I haven't bothered much with backing up my Windows XP desktop in the past, other than using the occasional CD-R disk for odd bits and pieces, but I am now thinking about buying a portable hard drive and would be interested to know what the computer savvy posters hereabouts think of this example:
tinyurl.com/7hfbjwn - Link to Misco.co.uk
Replies (in words of one syllable) will be much appreciated.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Sun 19 Feb 12 at 12:00
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It will do the job and its not over the top price wise.
How much "data" do you have?
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It will do fine then, just bear in mind that HD prices are still high after the floods, and may not go down for another 5 or 6 months.
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I bought a Verbatim 1TB USB exernal drive last August. Works pretty well, the only criticism I have is it has a slightly flaky on/off button at the rear and the automatic back-up software supplied (NeroBackItUp 4.0) didn't load up properly. Not a problem as I'm quite capable of copying what I need manually.
Reconditioned unit cost 45 quid through Amazon.
I bought it because I've always been happy with Verbatim media - ever since the days of 5.25inch disks!
Terry
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If you want automatic backups of just what has changed since the last backup was made I'd recommend Clickfree: www.clickfree.com/ No software to install and it recognises multiple PC's when it's plugged into each one. No user intervention required at all. I'm always amazed when it tells me my daughter's laptop has another hundred or so photos since the last time I plugged it in - the week before probably!
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Here's what Verbatim say about the specification. tinyurl.com/89przar
Last edited by: L'escargot on Tue 21 Feb 12 at 09:19
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I use Norton Ghost and an extrenal HDD (250GB Seagate bought on ebay taken unused from a new PC and installed in an external case - also ebay).
Works very well.
(I've just upgraded CPU to quad core so staying 4 years behind cutting edge technology -it's much cheaper)
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Before you use the back up for the first time do you not have to format the HD to NTFS or FAT 32 or some such thing to be able to copy a fair bit of stuff? Seem to remember trying to do a back up and the HD saying it couldn't as I had not formated properly.
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You'd normally format to NTFS for large files, but some external drives, and particularly sdomw network attached storage, use a different format (often EXT3) as they are a Linux based device i.e. they have their own operating system.
I took apart a Western Digital USB drive expecting to be able to use it as a hard drive but couldn't because it was formatted in a way Windows didn't recognise.
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>> You'd normally format to NTFS for large files, but some external drives, and particularly sdomw
>> network attached storage, use a different format (often EXT3) as they are a Linux based
>> device i.e. they have their own operating system.
>>
>> I took apart a Western Digital USB drive expecting to be able to use it
>> as a hard drive but couldn't because it was formatted in a way Windows didn't
>> recognise.
A new MBR would have fixed that.
Generally anything over 30mb is better off formatted NTFS, and windows will chose this by default.
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As Z says the drive should have been usable.
If you're a Linux or Mac owner then NTFS might not be your first choice. By default on a Mac, NTFS is read-only. But anything larger than say 32GB like Z says should be formatted as something other than FAT32.
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Without reformatting? From what I recall, filling the drive was taking ages (USB2) and I thought I'd whack it into the PC to fill it (on SATA) then stick it back in the USB.
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>> Without reformatting?
Not likely. But if it was a new drive why the issue with formatting it?
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I really don't recall the ins and outs of it, my point was that a drive from an external USB wouldn't be immediately usable as a local drive.
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>> anything larger than say 32GB like Z says >>
Z said "30mb" - millibits.
You said "32GB" Gigabytes.
A factor of more than 8 million apart. 0)
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But Z meant GB. How long ago did we have 30MB drives. My first PC in 1994 had a 340MB drive. I suppose flash memory was 32MB fairly recently.
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>> But Z meant GB. >>
Yes, he doesn't care about spellings etc., as long as you knew what he meant.
The nurse at my GP surgery almost made a fatal mistake in not knowing the difference between milligram and microgram when dealing with thyroxine levels in the blood.
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>> How long ago did we have 30MB drives.
I paid £800 for a 30MB SupraDrive for my Atari STFM back in 1988 I think it was.
EDIT: I was young free and single then :)
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 22 Feb 12 at 11:22
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PC Back-Up Advice - Zero
