External Hard Drives

[chris ashdown]

ARCHOS ARCDISK 1.8 EXTERNAL 20GB HARD DISK DRIVE WITH USB2.0 CABLE. - FREE LAPTOP CARRY CASE (WORTH £39.99)

Manufacturer: ARCHOS Manufacturer Part Number: 500536

Found it at Misco.co.uk


Misco No.: 75215
Availability Usually 5 days

Price:

£99.24 ex VAT
(£116.61 inc VAT)

Quantity:


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[Goz]

You could always try an on-line backup solution. There are plenty about. The one I use is www.datastore365.com - you can sign up for a free trial (if you do, use promotional code 1511). Works in a similar (identical?) way to BT Datasure (as Chris described in an earlier post).

[pinbrook]

I've gone for the Freecom Classic Mobile 80GB 2.5" Hard Drive USB 2.0. I read reviews, decided I wanted USB power, small/light, loads of space

online backup is not an option as when I am overseas often i have to rely on modem, and not all internet cafes allow you to use your own laptop.

[Luddite]

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

I like this idea alot. To recap - I can go and dig out one of my 'save for a rainy day' towers up in the loft. Take out the hard drive - buy a caddy off ebay (or whatever), plug it in and voila?
One question though - how do I plug it into my existing PC (I can almost hear your eyes rolling at that question!)

Nick

[Duncan Rounding]

The portable HD enclosure contains a USB (or firewire) connection to the PC.

[pinbrook]

Just a word of caution with using an old disk, is just that it is old...

therefore may not be as reliable as a new disk for backup purposes.

[Luddite]

Just a word of caution with using an old disk, is just that it is old...therefore may not be as reliable as a new disk for backup purposes.

Fair point - theres probably a good reason its been sat gathering dust in the loft.

[jont]

Really not worth the risk - how much value do you put on your data should the main PC die/burn/stolen? Suddenly £100.00 would look like a real bargain

[clefty]

Whilst it's true that an old drive, especially one that has not been "spun up" for several months can be more prone to failure than a new drive, I've seen plenty of new drives fail. As Jo pointed out, external drives can fail too, especially as they tend to get moved and knocked more than an internal drive.

Duncan's method of additionally backing up to optical media on a monthly data seems to be a wise precaution.

Perhaps I'm being overly nervous expecting a primary HD failure and backup HD failure at the same time but lightning does strike in the same place twice! Also in the case of a laptop what happens if your laptop and external backup drive both get nicked?

Are other users of external HD for backups taking any further precautions e.g. occasional copies to DVD? Interested to get everyone's thoughts.

[wjcampbe]

Chris,

We did a backups thread about a year ago. I am paticularly manic, with daily, weekly and monthly backups both on external hard disk and DVD and a TrueImage weekly disk image. Websites and Accounts, I keep a backup on the server and a minimum of two PC's.

[clefty]

Thanks Bill,
A man after my own heart
My biggest problem is keeping track of where all my backups are! I'd rather this than wonder if I've got a backup somewhere....
I'll look up the old thread.

[pinbrook]

I agree backup to DVD/CD is an extra and wise step.

I also fall into Bills category which is why I have ordered myself another external HD.

This means I will back up to ext HD (attached to laptop every day), also backup 2 hourly to backup disk inside my networked PC. I use my laptop for day to day working, but have a pc to take over in the event of laptop failing.

I also periodically backup to DVD/CD and I throw snapshots up to online storage to (especially when I am ontheroad).

I subscribe to the thought that I expect a failure to happen (it may be 5 mins away, it may be 5 days/weeks/months away)