Simplify your laptop buying
Community Newsletter: Q&A: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data
- 8/8/08 10:24 AM
Maxtor OneTouch
by kjeeri - 8/1/08 10:09 PM In reply to: Really? On Vista? by ZupATLI have XP, but i hope the Maxtor will work in Vista 64 too (I'm buying a new computer.
When backing up to the Maxtor OneTouch, i finish the backup by making a boot-up CD, so the computer doesn't start from the external drive. Also, the Retrospect (looks ugly but works well) software that comes with it can be upgraded to work in a network. A friend who has tested them all says that Retrospect is the only software that works well in a network. The OneTouch thing doesn't work in my computer, but I wouldn't use it anyway...
KE
My Maxtor OneTouch is an old one and the first version. I think that the newest version is Maxtor OneTouch IV...
Maxtor one touch
by sunfin - 8/3/08 1:24 AM In reply to: Maxtor OneTouch by kjeeriWorks on my Vista 32 if that helps. It would be good to find software so that it works over the network also. Is that an update or other software?
restore on Vista
by marinegundoctor - 8/4/08 1:55 PM In reply to: Really? On Vista? by ZupATLAcronis True Image Home 11 will let you make a rescue disk with the program restoration essentials on it. You can either use this to boot from or press F11 during boot-up to bring up the Acronis Loader menu BEFORE Vista (or any other supported OS) starts up.
Just have your USB backup drive connected and Acronis will take the image from there (or from CD/DVD's if you used that method) and restore your main hardrive and all partitions.
If using CD/DVD's, Acronis will let you span the image and subsequent updates to it across multiple discs. I like to use both an external USB HDD and the DVD option.
Acronis will also allow you to explore the contents of the image/s to restore individual files. It allows for both manual and scheduled backups, too.
I got Acronis online for 39.99 from www.acronis.com. It's 49.99 on the website but google "coupon codes for Acronis True Image Home 11" and use the 20% off coupon code you find.
No Go On Vista
by ZupATL - 10/23/08 3:12 PM In reply to: restore on Vista by marinegundoctorThanks for the Acronis suggestion. I actually bought Acronis but it was an Epic Fail.....Vista would not restore from Acronis on my partition because there was a bad patch on the OS and Vista prevented the startup. I'm using Memeo now and had to restore from that already (without issue).
Go Acronis Go.
by R. Proffitt - 10/23/08 3:17 PM
In reply to: restore on Vista by marinegundoctor
I want to add that Acronis works here but I have the latest version and no issues booting the restore DVD. I can't count how many can't boot from CD/DVD or try an older version of Acronis.
Be warned. Old stuff may fail.
Bob
My Backup Solution
by rayny2e4034 - 9/13/08 12:26 PM In reply to: Really? On Vista? by ZupATLI've been building Systems since the IBM XT-Clone at 4.77 mhz. What I finally settled on for MY best backup solution Is The Following. I Buy an Extra Hard Drive that will Exactly "REPLACE" what's in your Computer,wether it's a laptop or Desktop makes no difference. Capacity can be Greater if Your system will recognize it. If it's a Laptop,i buy my own External housing for the Drive and Mount it as a USB Drive. If it's a Desktop,you can either put it in an External USB Housing,or if you have an Extra Drive bay,install it there,it makes no difference.The Key being the Drive you buy will Physically be able to be swapped in case of Main Drive Failure. Now,for the Backup Software. After trying Many,including Ghost i settled on "Casper" found here http://www.fssdev.com/ .This Software will absolutely CLONE your original hard drive to the USB drive you created and after the First time,it uses Smart Technology to only write the changes you've made. I Personally don't like to "Schedule" a backup for one simple reason. If i have any type of Spyware,Malware,Virus,etc. i DON'T want to save it,soo i Go through my Cleaning routine,defrag etc. first,then Backup my Drive. Most folks don't think about a situation where you've backed up your files OR Complete System to Cyberspace or a store bought external drive.If you have a Failure How are you going to get your system back up and Running? Re-Install the Operating Syatem,Drivers,Network,etc? In my case,i can "Swap" my Laptop drive in about 2 minutes and have my Computer fully restored. If you want to Schedule backups on a dirty system that's your choice but CASPER is the Best Software i've tried yet and it works on 32 bit 64 bit and all kinds of Operating Systems. I Find it hard to beat this technique. Ray in Florida..
Backing-up Off-Site
by Alan Neustadtl - 8/2/08 7:10 AM In reply to: Recommendations ... advice ... suggestions external drives by toddlorensinclairI agree with the recommendations to back up off-site. One easy way to do this is with MS Foldershare which I believe is being folded in to MS Live as Mesh. You can backup files to any and as many Internet connected computers as you like (whether it is on the same desktop or on the other side of the planet). It works in the background and is free. As a researcher with gigabyte-upon-gigabyte of data files, I have been using it for many years w/o a glitch to 1) back up all my important files, and 2) to keep my home and office computers in synch. You can also use it to share files with people you invite (e.g. photos with family).
be careful if you use synctoy for backups
by bheiser - 8/2/08 10:12 PM In reply to: Recommendations ... advice ... suggestions external drives by toddlorensinclairohhh ... the mention of synctoy for backups sends shivers down my spine. I was using it on a Windows XP system for a while. I thought all was well. But when I decided to validate my backups, I discovered, it was silently failing! Whole directories were missing! Some files were zero byte length! The backup was useless!
Now (having upgraded to Vista) I'm using the Vista backup tools, and spot checks so far have yielded the expected results...
Information and Recommendations for Ben
by waldzaman - 7/25/08 9:46 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Ben,
Its easy to find a 320GB external hard drive for under a hundred dollars now a days. But keep in mind you usually have to sacrifice price for portability. What I mean is that external hard drives fall into several categories with pros and cons.
The first option is a hard drive enclosure, a medium form factor for the best price, what you need is the enclosure and the desktop or laptop hard drive of your choice, this usually means that your connecting through eSATA or USB so speeds can vary. These kind always have an external power source to plug into.
Your second option is a portable hard drive prepackaged from companies like Western Digital. They also lean towards the largest form factor. The pro of this sort of set up is that they are easy to set up through USB or eSATA because no assembly is required. Many of them come prepackaged with software(some would say bloatware because its a limited trial) to help you back up your hard drive. The price is great but this kind of external drive isn't very portable because it requires an external power source.
Your third route is the smallest (Pocket sized!), most portable form factor and almost always connects through USB or Firewire which gives it the potential of being the slowest (Especially if your computer still uses USB 1). It requires no external power source but instead uses the power from your bus.
In my experience the larger form factor tends to be the fastest and most reliable. I picked up a Western Digital MyBook 320GB for $94.99 last year but since have seen several up to 750GB falling into the hundred dollar price range. Keep in mind these can fail, but nothing is worse than an unrecoverable hard drive thats outside of warranty, so I would recommend going to Costco, because if your going to lose your data you might as well get your money back on the return too.
-Pete T
external hdd's
by bassmanwa - 7/25/08 10:07 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
HiBen
I have an internal backup 80g drive, but for photos and my music have 2 external USB drives which is fantastic because if need be can disconnect from my desktop and take to music rehearsals and connect to my laptop. they are both 500g, the only thing that is a bit of a pain is the power adapter, but tere are other external USB drives that run of the laptop,desktop power, you just need to check your needs because on a desk top it might add extra load on your power supply, that is why I chose the power source from an adapter.
Hope this helps
Basmanwa
External Hard Drives
by jerseybing - 7/25/08 10:41 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I was in the same boat a year or so ago...went out to the box stores and priced them...checked the web...tigerdirect, ect...all brands seemed a bit pricey and the research i did....didn't really give you the impression one was so much better than the other..Long story short? (lol)..i ended up on E-bay or amazon...i forget which,,,and picked up a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition...USB 500GB's...lucked out...been going great for well over two years now and very easy to install...basically plug-& play...if your running windows XP you have to convert it to NTFS which is like six simple steps and not a big deal...good luck and go for it...
Baking up date
by Ozzie - 7/25/08 10:53 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I just wanted to let you know that on top of my recommendation of the My Book Home Edition, you may want to review a new PC World article revfiewing the top backup software, some of which was not perfected when I was in the market. See: http://www.pcworld.com/article/148765/save_your_data_with_one_of_these_top_backup_programs.html
I like LaCie
by Zacm05 - 7/25/08 11:31 PM In reply to: External hard-drive buying advice and backing up data by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
LaCie seems like a good brand of external drive with high capacities and good reliability. Western digitals fail too often, maxtors have failure and compatibility problems. Just my opinion, don't know if LaCie truly is the best, but I like them.
I have a LaCie and a WD
by fonsecadkf - 8/4/08 7:36 AM In reply to: I like LaCie by Zacm05I have the LaCie as my active drive being backed up by a Western Digital. I have had the Western Digital a whole 3 months and literally a day ago the Western Digital died. It wont boot, it wont load. I hear the fan and drive spinning but no LED lights are on. What a waste of money... 
I Like LaCie
by rbaumer - 8/4/08 8:31 AM In reply to: I like LaCie by Zacm05You may find out that LaCie only makes the external case. I don't know of a LaCie hard drive manufacturer. You may have a WD, Samsung or Seagate in the external box. It depends on which HD manufacturer gave them the best $$$ for the production run.
I have been involved in the PC industry since the mid 70's.. Saw the first 11 meg external hard drives show up at my local Heathkit store (They were priced at $1000). I remember 20 meg half height Seagate ST 225's being sold for $795. Today for my money I would go with the Seagate line, although thru the years I have bought Maxtor and WD.
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