Community Newsletter: Q&A: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data
- 8/8/08 10:24 AM
hard drive?
by fabianhow - 7/26/08 5:09 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
for HD brands, Western Digital, LaCie, Seagate/Maxtor(they are the same) are the best in the market. Most HD manufacturers give away backup software like Acronis True Image, Retrospect Express etc, so choose one that you need.
Backup and access
by OttifantSir - 7/26/08 5:30 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The first thing I want to answer here: No, it's not a good idea to keep backups and files accessed everyday on the same disk. A harddrive failure isn't the biggest problem, but that you will clutter up the drive with information and files and so on. A backup, if you take the time to do it, should be clean and organized IMO.
I myself have four Western Digital MyBook Essential Edition external drives, and they have been accessed every day for up to two years (not everyone bought at the same time), and they work perfectly, even after reformats and repartitionings and so on and soforth. Only problem is with one them that lost the function of the power button due to inappropriate packing during transport. (A hard object pressing against a small portion of the power button, thus displacing it and rendering it broken. Still lights as it should, but power can't be cut unless you pull the plug)
I originally bought them because they were the cheapest and best-looking external drives I could afford at the time. If I still needed more external drives, I would buy more of them as they have proven themselves to be trustworthy.
There are other editions of MyBook, such as Home, Premium, Mirror, Studio, World and Pro designed to suit special needs such as faster transfer rate, network storage, RAID, and so on and soforth.
Western Digital also has a Passport series for laptops and mobility.
My money is, literally, on Western Digital. I also buy my internal drives from them.
Questions about external hard drives to backup data
by sanggnas - 7/26/08 6:21 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Just like you and many others, I have had the same question about an external hard drive a while back ago.
I did a lot of research as well as review of many external hard drives from USB to Ethernet connection since the price of those went down significantly, I ended up with a Network Attach Storage and I really happy with it.
Before purchase D-LINK DNS-323, I was almost bought one from Seagate, it was an USB connection external hard dive, but after figure it out, it is a single hard drive built into an enclosure and a hard drive may fail one day so is all my back up data will gone south for sure. Finally I came across with many reviews of D-Link DNS-323, it has all the necessary features that I wanted and until today it serves me well
DNS-323 is actually an hard drive enclosure without any hard drive, but it was reconfigured for most home network needs. Here are major features:
- Connect to your router then every PCs including wireless laptops can access to it.
- SATA Drive Support
- Internet Access via FTP
- UPnP AV for Storing and Streaming Media Files
- 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Port
- USB Print Server Port
- Built-In Fan Included
- RAID supported as JBOD, Standard, Raid 0 and 1
I order it online from here: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11280NW2968&vpn=DNS-323&manufacture=D-LINK
together with 2 500GB Hitachi sata hard drives also from them and shipping charge still $9.99, this site is really fast in shipping, it you happened live in Canada.
What I like most about this NAS is it was very easy to configure, after install 2 sata HD( some reviews complained that DNS-323 requires sata 2, but that not true, I just use 2 Hitachi 500 G sata and it works like a charm), fire it up, the first screen you see is it asks you to format the hard drive, note that it doesn't format your hard drives in Windows environment like FAT32, NTFS.. but in Unix, it then asks you to configure your hard drives, here you have the option to select either Standard, JBOD ( just bunch of drives) Raid 0 or 1, I choose Raid 1 mirror, because if one HD fails I just replace a new one it automatically re-mirror again, so I know for sure my data is safe.
This DNS-323 auto go to sleep when there is no activity, it will wake up when needed, only one complain is that if you have power out stage, this network hard drive have to be manual power up again.
The DNS-323 is really quiet, it sits next to my Desktop tower case and I barely hear it, I only hear when 2 hard drive start when it wakes up or goto sleep, it sounds very pleasant in 1 or 2 seconds then you don't hear anything.
The blue LED lamps in front are also nice to look at, it blinking when there is activity then dimmed when as sleep.
I did not use FTP feature because I don't need it but the print server works very well, also Gigabit connection is super fast if you have a gigabit router.
The DNS-323 is web base configuration as you configure your router and mapping it to your PC or laptop almost instantly.
If you thinking to network storage or even safeguard your archive then D-Link NAS DNS-323 worth to take a look.
Until today I don't have any issue with this little device and it works beautifully with Norton Ghost, so I know whole my drive C is always back up on it. Thanks D-Link for an affordable NAS like DNS-323.
You can look at it more details here:
http://www.dlink.ca/products/?sec=0&pid=509
Happy computing.
External Hard Drive
by chalkheart - 7/27/08 2:42 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Ben, I have a Dell Dimension 3100 with Windows XP and I use a Freecom external hard drive with 160GB to play with and I cannot recommend it highly enough. There are several models at differing prices depending on what size space you need. I paid about £80 for mine from PC World. It really has been brilliant, reliable and capable. I even used it to store some PC games on it and found I could get away with playing games that you would normally use for a `bigger` PC (Far Cry for example)
I use it mainly now for photo and music storage (BIG files) but I even have Adobe Photoshop CS3 extended stored on it which my 3100 would not have been able to cope with normally.
Hope this is helpful? Good Luck.
Try a RAID-0
by warhol6 - 7/27/08 4:28 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First, I would suggest avoiding anything without a fan, as long as you don't mind the hum. excess heat has a substantial impact on long-term life, and although its nice to have a unit that it completely silent, i would prefer to have a safe HD two years later. After a lot of research I went with a Buffalo Drivestation Duo. It has two hard drives inside, so you can set it to RAID-1 (mirroring). This means that if one drive fails, you have an identical hard drive with a "mirror" of all your data. It comes in 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB (remember there are two drives, so a 1TB unit would have two 500GB drives). I considered the Western Digital 'MyBooks' and several seagate options, none really offered me what I was looking for. The Buffalo has a fan, which prevents your two HD's from overheating, it easily openable (you don't need to "break it open") and has a firewire connection for fast transfers. It also includes the optional Memeo AutoBackup software, which is a good (although not great) backup software (I use it periodically but turned off its automatic feature because it took up too many resources). Oh yeah, I would suggest looking up some reviews on amazon.com before you make a final decision, as you can always find out good information from long term users. a professional magazine review may give you good specification/benchmark info, but when you read that some units have a habit of failing 6 months in, or have delicate power ports, you can avoid a potential disaster! Hope it helps!
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/external-drives/drivestation/drivestation-duo/
(NT) oops! I meant try a RAID-1 (Buffalo Drivestation Duo)
by warhol6 - 7/27/08 4:30 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Unplug that backup drive
by bofahs - 7/27/08 4:52 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A clear (to me!) advantage of an external drive is that you can easily unplug it, or turn it off. Unplugging the USB cable isolates the drive from the system, and from any potential malware infection. Electrical or physical damage can be limited by unplugging the electrical connection. Plug it in only as needed - for backup, restore, or access to archived files.
For business backups, you can get a fire-rated drive enclosure.
For family photos and records, you can throw it in the car when you have to evacuate for a hurricane. (We get to do that in South Georgia from time to time.)
Play your music from your internal drive, archive it, if you like, on the external. It's not hurting anything.
surpisingly inexpensive
by olddogv - 7/27/08 6:32 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I am useing a Seagate 500 g. HD in an Ultra enclosure, total cost about $115. from Tigerdirect.com. I did not want Sata drive, and I needed USB hook-up for maximum compatibility with multiple computers.This combo has been working flawlessly for close to 2 years, and has been carried around to repair friends machines.( I have a very complete set of utilities in it,+ copies of various OS and such). This enclosure has it's own fan, A.C.power con, both USB & Firewire con. I would reccomend keeping this flexibility. A flash type HD might be better, but we know the weak points of eide, & to me the flash is too new to fully trust.
WD MyBook World Edition II
by florintopa - 7/27/08 6:44 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'd suggest Western Digital MyBoook World Edition II; it offers plenty of storage ( from 1TB to 2TB) a backup software plus the RAID techology for extra protection of your data (create a mirror image of your data).You can acces your data online from any computer (which has a supplied software installed) even when your computer at home is turned off.You can go to http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=279 to check for more details.
I have a 1TB WD MyBook and I'm very satisified with it; however, WD are among the best products on the market.
External Drive
by osiris3az - 7/27/08 9:10 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I looked around a lot, and there are a lot of options. But Sam's Club had a 500gb for $99.00, Seagate USB2.0 with software and 1 year warranty. So, I not only joined Sam's Club that day, but bought the hard drive.
It has more space than my hard drive !
If I want something to run really fast, I can download it to my C: drive, but for the most part, it screams.
I put all my computers on it, as backup, and my pictures, videos, etc.
Seagate is one of the best brands...Good luck !
warning about external harddrives
by cdm115 - 8/3/08 8:33 AM In reply to: External Drive by osiris3azI am currently on my 3rd external hard drive. I have had 2 previously die on me unexpectedly. Fortunately, both times my computer survived so there were no major losses. Unfortunately the second drive died after I had been running out of room on my computers hard drive, I had the brilliant idea to keep the music that I listned to regularly on my harddrive and the music that I didn't listen to regularly (christmas music is one example) on just the external drive. When I died I lost all that extra music.
I believe my first HD was a Maxtor and died within a year, not sure what the other one was and died in less then 2 years.
external HD for backup & backup software issues
by NicoCauchy - 7/27/08 10:54 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Greetings; I'm personally going through hell and back right now because I bought an external HD without sufficient knowledge of the intricacies that may come with a "seemingly simple" operation. The HD I bought is a Toshiba 120Gb. The TWO main issues that I am now juggling with are:
1) least important: this USB unit does NOT ever go to sleep, even if my computer is asleep - hence it uses energy and it probably wears out more than needed (?).
2) extremely important: my computer's HD died and had to be replaced; now I am finding that the files in the BACKUP are a] incomplete, or b] unreadable, or c] only present by their name!
I am currently looking all over the place for help in trying to recover some of the data (any suggestions to this effect is MORE than welcome). I had tried 2 backups on different partitions (one using the Shadow Scan software that came with the external HD; the other with an online software called AlwaySync - note that I DID NOT use the Microsoft Backup tool [mistake?]) and I am BAFFLED that NEITHER seems to be bringing back my data "to life"!!!
My CONCLUSION is that there must be a number of processes involved in doing backup and that one must give equal importance to these software aspects as to the hardware. For whatever it's worth... better luck to you than me! Nicolai
...sorry about your hell.
by rlessmue - 7/29/08 10:29 AM In reply to: external HD for backup & backup software issues by NicoCauchyI went through a simular situation and I finially found something that was:
1) Completely restorable on a consistant basis.
2) Dependable, even if my system went "bad".
3) Consistant and dependable backup and restoring software.
4) Ability to restore my laptop when my hard drive when bad.
I have found though many different "trial and errors" that some "backup" software out there is very bad.
They don't work.
The best solution that I have found is Acronis True Image software, which does what it says.
You can make an exact image of your hard drive.
-Then replace that hard drive with a new hard drive.
-After that, restore your previous image onto your new hard drive.
- Now you have two -exact- copies!!
I have had problems remembering which copy I was running from after I have done this!
Acronis allows you to make a bootable CD to restore your system from a backup.
I mostly use the image backup, where I have my backup hard drive configured as a slave.
Running from Windows XP (of the system I will be backing up), I start Acronis from within the Windows enviroment.
After everything is selected, I notice that it will have to be rebooted in order to do the backup.
The first time I did this, it scared the **^$ out of me! But that's what happens.
You click "yes" saying you want to do it and your system reboots!
It then starts Acronis in a "dos mode" before XP starts to boot up.
At this step it does the copy and when done it will tell you that it finished and you can remove your drive (when it turns off the computer). Swap drives and you are done!
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
External h. dr.
by nofret - 7/27/08 11:53 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi. I have been using 2 Seagate free agent pro, 500g hard drives. One is for backups and the other for my entertainment files. The software is built in and easy to use. The speed is good as well. Along with dual 320g hard drives I have enough storage. For now! You can also take the hard dr. with you to another pc.
re:external HDD and backup
by urbsdad6 - 7/28/08 3:55 AM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Believe it or not I use an online backup service (Carbonite). For Around $50/yr they keep all the files that you want backed up with a high level encryption. Since you may not feel comfortable with that possibility, it seems that many external drives are dropping in price so it is quite possible to get a 750GB external for under $140. I ended up purchasing a Seagate 320GB external USB for $70 (about 3 months ago) and the price has since dropped to $60. The nice thing about it is it stands vetical on a small footprint, is easy to use and and has a simple USB hookup. I use it to store my music, PDF's, other junk, and setup info just in case. Seagate bought out Maxtor a while back and I have always been fan of Maxtor. They always seem to run $10-15 cheaper than all the others. Although I am quite satisfied with my Westen Digital internal drives I am not that impressed with with the Westen Digital external drives just based on price and looks. Actually, if you crave space, you can get 1TB external drives for around $200-240. La Cie, Western Digital, and Seagate, are the brands I would look into. Check eCost, NewEgg, Tiger Direct, PC Club, and ClubIT for sales and models. Since I have had no problems with the automatic backups from Carbonite I can't tell you how easily any external drive works with whatever backup software you are using. Just know that you can shop around for some great deals and if you use or want an eSATA connection on your drive, it will cost a few bucks more. Hope that helps a little. I wonder how I got along without my external drive now that I have it. Very handy and USB is quick enough for me.
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