In need of portable storage

[kater1]

I am looking for a USB drive to backup on. I would like for it to be USB powered so I can just plug n play. When done just unhook and put in the safe. It is mainly going to be used for long term photo/video storage. Thus the reason I don't want a power adapter to deal with.

My question is this:

What brands are out there?

How safe are they for long term storage?

Cost wise, would I be better off to setup a hot swappable SATA drive on my system?
Like this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817990001

Pros and Cons of each storage solution (USB vs. Hot Swappable) would also help.


Thanks for the help

Bill

 

[Blain]

I've got one of those Kingwin hot swap bays.
They are great for shuffling drives in and out.

But for safe, long term storage, a good 2.5" external USB would probably be your best option.
* Good external enclosure protect the HD from shock (bumps, etc).

The InWin Ammo looks like a really nice enclosure.

 

[Rifter]

I have a 320GB WD passport that is USB powered, it has worked great for me. I also have a 2.5" WD Blue 500GB in a super cheap $6.99 enclosure also USB powered.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

I would do something different. I would just get a dock for normal SATA drives.

This, for $36.

It takes 2.5" and 3.5" drives, so you can fit anything in it. Take any SATA drive and it's a fast way to plug it in, copy to it or whatever, eject and put in a safe place. Just keep the dock cradle with the machine. The drives just unplug and go in the safe. This lets you grow HDD sizes too. Should you outgrow a 250Gb, 500Gb, 1TB, etc, you can always just throw a bigger drive into it. You can use several drives for extreme redundancy even. No limits to the thing. Super easy since you just push in the drive, turn it on, done. Similar to a powered external, but different in that you don't have to store all the external enclosure with the drive. Plus, should the enclosure or power brick stop working one day, the drive is intact, separate, and able to be plugged into the computer still.

Very best,

 

[Red Squirrel]

Those docks are super cool. I bought one a while back and tried it out, very nice concept. I wanted to setup automated backups with them and just never got around to coding the software that will drive everything. Basically I want to pop a drive in it, press the button, and it starts the job assigned to that drive. Not too too hard to do (using rsync or what not) just did not get the chance to set it up how I want.

 

[kater1]

That sounds like a great way to do what I am wanting. Thank you for the input.

What would the drawbacks of this dock be?