External Hard Drives

[Luddite]

Any recommendations? Getting fed up of the amount of time it takes to save to my USB stick.

Nick

[RuralWeb]

I use a Maxator with Norton Ghost. It backs up my hard drive every day with no problems.

[Dave Fisher]

We use a freecom 160gb usb external drive and Acronis Software.

It backs up about 10gb per min and stores the files in compressed files on the external drive. We have 5 days worth of backups stored on it ie Monday thru Friday

[Duncan Rounding]

I have a LaCie 250Gb on firewire 800. Ultra fast at approaching 1Gb per minute transfer. I use NTBackup set to schedule a backup early each morning. Only cost about £160. I Ghost my machine about every three months and copy a backup set extract to my hosting server and CD at least monthly.

And very importantly, I've also tested a restore.

[SusanF]

I also bought the Lacie 250Gb recently and have been very pleased with it - and if a hard drive can really look good on your desk then this one does. It's a neat little siver brick. It's also been reduced in price to only £79.80 inc VAT on ebuyer.com (wish I'd waited a bit longer now before buying it!).

[george]

I have a LaCie 250Gb on firewire 800...

What do you mean by `on firewire 800` Duncan? (George not scared to show his lack of experience).

Good tip Susan, think that'll mean I'll be getting my erm, card out this morning.

Good thread Nick, USB sticks are sooo second division...

Just have to work out what software to use now. Hmmm.

[Duncan Rounding]

What do you mean by `on firewire 800` Duncan?...

Firewire is another way some drives can be connected to your computer (instead of USB), video cameras often have firewire connectivity to get fast capture rates. Firewire comes in three speeds: 100, 400 & 800. To run at 800 for eample you must have a firewire 800 port on your PC and a suitable cable.
http://www.firewire-1394.com/what-is-firewire-800.htm
http://www.firewire-1394.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm
You can get far better performance using firewire than USB. I would at least consider getting an HDD that has FW800 and USB connections - like the LaCie for example)

...Just have to work out what software to use now. Hmmm.

I don't use any special software - NTBackup and windows scheduler works just fine for me. Exception being that I also use Symantec Ghost (faithful boot floppy version) to create an image of my machines every so often.

[chris ashdown]

WE use BT Datasure for our backups

This operates daily (or as often as you like) but transfers the site folders to a secure internet based system with a lot of safety features

You can download to either the same or another computer without problems

Not to expensive but keeps the files away from the office so if the worst happens (Fire) then at least we are half way home in getting back up and running

Also make snapshots daily onto second offline computer in case of hard disk problems

[pinbrook]

I've been thinking of getting a new ext HD as I put my last one into a PCfor backup purposes.

Just looked at the LaCie one on ebuyer but there is a review which says it isn't that good if you constantly move around with it.

I lost all my backup data on ext HD earlier this year, as I do move around with it, anyone got any recommendations for a more robust disk that will take being lobbed into my laptop bag, chucked in overhead lockers on planes, thus its needs to be lightweight too, and continue to work.

[nick.windsor]

A cheaper solution?

Hi,

If you have a spare hard drive knocking about you can get an external caddy case for around £15-£20 from ebay. This has seperate power supply and connects using USB. No software drivers are needed, it really is plug and play.

I've been using mine for about 4 months now with no problems at all.

Hope this helps.

Nick

[wjcampbe]

Yep, I've been running a WD800 in one of those for a couple of years now.

[chris ashdown]

I also have a "Arcos ARKDISK20" which is about half the size of a packet of fags and does not need the power supply as it takes it from the USB

Fit's into a jacket or shirt top pocket without problems
No problems in over 2 years

[george]

Got a link to that product Chris?

[pinbrook]

for arcos read archos then search....

[chris ashdown]

I got it at PCWORLD

Note it is not one of the MP3 Player type, but just a hard disk