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Storage: Confused about which external hard drives are best...
KISS method available recently for $160 CDN
by bushhawks - 5/12/06 8:42 AM In reply to: Best External Hard Drives by tgconteHi Duffyea -- I'm using a 250 GB Diamond Digital that connects via USB, disconnected unless I'm actually backing up, and have had no problems. I too spent a lot of time checking out external hard drives after getting tired of endless stacks of CDs and DVDs. I wanted something simple, so decided to avoid automatic backup software. Just wanted a box separate from the computer to keep stuff on. I'm a voiceover artist so have a lot of audio files I don't want to lose. Yeah, the hyped brand name external drives have all the neat bells and whistles, but the way I look at it, that's just more to break. Hope this helps.
My Externals
by ourplace - 5/15/06 3:05 PM In reply to: Best External Hard Drives by tgconteI use a iOmega USB 60gb for my iMac
and a Lacie Firewire 250gb for my PC.
Both are great so far, no loss yet. The iOmega is 8 years old and the Lacie is 2.
The Lacie started to make a whirring sound weeks after I bought it, so I stood it on it's side rather then laying it down flat and it stopped. LOL That's why I say "so far".
Computer does not recognize two external hard drives
by IrisRose - 5/13/06 7:47 PM In reply to: Best external drive by jimhrrtYour comments bring up a a little problem I have. I have two Maxtor external harddrives (80 and 120) for backup. Maxtor says I can use both. Both have usb ports. My computer recognizes only one at a time, when both are connected. Any hints to get the computer to recognize both? Windows XP Home edition.
Build it yourself
by gglennc - 5/12/06 7:51 AM In reply to: Confused about which external hard drives are best... by Tomtopes2 reasons
Cost
You can usually save yourself a few dollars if you roll your own, and putting one together is really not that complicated.
Warranty
Most prebuilt extrenal drives only come with a one-year warranty, if you buy a Seagate internal drive it has a five-year warranty.
"HOW TO" build your own external hard drive?
by gary85739 - 5/12/06 11:41 AM In reply to: Build it yourself by gglenncIf it's fairly easy, maybe you could give us a step-by-step on how we may build our own, inexpensive external hard drives!
thanks for you expertise and time...:-)
How to
by CompNut - 5/12/06 1:21 PM In reply to: "HOW TO" build your own external hard drive? by gary85739MOST IMPORTANT RULE... TAKE YOUR TIME AND read the instructions
1. Open the enclosure... usually 2 screws or clips
2. make the hdd a MASTER (may have to change the jumper settings)
3. plug in the electric plug (has a bunch of color cables)
4. plug in the flat cable and very carefully
5. set the hdd in the case making sure NOT to bend the flat cable to much... align it by the screw holes and screw 4 screws in... may be clips
6. close the enclosure... may have screws or clips
7. put the stand and screw it (if it's the stand up kind).
8. turn on computer... WAIT for FULL bootup
9. plug in the USB plugs to both computer AND enclosure
10. plug the electric cord of the enclosure... turn it on (in case it has an on/off switch)
11. WAIT for computer to SEE the hdd (may take a while)
12. once the computer sees the enclosure... WAIT for the whole proccess to get done... usually 3 or 4 steps... you'll see little bubbles saying that it sees, etc on lower right corner
13. MY COMPUTER (right click) MANAGE... DISK MANAGEMENT... scroll down till you see the external hdd... right click to activate (in case windows didn't see it)... format (if needed like when using an old hdd) and/or partition
Just my 2 cents, hope they're of help
How to ( forgot a part)
by CompNut - 5/12/06 1:35 PM In reply to: How to by CompNutIF the computer doesn't see it (PRIOR to going in MY COMPUTER) go into the setup (look closely when your computer just boots up (BEFORE you see the windows screen) for the F key you'll need to press to go into the setup)... wait till it boots and reboot... this time make sure to press the F key right away (if it doesn't work... try again)
Once in the setup... look for disks... scroll down till you find the externaal and turn it ON
Remember what backups are for
by pgnola - 5/12/06 9:26 AM In reply to: Confused about which external hard drives are best... by TomtopesI had several systems that I had been rolling all of my data forward for years. This included documents, emails and pictures. My last system had a 250GB drive and a cloned 250GB stored in the case, but no power applied. I would hook it up when I was ready to clone the current system again. It came in handy several times as a bootable drive.
Then, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I figured I would be back home in 72 hours. When the 17th St Canal levee broke, I had just under 7 feet of water in my house. Do you care to guess where my backup hard drive was? Yep, still in the computer at home. I lost 11 years of stuff.
Next time, I will take my backup with me. Before, I was foolish. Now, I am EXPERIENCED!
sorry to hear that :(
by ackmondual - 5/12/06 9:47 AM In reply to: Remember what backups are for by pgnolaHere's hoping the important/critical stuff lost was at the absolute minimum
Agree Backups are important...
by Former NT Guy - 5/12/06 11:04 PM In reply to: Remember what backups are for by pgnolaSince the original poster has a Mac, you might want to consider a .Mac account.
You can backup your important files online there if they are not too large and you have Broadband.
Especially if you have a theft, fire, tornado, etc. and are not keeping offsite storage. Something to consider as an option....
remembering back ups
by pingeyez2 - 5/13/06 8:51 AM In reply to: Remember what backups are for by pgnolaForgive me if I'm missing something here but back up are only good if you can access them.I bought a 1G flash drive and stored all my pictures there since 2001. Next, I made a DVD of pictures and movies with my HP DVD writer and placd it in a security box. Because I'm overprotective, I went to Kodak Gallery and sent all pics there,too. So, if my hard drive or external poops out, I can secure them safely. The reason I made aDVD , too, was if the flash drive was lost or burned out.Included are pics of my valuables and scans of important documents.
my Maxtor external drive is great
by b.a.dboy2 - 5/12/06 11:26 AM In reply to: Confused about which external hard drives are best... by TomtopesMy Maxtor "One Touch" (a feature that I don't use) 300 GB USB/Firewire external drive is great; it's connected via a USB 2 port and I can't even see any difference in access time compared to my internal hard drive. Maxtor bundles backup software that I don't like and don't use. I keep all my data in My Documents, then use "copy to" (in My Computer) to copy all the files and folders to the external drive. I also use Windows XP Backup to copy the entire C drive.
Maxtor is not a reliable choice
by abhi_jais - 5/12/06 2:39 PM In reply to: my Maxtor external drive is great by b.a.dboy2I never thought I could have such bad luck with a hard drive company, but I have. I'm not sure if myself, and everyone I know, have just bought bad apples from Maxtor but we have had terrible luck with them. I bought a Maxtor drive last summer, and it is already having problems with bad blocks (several hundred... modern drives shouldn't have any... ever) and loosing partitions. Very bad quality. It is a 200 GB diamond max 10 or something like that. My friend bought a similar hard drive, and it literally went up in smoke within two months. A chip burnt up on the bottom side of the drive, and obviously stopped working. It is under warranty, but maxtor won't replace the circuit board, so he can get his 250 gb of data off of it.
I would recommend any hard drive that is not maxtor. I have had Western digital drives last for years, but Seagate is the BEST option, but is normally a little more expensive. It is strange that Seagate owns Maxtor. The best owns the worst.
You are absolutely right!!! MAXTOR STINKS.
by nycboy0156 - 5/13/06 10:51 AM In reply to: Maxtor is not a reliable choice by abhi_jaisMy friend bought a brand new IBM pc and the maxtor drive in the machine died in just 6 months. They are so lousy they only come with a one year warranty. Her's was replaced by Maxtor, but who wants that headache to begin with??? AVOID MAXTOR!!
Maxtor's OK SO Far
by mw07421 - 5/13/06 5:57 PM In reply to: You are absolutely right!!! MAXTOR STINKS. by nycboy0156Everyone seems to have horror stories. I'll only say we have four at work (external one-touches) and I use one at home. The ones at work are at least a couple of years old and in use daily (they back each other up as well as files from two separate servers. So in fairness to Maxtor, I haven't had any problems at all. I'm sure you'll get great stories and not so great from all the major companies.
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