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AR15.COM
10/21/2012 5:37:06 PM EDT
I am looking into getting an external hard drive to get some files off of my laptop and just to have a backup file for some things.. I will probably get one off amazon. What do you guys recommend as far as brand and size. I was thinking 500g  would be more than enough for my files and my wife's files and pics.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

-SS
10/21/2012 5:40:46 PM EDT
[#1]
I have two WD 1tb drives.  So far no issues.
 
10/21/2012 7:39:33 PM EDT
[#2]
Quoted:
I am looking into getting an external hard drive to get some files off of my laptop and just to have a backup file for some things.. I will probably get one off amazon. What do you guys recommend as far as brand and size. I was thinking 500g  would be more than enough for my files and my wife's files and pics.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

-SS


http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Portable-Drive/dp/B006Y5UV2M/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Don;t bother with the bundled software, just use the native software in Windows/OSX.

If you want a longer usb cable:

http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-54177-Micro-Cable/dp/B003VTZ0DY/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1350877017&sr=1-2&keywords=USB+3.0+Micro-B+cable

I wouldn't advise going past 1 meter since there may not be sufficient power transferred to operate the drive over longer distances.
10/21/2012 7:43:15 PM EDT
[#3]
Thanks for the replies the WD 1Tb was the one I had been looking into..
10/21/2012 10:52:12 PM EDT
[#4]
+1 for WD, still have a quite old 160 GB one and have never had a problem with it, using it weekly and it bounces around in my backpack all day long.
10/21/2012 11:03:48 PM EDT
[#5]
Got a Seagate in 06. It was a good one at the time, yet very expensive.

Just got a WD, no review available yet.
10/22/2012 3:07:56 AM EDT
[#6]
Quoted:
Thanks for the replies the WD 1Tb was the one I had been looking into..


Go bigger.  A 3Tb seagate right now is about $150 shipped (bare drive), so figure another $20 or so for a similar external housed drive.
10/22/2012 4:49:40 AM EDT
[#7]
DO NOT get any of the ones with bundled software.  The software is JUNK.  And in some cases, it CANNOT BE REMOVED from the hard drive.
11/18/2012 7:03:07 PM EDT
[#8]
any other suggestions?
11/19/2012 7:50:41 AM EDT
[#9]
Get an internal HDD
WD Caviar Black 500GB SATA 6.0GB $59.99 5 year warranty
Get an external enclouser
Most enclosers will work, such as this. USB 2.0 $19.99


Mount the HDD in the enclouser, plug it into the wall and into the computer then format the drive.



Then: Profit.
11/19/2012 9:59:08 AM EDT
[#10]
How much porn do you need to backup?

I'm going to go against the grain and say get an SSD over an HDD.  Reason being is the shock resistance value.  One drop of your external HDD and more than likely it's going to be junk.  The SSD will take a tremendous shock load in comparison, but the downside is smaller storage space.  Over time, I'm sure capacities will increase and pricing will fall.
11/19/2012 10:45:28 AM EDT
[#11]
Buy a Samsung SSD drive, mirror the current drive to it, then replace the drive in your machine so the old drive becomes the back up drive.

As you stated, this is for back up, so the size of the back up drive does not need to be larger than the drive currently in the machine.
11/19/2012 5:15:08 PM EDT
[#12]



Quoted:


Get an internal HDD

WD Caviar Black 500GB SATA 6.0GB $59.99 5 year warranty

Get an external enclouser

Most enclosers will work, such as this. USB 2.0 $19.99





Mount the HDD in the enclouser, plug it into the wall and into the computer then format the drive.
Then: Profit.
Ditto.





 
11/20/2012 12:14:12 PM EDT
[#13]
Western Digital Passport. Small, affordable, USB only (no need for extra power cord).

If you want more storage, the possibility of upgrading, then I recommend a bare drive and one of the "toaster" style docks.  I have one with 2 bays, so I can have all my storage on one and it's extremely easy to troubleshoot/backup/wipe other drives.

11/20/2012 8:46:24 PM EDT
[#14]
I use TeraCopy to move large files, it handles them better and faster than native windows.  You can find it here www.ninite.com , down near the bottom of the page, or google it.
12/9/2012 10:25:20 AM EDT
[#15]
So you guys would not recommend a backup drive that wirelessly backs up all the devices in your house?  
12/9/2012 5:59:26 PM EDT
[#16]
I like Western Digital or Seagate. I have also had to use both of there warranty return departments in the past. Both were great and seamless.
12/10/2012 4:04:59 PM EDT
[#17]
Spend you money with backblaze.com or mozy.com

I have had to recover data off of 2 seagate and 1 wd in the past three weeks, both seagate's were dead and had to be sent out to a clean room recovery service, I was able to recover data off of the wd.
12/10/2012 4:07:24 PM EDT
[#18]
WD passports are good. I've had lots of luck. The WD "my book" style are shit. We've had to RMA so many of them, some several times over. On the plus side, the drives are good, it's just the controller board that usually dies. So if it's vital data, you can crack open the plastic "book" case, and pull out a normal 5.25 sata drive.

ETA: I ALWAYS encrypt my portable drives with Truecrypt.
12/10/2012 5:57:13 PM EDT
[#19]
I use an eSATA external drive toaster and rotate two 2 TB Hitachi DeskStar bare drives, which I store in anti-static bags in my gun safe.
 
12/10/2012 5:59:56 PM EDT
[#20]
If you're going to use a multibay external dock, make sure your motherboard supports esata "port multiplier".