Baqckups? I don't need no stinking b*^a*&ck&(*&%&%ups.

[Rhys]

I was thinking about storing photos on an external hard drive. As I seem to be mainly laptop based,out of personal preferance I was thinking about one of the USB powered portable hard drives.

I don't have all that many gigabytes of photos at the moment - maybe about 30GB so I imagine 120GB should be sufficient. I have heard that some portable USB hard drives are shock-proofed but in my trip to Staples, BestBuy, Sams Club and Walmart I saw none.

Has anybody any recommendations for drives to avoid and for drives to use. I'm only interested in drives with none of that nasty software these jokers like to dump on drives allegedly as backup assistance unless it's easily removable.

[Rooz]

i have a maxtor 300gb external drive which has one touch backup. i love it. you can set up what folders you want to backup if you like and press one button then walk away. don;t know how transportable and shock resistent it is though cos i never carry it anywhere.

[aparmley]

Don't feel like doing backups - protect 500GB of photos with RAID - This thing is $100 cheaper now a real steal!

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=185568&postcount=3

[Stoller]

I have a Ximeta 2.5HD media player. It works great runs off USB. PC treats it just like another drive. Plug in power supply and AV cable and connect it to a TV to view photos (music/movies). Has a wireless remote for TV control. Can adjust brightness, contrast and saturation as well as display size/aspect. I bought mine at Fry's for around a hundred bucks. Find someone who knows something and ask for a USB external hard drive enclosure. They start around $30 but don't inclued the ability to run with out PC and play on TV which I think is a big plus.

[fractalgfx]

It's more work, but I think DVD backups are the smartest way to go. RAID is the easiest solution, but it isn't perfect. RAID can protect you from a hard drive failure, but if the RAID controller goes bad you can get into trouble. A second hard drive is more work, but less expensive.

These aren't bad solutions, but hard drives are still the least reliable computer component. DVD's and CD's might be small, but they last a long time.

[jcon]

Western Digital MyBook external hard drive. Either 250GB or 500GB. Both very cheap and the MyBook series are VERY small. About the size of one of those portable music CD books. I have one and am very pleased with it and eventually will be getting another.

I think 120GB might be a bit small, it will fill up very quickly with photos.


FWIW, I use the external and DVDs to back up, that way I have double protection.

If you plan to buy online, use NewEgg.com. EXCELLENT prices and very reliable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136022

I lay mine flat, so it takes up even less space(about 6 inches wide).

[mattdm]

I'd go a step further than saying RAID isn't enough: you don't have a backup until your data is out of your house.

[timmciglobal]

My suggestion for photos?

External drive + DVD's in a bank safe is the best route.

I'd suggest the mybook series also. The external firewire/usb2 ones are quite nice.

Tim

[rtronick]

I back up photos to the following media.
1. 250GB external hard drive
2. DVD
3. Mozy Online Backup
Mozy gives you 2GB's of offsite backup space free. Unlimited space is just $4.95/month. It works great!

http://mozy.com/

Randy T

[JMBZ71]

I'd go a step further than saying RAID isn't enough: you don't have a backup until your data is out of your house.

Leo LaPorte "The Tech Guy" said the same thing this week. Assuming you don't work out of your home, he suggested keeping a backup of your data at your workplace. To each his own, but I don't know that I'd trust an online service to backup my data. Too many dot coms are here today, gone tomorrow.

[mattdm]

Leo LaPorte "The Tech Guy" said the same thing this week. Assuming you don't work out of your home, he suggested keeping a backup of your data at your workplace. To each his own, but I don't know that I'd trust an online service to backup my data. Too many dot coms are here today, gone tomorrow.

Yeah, that'd be a concern of mine too. However, if it's not your sole backup, it still seems like a great idea. If they were to go belly-up, you'd need to find a new backup provider, but hopefully you wouldn't need to do a restore during that window. (And in the meantime, you'd know to be extra careful.)