I am getting fed up with loosing photos every time one of our pc/laptops etc goes phut so I want to buy an external usb hard drive....this has just come up at a cheaper price ....any thoughts as to how reliable it might be

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-stor-e-basics-portable-hard-drive-500gb-11774993-pdt.html

Just bought one of these £30 more but 2Tb, Western Digital. As my comp doesn't have USB3.0 it'll do the job nicely.

I have several ranging from 250GB (back when that was alot!) to the 2TB one above.

I keep all my completly legal and paid for music, TV series and films on them. Not all bad, but they dont last forever, if you have alot less "media" you want to save, and save for a lifetime a solid-state version would be best as no moving parts.

Slightly move expensive mind...

http://www.ebuyer.co...-pas0600u1yr-eu

SSD is not good for long term retention of data. Cheaper and far better to buy a pair of mirrored drives in a mad or similar.

Toshiba kit is generally very well made

It'll be a generic drive inside with USB controller attached, but from a reputable manufacturer

If you treat it carefully it should last

Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,

If it's important you need more than one copy in more than one location.

Even the very best enterprise class kit can still go bang unexpectedly.

Edited 2 December, 201213 yr by Aspman

I purchased myself the same external as ljp01 from currys for £69.99 (was on sale 2 weeks ago), Western Digital are well known in the industry and are very reliable. Even internal hard drives for the rigs i build i either but in Seagate or Western.

Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,

I sense you're trying to get a message across here..................not quite sure what it is though ;)

Isn't a backup the first thing you do after everything goes wrong?

Isn't a backup the first thing you do after everything goes wrong?

Yeah, just as you should only close the stable door AFTER your horse has bolted

Got this in the end ....

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-stor-e-partner-portable-hard-drive-1-tb-orange-11774873-pdt.html

all seems good so far.....now just have resurrect the old pc enough to get the files off

A usb drive is a usb drive generally - as said above its a generic drive with usb-sata controller in the middle, so generally just get the cheapest - its no more/less likely to fail as any other.

Also as said above BACKUP! if you have several machines maybe you should invest in a network storage device with mirrored drives... a Microserver with a couple of drives and WHS2011 is a good choice. its what i use..

I sense you're trying to get a message across here..................not quite sure what it is though ;)

Was I too subtle?

the good thing about external drives is when your laptop or desktop dies and you think the end of the world has come ,

no fear unplug usb drive and plug into any other computer

I use WD 2 TB USB3 drive , main use is video

I use WD 2 TB USB3 drive , main use is video

I'm thinking about a MOBO and Chip change; is the higher speed of USB 3 noticable when watching/ using it for video?

Think CPU overhead on USB.

Fwiw 1000Mbit ethernet is faster than 400Mbit USB 2.

Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup, Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,Backup,

If it's important you need more than one copy in more than one location.

Even the very best enterprise class kit can still go bang unexpectedly.

I assume that people do, and take it for granted that when I'm asked to rescue it, they didn't.

Very very true about having multiple copies at multiple sites.

Edited 2 December, 201213 yr by cheezemonkhai

1TB Samsung £69

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Portable-Hard-Drives/Samsung/Samsung-M3-1TB-USB-3.0-Slimline-Portable-Hard-Drive---Black

I am very pleased to say ....old pc rescued and files all copied to new usb drive (12.9GB of them)....will be copying them to skydrive at least today

Maybe a bit overboard, but I keep three copies of everything. When you have more than 200GB of music, 200GB of photos, videos etc. you soon realise how long it will take you to get this back. Photos are worse as these days digital is the only copy. CD's, DVD's etc. can be re-ripped but would take years, given there are over 1000 involved.

So I have the live data copy running on a raid 5 array, a duplicate of this on my laptop HDD (1TB drive) and a third copy exists in my desk draw at work. The whole lot is refreshed weekly, so at most I only lose 7 days work time. The reason for offsite storage, nothing can cater for loss of your home / kit from fire / theft / flooding etc. Just look at the poor souls who have recently had their flats and homes demolished without being allowed in to retrieve valuables.

I am hoping that by using this usb drive and skydrive (not sure how much space I have on it) I can keep a couple of copies at least

Got this in the end ....

http://www.pcworld.c...774873-pdt.html

all seems good so far.....now just have resurrect the old pc enough to get the files off

I back up everything to a USB drive. Really should do it more often but when my last PC died the BU was about 6 weeks old and I really wanted (needed!!) some file back.

I thought this would be impossible as the HD was the problem in the old PC but with guidance from the guys on this forum I bought a drive caddie for about £15 and use Recover my Files. This recovered everything and was then able to reformat and resurrect the Drive so that it is still a usable backup drive.

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

Before buying this I had tried some free programmes but they were not able to find the files.

Even better on offer today on Ebuyer £53.98 1TB portable 2.5" HDD

http://www.ebuyer.com/320102-hitachi-1tb-touro-mx3-portable-hard-drive-0s03457

I use one of these at the office, as well as off-site of our critical data. http://www.hddfiresafe.com/index.php/solopro-business-class/esata-usb-2-0/2tb-solopro-esata-usb-2-0-desktop-hard-drive-1-year-drs.html

Fireproof and Waterproof and locally connected for fast backups.

Having been involved with many clients who haven't backed up or checked their backups (we only support one specific specialized app, not their general IT) it is one thing that I am very aware of.

Paul

"ljp01

Posted Yesterday, 22:10

View Postg0bgb, on 02 December 2012 - 22:07, said:

I use WD 2 TB USB3 drive , main use is video

I'm thinking about a MOBO and Chip change; is the higher speed of USB 3 noticable when watching/ using it for video?"

Dont know why quote button is not working !

anyway watching video via usb3 makes no difference usb2 is fine even for HD video, however usb3 is much quicker for tranfering large files to or from other devices

then if a pc goes down no problem unplug usb , then plug into new pc job done

There are free FTP and Cloud storage sites available for things that are really important if you want to be especially secured in the event of a fire for example. Storage space is limited but you can easily upload and retrieve your most important photo's documents etc. If this is happening regular it might be good to budget for two Raid arrays one for speed and the other for redundancy with hotswapable drives. Not done one with the new ssd drives before but i guess you could have striped raid array (OS on ssd) and Raid 5 on on the other array with 3x (Data)Sata Disk drives. Although haven't tried it. This would be pretty safe.

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