Looking for Suggestions for External HD for basic file backups

[Ice_Berge_00]

Now that I've got my parents new system built I'm planning to put an external HD with it for backup purposes. I haven't used these so I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for these?

 

Needs to be USB 2.0 otherwise 50GB or more is good enough for storage space.

[Shazz]

I bought this one from Fry's http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5424589;j...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

Great external HD and Fast. I picked mine up for around 110.00 bucks. They seem to have gone up in price, weird. I like it because of the Firewire, but there is a USB 2.0 booster on it. I haven't used it but it says that it makes the usb connection faster.

 

I am sure there are other places to pick it up from for a cheaper price.

 

btw, here is the thread I started about backup HD's http://www.gamrs.co/forums/in...showtopic=34971

[Clueless]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1185271084071

 

We have a few of these in my family and all of them have been very good, no problems whatsoever. There is also a next gen WD thats a bit smaller and even less money depending on the size, but I have no personal experience with those, I am sure they are just as good though

[stutters]

i don't benchmark my external drives, and it works like a charm for my backup / portability needs:

 

western digital mybook 500gb - usb2.0

~$80 from best buy on xmas sale (+ free $15 best buy gift card. OTD price = ~$65)

[Ice_Berge_00]

I'll check both out. A bit more capacity that I need but i figured I wouldn't be able to get very small.

 

I'd like to setup some sort of automatic backup prog that would periodically backup their "my documents' folder to the ext hd.

[anonymo]

I think the cheapest deal you'll find right now is on 500gb drives (from places like BB CC etc) unless you build your own

[Playaa]

Western Digital MyBook 320gig is what I have. Got mine for $70 though. Works flawlessly for me, especially when compared to my other external HD which is just a 320gig Internal HD in an External enclosure...that one randomly disconnects and is slower to access it seems.

[ZeroDamage]

Something like this could be useful as well.

http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/13/backup-im...t-files-to-ftp/

[TheFirstMonk]

Hi. Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I needed some advice on the same subject.

 

I've been thinking about backing up the stuff on my desktop's hard drive, but I don't know what kind of backup external HD to get. I've looked up brands like Western Digital, but I keep reading negative reviews that say the external HDs like MyBook die after warranty (1 year). I'm leaning toward Seagate FreeAgent Pro, but they seem to have the same problem with drives that don't work, although their 5-year warranty at least guarantees a replacement. I've looked at other brands like LaCie and Apricorn, but those do not seem to have as many reviews for me to look at, so I don't know how reliable they are.

 

I don't really need a huge HD like a 750GB-1TB since my HD is only 250GB, and not even all of that is being used. I'll probably concentrate on moving important text files and maybe some pictures and movies; not all of it is terribly important, but I'd prefer not to lose my stuff if I can help it. I'd prefer not to spend over $300.

 

Some people suggested in another thread to buy another internal HD instead, but I'm not really tech savvy, so I don't know how much "safer" it would be to get one and install it instead of using an external one.

 

Anyone got any other ideas? Thanks for any help.

[dragonfly]

Just buy an enclosure for, idk, $30-40, then buy whatever drive you want. That's what I'd do anyway...

[Ice_Berge_00]

I ended up getting my parents a Seagate Free Agent Pro 500 GB (deal at best buy). It's working good for them, and the backup software was easy to setup.

[Cujo]

i'm a big fan of network drives. the dlink dns 323 and two drives of your choice in raid1 is what i'd get. btw, the unit is also usb 2.0 if you don't want to use it for network.

[TheFirstMonk]

Still not sure what to get, but I'll look into it some more to be safe. Thanks for the replies so far.

[ilovetomatoes]

I have a WD passport 160gig 2.5" form factor drive. I have had it for over a year and never had a problem with it. It is nice because I can use it for both backups and keeping my 30 gigs or so of music on and taking it to work