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AR15.COM
9/11/2008 5:34:04 PM EDT
After losing many important files on my work PC after a hard drive crash I figured I better invest in one of the many portable external hard drives you see these days to back up my home PC and laptop. I thought I got a good deal on a Western Digital 250GB hard drive for $100 but after spending all evening trying to figure out the software on the hard drive for backing up all my documents, pics, mp3's etc....  the ONLY way to copy data to the hard drive is through the software package. I had thought it would be more like one of the many small flash drives where all you had to do was copy and paste..... BUT NOOO  it couldn't be that easy. Are there any of these type portable drives where you don't have to use their damn software to get the data on it. The Western Digital software I'm sure is nice for some but I really don't need everything ecripted to be saved on my disc drive.
9/11/2008 5:35:49 PM EDT
[#1]
My Lacie is a click and drag... very simple to use and no problems with it.

9/11/2008 5:36:21 PM EDT
[#2]
Synctoy, it's a free Windows Powertoy download.


Also, good info here:  HD upgrade

Good luck.

Merlin
9/11/2008 5:36:51 PM EDT
[#3]
Reformat the drive.  You should be able to access it as just another drive letter, then drag/drop your stuff to it.


ALWAYS have TWO copies of your critical stuff.  Anything you could not get back if your computer croaks,  you should have in a second location.  (pictures, music, financial files, ect)  
9/11/2008 5:36:58 PM EDT
[#4]
you dont need their software. I have a WD mybook at 320gig. It came with a bunch of stupid software too. i discarded it and just download to it like a normal HD.
9/11/2008 5:37:44 PM EDT
[#5]
you should be able to just drag and drop just like a regular drive.
9/11/2008 5:40:30 PM EDT
[#6]

Quoted:
Synctoy, it's a free Windows Powertoy download.


Also, good info here:  HD upgrade

Good luck.

Merlin


I'm gonna have to play around with SyncToy at home.  I mostly manually copy my music collection and photos to an external drive.  Might be easier to set it up in SyncToy and click once or twice to let it do it's thing.
9/11/2008 5:46:52 PM EDT
[#7]

Quoted:
you dont need their software. I have a WD mybook at 320gig. It came with a bunch of stupid software too. i discarded it and just download to it like a normal HD.


I tried to copy/paste files without the software but it wouldn't work!??! It gave me an error message. The software is pre-loaded on the unit, and the only way I could get it to take the files..... but after messing with it a little more I figured out what I was doing wrong. Thanks guys