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External hard drive

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Minivanman
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Registered: ‎04-11-2014

External hard drive

Flying by the seat of my pants I have never bothered to back up anything on my computer. 

Not wanting to waste money on the wrong, unnecessary or overpriced product can anybody recommend a half decent and reliable external hard drive - as they seem the best option. 

Cheers as always guys Thumbs_Up 


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Herman Melville
13 REPLIES 13
Darkfire
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
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Posts: 699
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Registered: ‎17-10-2015

Re: External hard drive

I have a Seagate Backup Slim 1TB that i use as a fix everything drive and for quick backup device when working on computers for people, anything along those lines should work great, get one that is powered by the USB though, no need to mess around with extra power connections that way.

 

I can't knock it at all even with Seagates not so stellar reviews of harddrive life, I've had it 2 years without a single issue.

 

 

DS
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Re: External hard drive

Got any old PVR's kicking about?

You could always rob one out of that, pop on to an internet auction site and pick up a very cheap usb to HDD lead, possible a caddy/housing too...

I wouldn't put an operating system on one, as PVR HDD's are different to a PC/Laptop HDD, but they can be used for almost anything, I'd go down down this route if it was me;)

(and most basic PVR's start at 160GB up to 500GB)

Minivanman
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Re: External hard drive

Thanks guys, just spotted this on a Tesco site, but will it work with my Windows 10? I suspect it will but just a bit unsure.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/toshiba-1tb-usb-30-external-hard-drive-black/363-2371.prd?skuId=363-2371


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Herman Melville
DS
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Re: External hard drive

Although it states W7 and W8, I'm pretty sure it'll be fine;)

VileReynard
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Re: External hard drive

I reformatted one to a Linux file system and it works on USB2 or USB3.

It's only a disk on the end of a USB cable - mine was a Seagate unit.

It can receive sufficient power from USB3, but for USB2 a separate mains brick is preferable.

Are cable(s) supplied?

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Minivanman
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Re: External hard drive

I've been puzzling over that USB2 and USB3, what's the difference?


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Herman Melville
SpendLessTime
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Re: External hard drive

Fix

USB3 is faster but it is backward compatible with USB2 and USB1.

The USB3 sockets in computers are identical in appearance except for the code of the plastic tab inside which is normally blue. 

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VileReynard
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Re: External hard drive

Speed.

USB2 480Mbits/sec

USB3 3Gbits/sec

Of course it doesn't go faster than the disk inside.

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NorthPole
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Re: External hard drive

I did find though that putting a SATA disk drive recovered from an old laptop into a disk caddy supposedly suitable for USB3 resulted in numerous R/W errors when it was plugged into a USB3 socket on the PC. Worked fine however on the USB2 socket. I assume the data throughput on the USB3 socket was too fast for the disk firmware.

DaveyH
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Re: External hard drive

A single backup copy isn't really a backup, especially if it's kept on-site with your computer

JayG
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Re: External hard drive

 

Can't speak for other OS's, but on Win7 I create system images using the built-in utility, and also do back-ups using Comodo - never had to use any backup yet, but it seems to make sense to have more than one type using different utilities in case one won't restore. Don't forget to make a recovery disc too to enable you to boot up your PC if the OS fails completely.

(I used to make additional backup copies of my 'personal' folder using Windows Explorer to drag and drop multiple folders to the external HDD, but for some months I've only been able to copy one folder at a time and I have yet to find out why.)

ReedRichards
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Re: External hard drive

What volume of data do you need to back-up?  1TB might be overkill if you don't have a lot of photos, videos or music.

VileReynard
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Re: External hard drive

The difference in price between a small (500GB) and medium (1TB) is not great.

2TB or 3TB are rather expensive though (£100+).

 

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."