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Which External Drive ?
Topic Started: Feb 17 2010, 02:55 PM (244 Views)
Phaedrus
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I`m looking for an external drive for backing up. Which drive would you recommend and/or would I be better off going for a separate enclosure and drive(s)?
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Gina
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I use a network drive. Accessible regardless of which PC(s) switched on. It sits on the mantelpiece next to the router.

This one (on Amazon)

It's actually cheaper from PC World which is where I got mine a few years ago.
Edited by Gina, Feb 17 2010, 03:21 PM.
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Phaedrus
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That looks the business, but at £120 its too much for me. I was thinking (hoping) about half that or less. £50 ish.


This maybe?
Seagate 500GB
Edited by Phaedrus, Feb 17 2010, 04:06 PM.
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Gina
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£113 from PC World on the web. It has not come down in price since I bought one I don't think :( Two plus points - it is a terrabyte and it is network. However, if you have a PC running 24/7, a local USB one would be much cheaper. When I got mine I wasn't running any PC 24/7.

It's proved 100% reliable so far but does have a couple of minus points (apart from price). It's quite slow and there doesn't seem to be any way of reading how much data is saved or how much space is left. There's a light on the front but it's far from clear. I don't think it's particularly good value at the present price and wouldn't recommend it.
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Phaedrus
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I network drive is appealing, but I think I just need a usb device or an enclosure.
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John
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I use a separate HDD for my OS, My Documents, My Music and My Photos. My music is backed on a bare SATA drive using a 15 quid USB dock and my photos get backed up on to DVDs which are stored in a light proof box. My only "real" external drive is a 200GB 2.5inch sata one in a 5 quid enclosure, fully portable then and no need to worry about a power pack.

Posted Image
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Phaedrus
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That looks cool. :cool
I guess thats the equivalent of having a separate /home partition in Linux. You can change or reinstall the OS without affecting your data.
I haven`t even got that. I`ll do it on my next install.
First I`ll get an external and Clonezilla an image. Then I can have a mess with the setup.
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John
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my thinking is 99% of the time is is windows that is going to go titsup not a drive failure, keep it all seperate and the jobs a good'un.
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Phaedrus
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Makes sense.

I`d recommend Clonezilla mate to keep an image of your partition(s). Its really cool coz it runs direct off a cd/dvd/usb so it works below any OS - No need to install anything, just run the cd. Select image (or clone if you want to clone straight onto another drive), point it to your external or wherever you want to keep the image, and select which partitions you want to image. Done.

Guide to Clonezilla

Clonezilla Homepage Just download the .iso and burn to disc.
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John
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No need to clone them really mate, Windows 7 does it automatically and everything else is backed up on discs elsewhere in the house :)
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Phaedrus
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Oh yeah course it does...the Windows backup thingy. :thumbsup
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