Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[UncleUB]

Hi guys I'm looking for a bit of advice about getting  an external HD to back up everything.Does not need to be too big a capacity.There just seems to be a lot of choice out there.I want want that is easy to use and works with vista .

[scottiesmum]

Phil,  (ooo   I mean UncleUB  !!)   when you say you don't need a large capacity have you thought of a  USB Flash Drive for backing up..... I use one for all my files, photos etc... and I  take it with me  for use on other computers....

some examples here  ...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-1395932-2990042?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=flash+drives&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

bigger ones here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-2059961-9596654?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=16+gb+flash+drives&Go.x=5&Go.y=13&Go=Go

 

[UncleUB]

That looks a good option Kate,it would be mainly for my music and photos.Are those ok for storing music on?The prices look reasonable. 

Edit,having had a quick look the choice is mind boggling,even say Sandisk have loads of different ones.What do you need to look for.Is is just price per GB or something else...............

[scottiesmum]

Yes I know you can store music on them....I'm not sure but I think I read somewhere that  a song size is  a megabyte per minute so a 5 minute song would use 5 megabytes, on a 4G size that would give you 800 songs ?  (I think)  There are all different makes, I have a Kingston and I suppose the bigger the capacity the more expensive  ....sorry there's a lot of ' think's'  there'     all I can tell you for certain is that I find mine very useful and at about the size of a cigarette lighter easy to carry around.   I'm sure the experts on here will be along ..when they've had their breakfast    to give you more help.   

[UncleUB]

Thanks Kate,I've just seen this and its vista certified.Looks ok for the money.


http://www.dvd.co.uk/Hw/Patriot-XT-Boost-4GB-USB-Flash-Drive-150X/PEF4GUSB/product.htm?fs=froogle

[jazz]

I have a Freecom 250Gb External Hard Disk Drive that I got from Scan Computers (www.scan.co.uk) around eighteen months ago for about £90.  It has been very good and I use it to back up everything on my computer.  I also use USB Flash Drives for backups and portablility and find them very useful.  They generally reckon to have data retention life of up to ten years so don't forget to check on them and change them from time to time.

[scottiesmum]

Unc .... it looks OK doesn't it ....  and at that price if you run out of space, you can get another one !! 

[UncleUB]

I find that site really cheap for a lot of stuff,especially SD cards for my camera.



Edit,after jazz recommended freecom this caught my eye.Would I be able to copy te whole contents of my hardrive on here.


http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3436254/Freecom-Classic-250GB-3-5-External-USB2-0-Hard-Drive-Black/Product.html?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-PC-_-Upgrades-_-Freecom%2BClassic%2B250GB%2B3.5%22%2BExternal%2BUSB2.0%2BHard%2BDrive%2B%2F%2BBlack&source=5066&engine=froogle_pc&keyword=Freecom+Classic+250GB+3.5%22+External+USB2.0+Hard+Drive+%2F+Black

[dave.m]

You would be able to copy all your files and folders but to copy your OS for a backup incase your onboard hard drive went kapput, you should consider getting something like Acronis True Image that would back up everything including your Windows Vista or XP.
Over the road, Spitfire did a wonderfully simple explanation of how to use it along with screenshots:
http://forums.vnunet.com/thread.jspa?threadID=122623&start=0&tstart=0
He used Acronis 10 but it is pretty much the same for Acronis 11.
dave
This may be of help too:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=168165

[UncleUB]

Whats anyones thoughts on this,would it do the same job Acronis would?


http://www.originstorage.com/detail.asp?id=8952

[oldfogy]

Probably just a personal thing but I do not like Flash drives, at least not the one I have, probably because it is very unreliable, it fails to store files more often than it ever succeeds, with a error message of "corrupt data" etc when trying to access them later.  (one of the very early models)

However, one of the main points to look out for with either Flash drives or Memory cards is the "speed" (access speed).
The faster the card/drive the dearer it will be.
Also the faster the card, the quicker your camera would be, ready to take the next shot or when viewing shots (or files).

I purchased a 320 GB External USB HDD from PC World last year for £79.99 and find it pretty good, although USB equipment will always be slightly slower than a internal drive.

But, the biggest draw-back with "large" USB drives is that they need a separate power supply and I keep forgetting to switch mine off when not required.

Most smaller USB drives (GB xx?) do not need a separate power supply as they draw power through the USB socket, therefore automatically switching off when the PC is powered down.

[soms]

I have a second hand Safecom IDE hard drive enclosure which came with a PC I bought once on eBay.

It has USB and firewire ports, and is externally powered but the top literally unscrews and comes off allowing you to use any IDE hard drive in it.

I have a 200GB HDD (came with it) which I use for file storage but I have put other drives in so I can wipe them in Windows etc.

They are very useful.

I have had more luck with flash drives than OF, the only one I have had go wrong so far was my very first one which I used when doing my GCSEs - after about two years of being in my pocket at school and start of sixth form the USB plug fell off after all those hours of being sat on/pressured took their toll.

[stevie]

I`ve got 2 of these

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221814&source=1&DOY=3m4

& 2 of these.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1016649551.1207253768@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckadedjmflldjcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=350566&category_oid=-32889

Both come with 5 year warranties, the Seagates look very good to boot.

They do smaller sizes.

Like this.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=223785&doy=3m4

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1016649551.1207253768@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckadedjmflldjcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=433570&category_oid=-32889

I`ve also got a 8Gb Sandisk Cruzier Pen drive & a 16Gb pendrive. both work fine.

A lot depends on the ammount of data you wish to back up, whatever you think you will need, Double it & then add some more.

[UncleUB]

Thanks for that stevie,I like the look of the seagate,can you just drag and drop the files across easily.I am looking for about a 250gb.My main hd is still 80% empty( 230gb spare) but just want to back things up.I just had alook a lacie one on E-Buyer,that looks pretty easy to usejust drag and drop and done.

[oldfogy]

>> can you just drag and drop the files across easily.

Yes, just drag, drop, copy or paste the same as any other drive.
With large (GB) files you will notice it is "slightly" slower but nothing major.