Recommend a new Backup Solution for me

[amol]

I'm getting tired of backing up all my stuff onto DVDs, especially since I can only hold about 4.5GB on each and I don't trust them as archives. I want to get some sort of external solution, like an external hard drive. Should I get an external hard drive or a hard drive with external enclosure?

What products do you guys recommend? I might get them Black Friday or Cyber Monday

 

[Fun Guy]

A client got a 320GB Western Digital HDD in an enclosure with a USB interface. I forgot what the name is right off hand. You just plug it into a USB port, the computer recognizes it as a removeable drive, and you're off.

 

[pkme2]

You could get this external for your backups.

Seagate

Seagate 2

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: Fun Guy
A client got a 320GB Western Digital HDD in an enclosure with a USB interface. I forgot what the name is right off hand. You just plug it into a USB port, the computer recognizes it as a removeable drive, and you're off.

Where does the power come from? The USB port? Or internal?

 

[themisfit610]

Don't buy an external hard drive. They're overpriced. Get an internal drive, and an external enclosure, and spend 10 minutes putting it together yourself

320 GB drives have the best $ / GB right now, so pick one up for under $100, and get a decent USB2 / 1394 (if you need to interface with a mac too) enclosure. They come with an AC adapter.

You can do the same thing with a laptop drive, and it will run right off the USB / 1394 port and is much quieter / smaller, but so is the storage capacity and $ / GB.

I've done this dozens of times, it's really a great solution if you can't add any more internal drives (always preferable if you need max transfer speed, and dont need to move files around a lot).

~MiSfit

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: themisfit610
Don't buy an external hard drive. They're overpriced. Get an internal drive, and an external enclosure, and spend 10 minutes putting it together yourself

320 GB drives have the best $ / GB right now, so pick one up for under $100, and get a decent USB2 / 1394 (if you need to interface with a mac too) enclosure. They come with an AC adapter.

You can do the same thing with a laptop drive, and it will run right off the USB / 1394 port and is much quieter / smaller, but so is the storage capacity and $ / GB.

I've done this dozens of times, it's really a great solution if you can't add any more internal drives (always preferable if you need max transfer speed, and dont need to move files around a lot).

~MiSfit

Which products do you recommend?

 

[pkme2]

I use mobile racks to pop in a hdd for storage, backup or just whatever.

I can swap between different computers because it's a separate drive, it is easily recognized.

I used powered USB externals but could not find a reliable enclosure.
After a few failures, I just went the route of mobile racks.
I can work between any computer and tranferring of files is a breeze.

 

[Paperdoc]

Let me echo themisfit610 - buy separately a HDD and an external case and assemble - super easy. Make sure you have USB2 ports on your computer and HDD enclosure. Most enclosures come with 2 interface connections - "Firewire" or IEEE 1394a is common -and you should have that for versatility. ALSO it is much better to have an enclosure with its own power supply, rather than drawing of the USB bus.

Enclosures can be had for mounting either common ATA drives or the new SATAII drives. Whatever suits you is fine, just be sure you get the matching drive type and enclosure. The enclosure sholud come with one connection cable - usually USB - but check that. If it does not, check carefully what cable type is needed - it can vary depending on whether your enclosure uses power from the USB bus or has its own separate power brick.

My choices? I bought an enclosure with eSATA and USB2 connections. Bought an AZIO unit from Newegg. I will use the eSATA way primarily because my new motherborad has a proper eSATA port and controlled built in, and this data transfer method is faster. The USB2 option is for use if ever I need to connect to another machine, because USB2 is VERY widely used. By the way, I've seen tests recently that show that the average data transfer speed is the same for USB2 and 1394a.

I also chose a 500GB Seagate SATAII HDD, but I bought on eBay because the normal list price at on-line stores is higher. If you buy retail or on-line retail, themisfit610 is right - the best price per GB is at 320GB, just under $100. I went bigger because I have a pair of 320GB HDD's internally and wanted the external for backup of both.

 

[Old Hippie]

Where does the power come from? The USB port? Or internal?

For 3 1/2 drives there are only 110v enclosures. The only USB powered enclosures are for 2 1/2 (laptop) drives.

 

[amol]

I was at Best Buy yesterday for Black Friday and picked up a Western Digital MyBook 250GB external hard drive. Is this good? I mean, I can return if not.

 

[deansdad]

You've received a bunch of good info so far.
I'd add a couple points if I might.
First, you need to decide if "backup" means to you - only data, or a full system (including OS), TOTAL system backup where you could restore your box back to it's current state in a matter of minutes?
Most of the "pushbutton - backup in a box" solutions out there do only data. That's not necessarily a bad thing as long as you know it going in. But, if buy into it and religiously do your backups and then confront the "big one" where the system takes a dump, you may be in for a rather large surprise.

For me, what works best is:
Find the best deal you can on an internal HDD (one larger than the sum of your current drive(s);
Pick up a decent external enclosure (USB, Firewire, eSATA, whatever floats your boat and matches your current system;
Try out at least a couple of the top rated backup software packages (most have free trial downloads) to determine what fits your lifestyle/needs best.
More importantly, to determine that in the event the "big one" actually does happen some day ("when", not "if" <g>), you'll actually have a backup system in place that will get you back up and running in minutes.

It's going to require an investment in both time and money on your part.
The total $ investment shouldn't exceed $150/200 USD depending on the size of the HDD. The time investment will depend entirely on you.
My advice would be to start with the Acronis True Image 10 Home Edition package. Download their free trial and spend some time on their forums......might just be all the research you need to do.

 

[sniperruff]

Originally posted by: Amol
I was at Best Buy yesterday for Black Friday and picked up a Western Digital MyBook 250GB external hard drive. Is this good? I mean, I can return if not.

they are solid and easy to use. how much did you get it for?