backups?
John Cip
Speaking of FLASH ...
by jimichan - 8/2/08 2:15 AM In reply to: External Drives by JCipoI recently bought a bunch of Crucial 4GB SD cards for only $15 a piece. I bought them for a digital camera I just got, but then thought they would be great for portable storage too. I got a USB reader for only about $7 that's about the size of a large thumb drive.
WD External Hard Drive
by beatem - 7/29/08 4:25 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
For quite some years now I'm very happy with the 250 GB from WD - really handy, relatively fast and reliable.
Questions about external hard drives to backup data
by rwreed - 7/30/08 7:48 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Do not buy anything less than 1TB (Terrabyte) to future proof your storage volume. Get a drive with a triple interface-USB, SATA and Firewire 800 to cover all eventualities.
Seagate and Western Digital are reliable. All my failures have been Maxtor drives, some as young as one year old,so I would never buy another.
Use the drive to backup your drives, data, music, video, films etc. If your main drive fails, it is simple to install a new drive and restore your full system using the backup drive.
...larger than 1 terabyte?
by rlessmue - 7/30/08 11:17 AM In reply to: Questions about external hard drives to backup data by rwreed... simple "balance" of life regarding storage volume.
1) More storage is:
a) more expensive
b) takes longer to restore
c) you cry more when you loose more
2) Less storage is:
a) less expensive
b) takes less time to resore
c) you cry less
--- so
A "Balance" is needed...therefore...
1) every person's situation is unique.
2) not all drives are bad from one manufacture.
3) not everyone requires the same amount of storage that someone else needs.
4) cost of products change the decisions people make during purchase time.
5) know that you can not "future proof" any system that requires storage.
6) know your system will be "outdated" within 5 years (if not sooner).
7) try to "migrate" your old backups to newer storage system types.
8) make multiple backups on different storage types of things you want to keep.
9) complete your backups on a regular basis and verify them.
---- when you can do this you will have the backups you need!
Cheers!
STORAGE MADNESS
by chiara embaum - 8/3/08 1:52 AM In reply to: ...larger than 1 terabyte? by rlessmueHi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are SO right !!!!! Less = more and better here; there is no way to save anything at all, ever, forever; don't let anyone tell you different or sell you stuff you don't need.
Something you really would hate to lose : print it out, or just keep it on hard copy (or "paper" as we used to call it) and put it in a drawer somewhere (and then hope the house doesn't burn down).
chiara embaum
Simple solution
by jinx46 - 8/9/08 9:20 AM In reply to: STORAGE MADNESS by chiara embaumI am 62 and have found there is no time to see all my videos and listen to all my music and time for such will never be sufficient.
I usually backup only on CD or DVD discs, and make a list on an excel spread sheet. The discs are numbered and dated and in paper envelopes to save space and weight. I mainly back up my Documents folder and addon zips for Flight Simulator 9, and some music, software, and videos. I have found software is not really needed, as it gets updated all the time, so now I reinstall whatever I need from the site if possible.
Of all the above stuff, my excel lists are the most precious--tel. nos of friends, lists of software installed on my PC, and my FS addons, plus a list of monthly expenses over the years. These take 10 mb at the most and are backed up on disc regularly--esp. when I sense my PC is beginning to do tricks and may give up the ghost.
I feel a logical amount of backup is reasonable and I also reckon that I need not worry about natural disasters and if that happens, well, a fresh start can be refreshing. The bank account booklets has my expenses anyhow, so why worry if all else is lost--people will call me and I will get their numbers again. That way, slavery to the PC is kept at bay, and one makes time for other things out there or even in the home.
eh, I mostly disagree....
by thirsty714 - 8/3/08 9:20 AM In reply to: ...larger than 1 terabyte? by rlessmue"1) More storage is:
a) more expensive
b) takes longer to restore
c) you cry more when you loose more
2) Less storage is:
a) less expensive
b) takes less time to resore
c) you cry less"
I'm assuming this part is tongue-in-cheek (?) because it's fairly silly reasoning. Buy as much storage as you can afford. Memory is cheap and, these days, you buy a computer largely to create and store media- be it audio/video/whatever.
You don't have to deal with the hassle of lengthy backups but once, and this is a painless, overnight process. After this a weekly smart update (backing up just your new data) shouldn't take more than an hour or so.
As far as point "C": the logic here seems to be that you shouldn't do/have more because you risk losing more. Don't bother taking all those pictures of your kid's graduation- you're just setting yourself up for misery when you lose them. Don't bother going for that big promotion- you're setting yourself up for a bigger disappointment if you ever get fired. Again, I'm assuming this part was meant to be only half-serious.
Don't bother future-proofing and accept the fact that hard drive space is now a regular expense. If you're living a digital life then you're going to need more space every year or so to hold your movies and music encoded at high quality (people who skimp on encoding digital media baffle me- go for the biggest and best you can get. memory is cheap and it's WORTH IT to have your stuff at high-quality).
not the best solution
by guywayne - 7/30/08 5:35 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Backing up to a hard drive is fast and easy, but not the most secure. An external HD is as vulnerable to viruses, power surges and other faliures as an internal one, plus you have to worry about physical shock (moving, dropping) and additional sources of static. An external HD is also an easy target for a thief.
If you are going to use your ext. HD for backup, only plug it in while you are backing up and then store it in a safe place away from your computer.
Another option would be to make your backups to the drive, then copy them to some other removable media (DVD, tape, online storage, etc.). This way you can still use your HD for other things as well, such as picture/ video storage or as workspace.
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