[OGRipper]

I am pretty clueless about this stuff but I'm looking to pick up an external hard drive to back up my music and photo files from my laptop. (I am currently without any backup and had a scare the other day that made me realize that is not so smart.) I don't need huge space but probably at least 250G. Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks!

 

[binary visions]

Not really much to pick from - they're all just simple enclosures with a standard internal drive chucked in them.

I've had bad luck with Maxtor drives, but they're owned by Seagate now, so who knows? Western Digital or Seagate both make good drives, and they make external models so you can pick one of them and feel good about your purchase.

You can buy a USB enclosure seperate from the drive, too.

Be aware that external drives can fail, too. It all depends on what you're backing up. If what you're backing up is critical and/or totally irreplacable (photos, for instance), burn copies to DVD and mail the DVDs to a friend/family member or stick 'em in a lockbox at the bank. Somewhere off-site. Don't count on a burned disc of any kind lasting more than 5 years, either, just refresh them once in a while.

If it's MP3s or downloaded videos or whatever, chucking them on an external drive is a great solution - if worst case happens and you lose both the backup as well as the main files, well, it sucks but you can get 'em back eventually.

 

[DRB]

I got this drive

http://www.buy.com/prod/LaCie_250GB_USB_2_0_External_Hard_Drive_Design_by_F_A_Porsche_300728U/q/loc/16076/10359999.html
(it was on sale for $100)

I had to reformat it due to some file structure thingy (bv sorted that) but other than that its worked without a hitch. I do the backup whenever I think about it and keep the drive unplugged from the power and the computer except when I'm doing the back up. As BV recommended, I also burn a back up to DVD and keep that at work.

ecost.com
buy.com
newegg.com
are going to have something on sale that should work.

 

[stinkyboy]

I read good reviews on these drives, bought one (even though their jaz drives sucked) and have been very happy with its speed.

 

[peter6061]

My Seagate failed within three months. Now I'm backing things up to DVD as needed.

 

[SkaredShtles]

My Seagate failed within three months. Now I'm backing things up to DVD as needed.

Send it back. They'll send you a brand spanking new drive.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Did something similar - bought a 250GB drive and a USB enclosure. All told it cost around $110. Do backups regularly to the USB drive.

 

[peter6061]

Send it back. They'll send you a brand spanking new drive.

Already done. Replaced. It now runs routine backups and houses mp3s for use on multiple computers / devices throughout the home.

 

[OGRipper]

Thanks ya'll. So do you think it's smarter to just pick up an external DVD burner? I can burn cd's but not sure about dvd's and even if I can, it's pretty slow. I am talking mostly about pictures and music, stuff that I definitely don't want to lose. (Yikes, now I now how the noobs feel!)

 

[DRB]

Thanks ya'll. So do you think it's smarter to just pick up an external DVD burner? I can burn cd's but not sure about dvd's and even if I can, it's pretty slow. I am talking mostly about pictures and music, stuff that I definitely don't want to lose. (Yikes, now I now how the noobs feel!)

The DVD back ups are a pain to do (but then I'm probably doing them wrong). So I only do those every so often.

I back up to the USB drive anytime I add pictures or music which ends up being about once every couple weeks.

When I asked the same question, someone (probably BV) said both are good to do. So I did what the voice of reason told me to do.

 

[binary visions]

Thanks ya'll. So do you think it's smarter to just pick up an external DVD burner? I can burn cd's but not sure about dvd's and even if I can, it's pretty slow. I am talking mostly about pictures and music, stuff that I definitely don't want to lose. (Yikes, now I now how the noobs feel!)

Look on the front of your DVD or CD burner, it'll say "DVD R/W" or "CD R/W" or whatever. That will tell you what you can burn.

Yep, burning DVDs is slow and a pain, but it's the only backup that is guaranteed to stick around for years at a time. Magnetic storage (hard drives) aren't permanent, and are susceptible to many types of damage, including extreme temperature changes, physical damage (dropping it, etc.), mechanical failure, electrical spikes...

Hard drives are great for frequent backups, and backups of things that could be replaced if necessary (e.g. downloaded videos or music). Anything that would be a disaster to lose should not only be stored on DVDs or CDs, but should be stored off site.

I look at it this way: it takes me a couple hours once every few months to burn all of my pictures and critical data to DVD, and costs me a couple bucks to mail it to my dad. That represents hundreds and hundreds of hours of picture taking, and dozens and dozens of family/friend memories. Seems worth it.

 

[Transcend]

I look at it this way: it takes me a couple hours once every few months to burn all of my pictures and critical data to DVD, and costs me a couple bucks to mail it to my dad. That represents hundreds and hundreds of hours of picture taking, and dozens and dozens of family/friend memories. Seems worth it.

Exactly. I run an auto nightly backups to mirrored external drives and do a DVD backup of photos etc every 2 weeks. I always have 2 ocpies of my photos at any time, on 2 different media.

 

[Ciaran]

I have too much crap to back up to DVD's I use multiple HDD's stored at multiple locations. And my server is on a RAID system so it's all backed up. Though I don't have anything truly mission critical like Transcend and some others do. If he loses his data his job is affected. Mine isn't. Although if our wedding photos were lost I bet I'd be in more trouble.

Optical storage doesn't last forever anyway. A properly stored HDD will list as long (if not longer) than home burned DVD's or CD's.

 

[binary visions]

RAID isn't a backup. It's redundancy to protect against a single drive failing. Floods, fires, lightning strikes, even a major failure of the power supply can wipe out your ENTIRE server.

Optical storage longevity is primarily dependent on the quality of the media. High quality media will outlast a hard drive by many, many times and will also not be susceptible to any kind of electronic or mechanical failure. There is archival quality media out there that is rated to last for 100 years or more.

Dual layer DVDs are 8.5gb. No, you don't want to back up your entire downloaded movie or music collection, but that's a lot of storage.

 

[binary visions]

Here's a link to the archival quality DVD media.

http://www.inkjetart.com/mitsui/dvd.html

Not worth it for most daily activity at a buck per DVD, but burn two copies and keep one someplace off site, and feel confident that it'll be there in 10, 20 or more years.

 

[Transcend]

Archival media stored in a light, humidity and friction proof environment (ie: in a photo paper back, in airtight tupperware on a top shelf) will lost a very, very long time. Just make sure it is in a different physical location from the originals. I send mine to my parents house, same as BV.