Portable hard drives?

[Homeslice]

Which ones do you recommend? Just trying to avoid the junk brands.

[LOZ]

I got an Apricorn EZ BUS DT, 80GB for $120.

but that was like 3 years ago.... Im sure you can find them cheaper now.

[Mr Lefty]

I have a little Western Digital Pasport drive... 300 gig... picked it up about a year ago for 120 or so (great deal at the time). never had any issues with it...

check out Newegg.com or TigerDirect.com read the reviews there. really good prices.

[t-homo]

Seagate and Western Digital are two of the top brands. My bro had a couple of WDs fail on him when he built his comp a few years ago, switched to Seagate and hasn't had a problem. I got a 250 gig Seagate protable this past summer for 100 bucks at wal-mart. Not on any special sale or anything.

[Mr Lefty]

Seagate and Western Digital are two of the top brands. My bro had a couple of WDs fail on him when he built his comp a few years ago, switched to Seagate and hasn't had a problem. I got a 250 gig Seagate protable this past summer for 100 bucks at wal-mart. Not on any special sale or anything.

yeah I have a WD iBook and it's crapped out on me a couple times... but never completely... just where it wouldn't be recognized via usb for a week or two...

seagate is what I'm looking at next for my desktop... tigerdirect has a 1.5TB for like $140... though it has some firm ware issues...

[Dave]

whatever brand you decide get one in a 2.5 inch size. power via usb is most convienient. ever consider just getting an enclosure and stuffing your own hd in there? i have a rocketfish enclosure thats the shit

[Papa_Complex]

There isn't a hell of a lot of difference in what's inside the box. There are only so many USB/Firewire chipsets and only so many manufacturers of hard drives. Just buy a case and install whatever size and manufacturer of drive you tend to prefer. You can pick up a SATA 750GB drive for around $110.00 and a case for $20.00-$30.00. All it takes to put it together is a screwdriver and many manufacturers of enclosures even give you one in the box.

[OneSickPsycho]

There isn't a hell of a lot of difference in what's inside the box. There are only so many USB/Firewire chipsets and only so many manufacturers of hard drives. Just buy a case and install whatever size and manufacturer of drive you tend to prefer. You can pick up a SATA 750GB drive for around $110.00 and a case for $20.00-$30.00. All it takes to put it together is a screwdriver and many manufacturers of enclosures even give you one in the box.

Newegg has SATA 750GB drives runnnig in the $80 range right now.

[Papa_Complex]

Newegg has SATA 750GB drives runnnig in the $80 range right now.

All the more reason to do a build-your-own.

[Amber Lamps]

Here's a question,my laptop has a port for a 2nd HD,is it possible to install a HD in that port and use it to back up my info? Or would it crash it with the first HD?

[Dave]

yeah just make sure the second one is jumpered correctly and you should be set

[Papa_Complex]

Here's a question,my laptop has a port for a 2nd HD,is it possible to install a HD in that port and use it to back up my info? Or would it crash it with the first HD?

If it's an eSATA connection then you should just be able to plug it in.

[Amber Lamps]

If it's an eSATA connection then you should just be able to plug it in.

Thanks,yea it's plug and play!

yeah just make sure the second one is jumpered correctly and you should be set

Jumped? It looks like it just plugs in...

[Mr Lefty]

Thanks,yea it's plug and play!



Jumped? It looks like it just plugs in...

on older pc's with Parallel cables... (ribbon cables) you had to set one as master and the other as slave.

with SATA you don't have to worry about it...

[Amber Lamps]

on older pc's with Parallel cables... (ribbon cables) you had to set one as master and the other as slave.

with SATA you don't have to worry about it...

Oh cool! I may just do that. I don't feel like burning a disc or downloading to a PHD,even tho' I already have one...300M. I got it for my PS3 for $40 on clearance... Anyway,I presume that I could set up my laptop to automatically back up my files every night,right?

[Mr Lefty]

yeah there's several diffrent software packages that allow you to do that...

[thunderex]

Here's a question,my laptop has a port for a 2nd HD,is it possible to install a HD in that port and use it to back up my info? Or would it crash it with the first HD?
You could do that but it's not really the best backup solution. The second hard drive would save you against hardware failure of the first drive but you'd still be issues with many of the other things you're guarding against with backups. Your computer could be stolen or damaged in a way that destroys both drives (submerged, dropped from a very high height, etc). Also, if you computer has some problem not related to the hard drive the backup is just as inaccessible as your primary drive.

[Homeslice]

whatever brand you decide get one in a 2.5 inch size. power via usb is most convienient. ever consider just getting an enclosure and stuffing your own hd in there? i have a rocketfish enclosure thats the shit

It's not for a desktop, it will be used for 2-3 laptops.

And what do you mean 2.5 inch?

[Papa_Complex]

It's not for a desktop, it will be used for 2-3 laptops.

And what do you mean 2.5 inch?

Notebook hard drives are a smaller format; 2.5". Hard drives for desktop systems are 3.5" in width. The 2.5" external cases usually get their power directly from USB, though menay require a second USB connection to make sure that they don't draw shutdown level power from just one USB port.

There's a trade-off. 2.5" drives tend to be more convenient, but they don't stand up to abuse as well as 3.5" drives. At least not in my own experience.

[Homeslice]

Ah, well I don't care which size it is, since it's always going to be external anyways. The most important thing to me is speed. And I don't need more than 200-300 gig.

[Flexin]

You could do that but it's not really the best backup solution. The second hard drive would save you against hardware failure of the first drive but you'd still be issues with many of the other things you're guarding against with backups. Your computer could be stolen or damaged in a way that destroys both drives (submerged, dropped from a very high height, etc). Also, if you computer has some problem not related to the hard drive the backup is just as inaccessible as your primary drive.


Good point.

James

[Flexin]

Ah, well I don't care which size it is, since it's always going to be external anyways. The most important thing to me is speed. And I don't need more than 200-300 gig.

Well the size is important if you plan on taking it with you everywhere you go. There is a big size difference in the to sizes. If its just staying home it doesn't mater. If you want to carry it with you the mobile one will be lighter and fit in a bag easier.

James

[Papa_Complex]

And if size isn't an issue because you'll never be taking it out of the house, then something like one of my backup units would likely be a good idea:

http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS207/index.php

It acts as a web server, music and picture server, and will take up to two drives which can be configured as individual units, or as a mirrored setup.

[Homeslice]

Actually yes I will be taking it out of the house quite often, so yeah I want the small ones. And is there software that automatically skips any file that hasn't changed since the last backup?

[Papa_Complex]

Any of the better backup programmes are designed to do that, so you don't have to wait while it recopies everything. Microsoft has a tool called SyncToy (V2.0 is current) that will do the job, but it's fairly basic. Pretty much what you would expect for a freebie programme. I use one called DirSync, but it costs something like $35.00 via download.

[CrazyKell]

I absolutely have to get one of these. While downloading the latest iTunes my laptop decided to do a meltdown. It gets to the "Toshiba" screen and won't go any further. :help: :no:

I have a 3 year warranty so I'm hoping like hell I haven't lost anything. :cry:

[Mr Lefty]

I absolutely have to get one of these. While downloading the latest iTunes my laptop decided to do a meltdown. It gets to the "Toshiba" screen and won't go any further. :help: :no:

I have a 3 year warranty so I'm hoping like hell I haven't lost anything. :cry:
do you have anything plugged in to your laptop? if so try unplugging it and re-boot...

but I doubt you've lost everything... check with Bestbuy... I think they may be an authorized toshiba dealer... they should be able to restore it for ya

[the chi]

Ive got a small 120 or 160 gig Samsung, picked it up a year or so ago for less than $100 from Tigerdirect.com. Its small enough I carry it everywhere, it bounces really well and keeps ticking, and is powered by the USB cable. I love it, and carry it everywhere I have a computer, and instead of clogging up my laptop or wok computer I store programs and such on it.

[AquaPython]

just today i got delivered a western digital 1 TB from newegg. 109 shipped.