How to... buy a harddrive...

[cranston]

Sorry guys, I'm naive to all of this as you may have noticed from my previous comment. I was thinking to back up onto 2 externals as was suggested to me I would have to attach one external, then disconnect it and attach the second one. But then I think I just read Ihno saying there is a way to attach 2 externals to your computer at the same time? Just wondering because i am stuck with just a one-computer "network" lol.

 

[ihno]

I use windows and just attach the harddrives via USB and then they pop up/appear in the winows explorer. Some sonner, some later. The Seagate makes nice clicking noises then. Maybe you have to install them to be fully functional. You just have to have enough USB connections.

do you mean arnaud.68's suggestion? He said you should buy two smaller ones but he didn't say that you should not attach them both.

 

[cranston]

I use windows and just attach the harddrives via USB and then they pop up/appear in the winows explorer. Some sonner, some later. The Seagate makes nice clicking noises then. Maybe you have to install them to be fully functional. You just have to have enough USB connections.

Maybe they had a reason to suggest to use one after the other. No idea. Maybe you don't have so many USB connections? Maybe they were afraid you would get confused? (just kidding ).

Yeah thanks ihno, I'm afraid i only have one usb connection, i'm embarrassed to admit how old my computer is, it's from within the last decade, at least. Funny joke at end too,you shouldn't have deleted it, it was acutally funny, lol.

 

[ihno]

Well, then I would maybe think of a new computer. I guess your old computer has only a small harddrive. You could better spend the money for an internal harddrive in a new computer than buying external ones, that will only work slowly because of your old USB-version. You are going to save a lot on the long run, when you don't burn DVDs any more.

 

[syko2d4]

Well, then I would maybe think of a new computer. I guess your old computer has only a small harddrive. You could better spend the money for an internal harddrive in a new computer than buying external ones, that will only work slowly because of your old USB-version. You are going to save a lot on the long run, when you don't burn DVDs any more.

don't know anything about windows, but could he (sorry, can't see his name as I'm typing this) use a USB hub to connect another HD, at least until he gets a new computer (and makes sure to back up all his stuff!!!) because you're right, Inho: sounds like getting a new computer would be the best idea!

and in case he or you are wondering, I have an iMac with 3 HDs connected - 1 USB and 2 Firewire

 

[syko2d4]

Yes, that's a bad sign. But I guess the clicking sound in my case has to do with my old fashioned operating system and the even older picture viewer I use.

I got a new one since three months now. 3 TB for 142 €, Western Digital. It's okay...

only one thing: It's almost full. Cannot understand that, I just moved one or two films there... I swear!

really??? only 1 or 2 films??? weird...I think I have 3 full-length feature films just on my internal HD which is 250 GB max...how are they coded?

and just what kind of films are they??? lol j/k

 

[ihno]

don't know anything about windows, but could he (sorry, can't see his name as I'm typing this) use a USB hub to connect another HD, at least until he gets a new computer (and makes sure to back up all his stuff!!!) because you're right, Inho: sounds like getting a new computer would be the best idea!

and in case he or you are wondering, I have an iMac with 3 HDs connected - 1 USB and 2 Firewire

No, no hub or anything. If you have an old computer you have an old, slow USB version anyway. If you begin to connect more than one device to that old connection you won't have any fun. At some point it's not worth any more.

as for the two films: it was a joke.

 

[syko2d4]

No, no hub or anything. If you have an old computer you have an old, slow USB version anyway. If you begin to connect more than one device to that old connection you won't have any fun. At some point it's not worth any more.

as for the two films: it was a joke.

ooooo...a joke!!! I must be getting slow lol

I'll defer to you on old windows computers since I know nothing about them, but sounds right!

btw, I just checked on cnet.com to see which external hard drives they rated highest...here's a link:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4566-3185_7-0.html#filter=503164_11795436_500076_15702166

I only searched for 2 or more TB sizes, but you may want to look there for advice...at least its impartial, I think...

btw, their top-rated ones in that size for external desktop hard drives were Toshiba! I never would have guessed! lol

good luck!!! :thumbs up:

 

[yoyo888]

I use NAS boxes now

I have 5 of them

This is their new model. I have two of them, and three of the previous model.



I mainly use Western Digital Hard Disks. One model has Samsung, and very noisy when starting up.

I splashed out of on Western Digital RED disks the last time. A couple of 3TB's.

WOW totally silent and run cool . Well impressed. And from now on will ONLY get WD!

Have you considered getting a NAS box instead of a USB one? I find them soooo much more convenient as content can be access from any device connected to your home network. In my case, on this PC, or a laptop, or on the small PC connected to the TV downstairs so that I can stream movies

 

[valiantcrusade]

I had terrible luck with WD a couple of years ago. I do notice they have now extended their warranties, which might or might not be a bad sign.

Switched to HP. Wow! what a difference. A cool feature is that the software is pre-installed on the unit in its own partition, rather than on your internal C: drive. So you can plug them into any other PC and they automatically install themselves.

 

[valiantcrusade]

Don't have enough USB ports? Read on...

For anybody who has only 1 USB port, or just not enough, get a powered USB hub. It uses 1 USB port. Mine has room for 12 USB devices to plug in. The only downside is that being powered you plug it into an electrical outlet. And make sure that outlet is on a surge protector.

These devices are very inexpensive.

 

[ihno]

If you have an old computer from times, when USB was a new feature, a hub won't do you very well because everything will take very long. F.e. if you still use windows xp, it might take five or more minutes till the computer starts and relatively long, till the external drives react.

 

[topdog]

I'll jump in with my opinion.

• The first rule of backups is that the more important something is, the more copies you should have. (Which would you grab first if there was a fire - personal photos, or your porn collection?)
• There is nothing wrong with your DVD backups - as a matter of fact as long as the DVD is in its case and not somewhere it can be stepped on, it can weather a lot more diverse environmental disasters than can a hard drive. (That's the advantage of being a piece of plastic with no moving parts or magnetic surfaces.) On the other hand, maybe it's becoming inconvenient due to the number of DVDs it takes to complete a backup?
• Hard drives do have three advantages over DVDs: They are faster, they hold more, and you can keep them attached to your computer so backup software can keep everything backed up to the hard drive without you having to do anything.
• Your one USB port is fast enough for hard drive backups. If your computer was made after 2001, it is likely a USB 2.0 port - which is still the most common type of USB connection.
• A cheap powered hub should work fine for hard drive backup. Now, if you hooked up two hard drives and a printer to the hub and tried to send large files to all of them at the same time - that would be a problem. But if you are only copying / reading from one device at a time, it doesn't matter how many you have connected on the hub.
• I have a lot of old hard drives laying around, so I use an external dock, or "toaster" style enclosure. (See photo below). The basic models cost about $30, and you just pop in a bare hard drive. You could have different hard drives for different material, or maybe backup one month on one, then switch to another. There are also more advanced versions that hold two hard drives at once (about $55), and the newest models support WiFi so you don't even have to plug them in to a computer at all (but they are a pricier $90).
• Finally, a new(er) computer may be cheaper than you realize. I don't know what country you are in, but here in the US I can scan through Craig's List and find people all but throwing away computers that are three or four years old. They won't be the most up-to-date, but they are at least twice as powerful as what you are using now. Look around wherever people are selling their stuff and may find that you can get a much newer computer for the price of a hard drive or two.

Cheers!

 

[Mike1234]

I have one addition:

Simply buy a 2.5" HDD, 1-2TB, isnt too expensive, and buy USB 3.0 HDD external case.
2.5" HDD is small and light, and not require an external power source. The case just 20-40 USD

 

[gb2000ie]

I have one addition:

Simply buy a 2.5" HDD, 1-2TB, isnt too expensive, and buy USB 3.0 HDD external case.
2.5" HDD is small and light, and not require an external power source. The case just 20-40 USD

USB3 on an external HDD is a a total waste of money! Why pay extra for a connector that runs faster than the drive itself? Unless you're sticking an SSD into the enclosure, don't pay extra for USB 3, you'll get the same performance with USB2. (if it doesn't cost extra then no harm going USB 3 of course).

A friend of mine is kicking herself after wasting money upgrading from a USB 2 to a USB 3 enclosure to find no improvement in benchmarks at all because 2.5" drives are slower than USB2!

B.

 

[someonealone]

topdog... you know what... if there would be a fire I would grab sexternal hardrives with my porn collection I think

 

[Mike1234]

USB3 on an external HDD is a a total waste of money! Why pay extra for a connector that runs faster than the drive itself? Unless you're sticking an SSD into the enclosure, don't pay extra for USB 3, you'll get the same performance with USB2. (if it doesn't cost extra then no harm going USB 3 of course).

A friend of mine is kicking herself after wasting money upgrading from a USB 2 to a USB 3 enclosure to find no improvement in benchmarks at all because 2.5" drives are slower than USB2!

B.

for SATA3

but you know what? buy a usb2 case and save money
that's okay?

 

[gb2000ie]

for SATA3

but you know what? buy a usb2 case and save money
that's okay?

SATA 3 is a bus, and again, WAY faster than a spinning disk. The cheaper the HDD the slower it will be, and, the smaller the HDD the more likely it is to be slow. Cheap small-form-factor HDDs tend to spin at just 52,000 RPM, which means data can't be read or written even nearly fast enough to utilise the potential of SATA 3 or USB 3.

Hence my advice not to spend a cent extra for a USB3 connection for an external HDD, if it costs no more than USB2, then why not, but it won't be any faster.

If you want to get value from SATA 3 or USB3 then you need an SSD.

B.