Computer Back-Up Opinions Needed

[JEBlade]

I had a close call with my computer recently and know I need to back it up right away before it crashes down the road.
The days are over of just burning CD's to back up files I believe?
The options are online back up and external hard drives or memory stick?
I am new to all this so if I'm using incorrect terminology, please correct me.
I don't want to use online as there's some drawbacks I don't care for. External is my choice and as inexpensive (but efficient) and as idiot-proof as I can find. Right now, my computer memory is only 2G, so I think that's considered relatively small?
Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.
Thank you,
John

[JamHud22]

I will occasionally still burn photos to CD to use as back-up storage.
Recently we purchased a portable external 500 GB Seagate hard drive, as you describe, for back-up of both my HP and my wife’s MAC.
For our casual use (Non-video storage), 500 GB seems to be more than enough.

There are many suppliers that make external HD's and the price point for ones this size are well under $100, Micro center currently offers the model we purchased for $70.
There are many larger devices for under $150.

Check here for some examples, http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?sortby=pricelow&N=4294945771

Configuring the device for use was simple, via a standard USB port.

I think your computer RAM memory may only be 2 GB.
Unless your internal hard drive is VERY old, it should be considerably larger than 2GB.

I also wonder how robust this device will be over the years, will I go to retrieve my kids photos in 20 years and receive an "error"?
I firmly believe that in the future instead of having an old shoe box in the attic full of un-sorted family photos, we will have a box full of CD's, Jump Drives and external drives sitting there collecting the dust...

Good luck with your back-up.

[allthingsredline]

We bought a few of the 1gig Seagate models, cheap insurance for precious photos until we can get them printed at somepoint

[JEBlade]

I will occasionally still burn photos to CD to use as back-up storage.
Recently we purchased a portable external 500 GB Seagate hard drive, as you describe, for back-up of both my HP and my wife’s MAC.
For our casual use (Non-video storage), 500 GB seems to be more than enough.

There are many suppliers that make external HD's and the price point for ones this size are well under $100, Micro center currently offers the model we purchased for $70.
There are many larger devices for under $150.

Check here for some examples, http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?sortby=pricelow&N=4294945771

Configuring the device for use was simple, via a standard USB port.

I think your computer RAM memory may only be 2 GB.
Unless your internal hard drive is VERY old, it should be considerably larger than 2GB.

I also wonder how robust this device will be over the years, will I go to retrieve my kids photos in 20 years and receive an "error"?
I firmly believe that in the future instead of having an old shoe box in the attic full of un-sorted family photos, we will have a box full of CD's, Jump Drives and external drives sitting there collecting the dust...

Good luck with your back-up.

Thank you Jamie.
I was planning on heading to Microcenter, so your recommendation works for me as it's nearby.
You are correct on the RAM too. I knew I wasn't explaining it properly.
Anyone else?
Thanks,
John

[JEBlade]

We bought a few of the 1gig Seagate models, cheap insurance for precious photos until we can get them printed at somepoint

Thank you! Looks like it's the route I'll go.
John

[INKEDFORLIFE]

A Seagate external HD is a way to go. I went through 2 different 500 gig Western Digital Externals before giving up on them and switching to Seagate. I bought a 1 TB for about $150.00 and have no problems with it yet.

However anything is prone to damage and loss. As I mentioned above I went through those two WD HD's in only 3 years time. Data could have been retrieved but a huge cost. If your only saving family photos a internet Cloud Save is good. Heck even making a private Photobucket account works for those too. If it is a lot of private / personal information / data / pictures then the External HD is the way to go. The bigger the better. 1 or 2 Tera-bite HD's are great. Plus with a large size they do not have to constantly overlay deleted data for storage space.

[JEBlade]

A Seagate external HD is a way to go. I went through 2 different 500 gig Western Digital Externals before giving up on them and switching to Seagate. I bought a 1 TB for about $150.00 and have no problems with it yet.

However anything is prone to damage and loss. As I mentioned above I went through those two WD HD's in only 3 years time. Data could have been retrieved but a huge cost. If your only saving family photos a internet Cloud Save is good. Heck even making a private Photobucket account works for those too. If it is a lot of private / personal information / data / pictures then the External HD is the way to go. The bigger the better. 1 or 2 Tera-bite HD's are great. Plus with a large size they do not have to constantly overlay deleted data for storage space.

Thank you too. Seagate is the winner.
John

[RED BEACHBOMB]

Never trusth a hard drive as they can fail anytime as my 1 and half year old laptop just died.. now you can run mirror drivers as the data is wrote to both at the same time so if one fails you don't lost any data as it was backed up 100% from the other.

[JEBlade]

Never trusth a hard drive as they can fail anytime as my 1 and half year old laptop just died.. now you can run mirror drivers as the data is wrote to both at the same time so if one fails you don't lost any data as it was backed up 100% from the other.

Thank you David.
John

[bandito72ply]

We mirror the hard drive with and external drive hoping they won't crash at the same time. Glad we did it, beause at a year old the laptop crashed.