Ugh - my 160 GB external backup drive died

[manlymatt83]

Luckily, it's a backup drive, and my primary laptop drive is fine. This was a SimpleTech external USB drive I bought at best buy a mere 3 years ago. Man these things die fast.

What's the technology like now these days? In all honesty, I only have about 10 GB of data to backup. Should I get a 20 GB flash drive? Do these still have the write/rewrite issue and die quickly?

 

[nickbits]

Mozy or carbonite

 

[MrK6]

I wouldn't use a flash drive as a primary backup as they aren't as reliable as HDD's. Just buy a new HDD and throw it in that enclosure or grab a whole new unit altogether.

 

[Campy]

External HDDs definitely seem to die fast. Well either that or i've been really unlucky. I have one drive still alive though and it's the oldest, a 200GB Maxtor drive. Nice thing with an aluminium casing.

I'm a bit of a fan of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tation&x=0&y=0

Easy to slip in the drive you want data from and it pays for itself quickly if you buy several internal drives to use with it instead of getting externals each with their own enclosure.
Anyway that's not really necessary if you're just gonna back up 10GB, you could just get any external HD for that job. Hell for 10GB you could even use DVDs though that's a little bit more work.

 

[Zap]

Flash drives are certainly more durable. Besides being able to survive being thrown, I've had one go through the wash (but not dryer) and it worked after I let it dry out for several days. I have a bunch of flash drives and don't really use them that extensively, but I've never (yet) had one fail on me in as many years as I've used them.

If the data is important, then get a pair of flash drives and either rotate backups to them, or use one for daily backup and one for weekly or monthly backup (and store it off-site, like a safe deposit box).

 

[RebateMonger]

I've had several flash drives fail and there's no warning when they do so. As Zap suggests, using at least a pair of them, perhaps alternating backups, would be a good idea. Also, as with any backup media, I'd periodically check that files can actually be recovered from your backups.

Another extra risk with flash drives is how easy it is to lose them. If this is a possibility for you, you might want to encrypt the data if you are concerned about others finding your flash drive.

Online automated backups, like Mozy or Carbonite, are a good solution, too. They solve the problem that basically nobody does adequate backups unless they are automatic. But, again, do periodic tests to ensure you are backing up what you think you are backing up and that you can actually restore the data.

 

[FishAk]

With only 10Gb to worry about, a pair of 16Gb drives will only set your back about $60. It's rather expensive/Gb, and not the fastest, but it's 2 complete drives. For reliability, I would consider that an excellent choice. I would make 2 partitions, with one being about as small as possible. Put a TrueCrypt volume on one to contain all your backup, and put the TrueCrypt program on the small unencrypted partition to have access from any computer. This way it doesn't matter whether or not the computer you wish to access the encrypted data has TrueCrypt loaded or not.

 

[alexruiz]

If it is only 10GB of data, I would backup to DVD.
Just make sure your burner has firmware up to date, and use good media.

 

[FishAk]

The biggest trouble with DVD backups is updating the files.

Using DVD-R requires that the entire disk with changed data, be written on new disks for each update. This has pros and cons. It is expensive- must buy new disks, takes more room to store additional disks if old ones are kept. But can provide for archived instances of mistakenly deleted/changed files- hard to keep track of exactly which old disk has the "good" file.

Since the data on a DVD-RW will fade away in a relatively short time (months, not years) it is unstable for long term storage.

 

[RebateMonger]

While opinions vary, I don't trust BURNED DVD or CD disks for backups. Even if you burn multiple copies, if you have a "bad" lot of blank disks, you can end up with mulltiple disks that are failing without warning.

 

[razel]

As you've learned, it's good to have a backup and storage technology these days is cheap. Each media type has pros/cons, but one common denominator is cheaper price compared to three years ago. So decide on what is most convenient for you.

DVD-Rs are the cheapest with best prices of 2-3 cents per GIG, but can be the most inconvenient.

HDDs are the 2nd cheapest. Best prices are 4 cents per GIG for 3.5" HDD, 8 cents for 2.5". It seems like most are having trouble with the 2TB 3.5" HDDs. Luckily you'll probably want the 2.5" HDDs in an enclosure.

I also have recommended USB flash drives for those that don't have that much to backup at $1.20 per GIG with ONE major warning. Do a rotating backup between two flash drives. Although I have carried a tiny USB flash drive in my wallet which endures my dense a$$ that smashes and heats it up daily for 7 years and it never died, I still don't quite trust them yet. Maybe it's the price... ~$12 for a 8GB. It's hard to trust $12, but if I had a rotating backup, then I would. It's worth the convenience.

By the way, have you checked the warranty on your SimpleTech? I think they have a lifetime warranty. Have fun.

 

[taltamir]

external drives are crap in terms of reliability... simply use internal drives as backup.