Backup Device

Topic

New Reply

It’s time for a new backup device. I’ve heard that the best way to go is a huge (100GB?), USB external hard drive. Any thoughts or articles you’d recommend? Thanks!

Reply | Quote

Replies

Actually, 100GB isn’t “huge” these days. With the size of today’s hard drives, 100GB is probably on the small size. In any event, I’ve been using an external USB drive for a few years now and I find it ideal. I have 4 machines which I backup an a regular basis, and I simply move the external USB from machine to machine.

Reply | Quote

Just pickup a Seagate 500 GIG USB drive for the wife’s machines, it was for $189.00

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

And Harris Technology in Australia is offering a 1Tb for AUD799!!

Reply | Quote

Your post brought another take-off on this subject back to my mind. I realize that the international flavor of this industry is such that we are all likely to see names we don’t recognize from “across the pond.” But even right here in the USA, talking about the rock-dropping hard drive prices we see, I wonder about some of the names that I’ve never heard of. In this page for example ( Buy.com – Buy External USB Hard Drives ) there are names like Fantom and Cavalry that I’m not familiar with and I wonder about their reliability. It could be just me being out of touch, so I’ve been Googling for a list of drive manufacturers and those two names, for example, are not included in anything I find. Maybe it’s because they OEM their drives from one of the other manufacturers.

Reply | Quote

A Google for

cavalry usb drive manufacturer

brought up http://www.cavalrystorage.com/%5B/url%5D

and

fantom usb drive manufacturer

brought up http://www.fantomdrives.com[/url%5D

– or do I misunderstand your point?

Reply | Quote

In a manner of speaking. I wasn’t looking for web sites of that “brand.” I was trying to learn something about them from someone OTHER than they themselves. So, I started searching (but not very hard, I admit) for lists of drive manufacturers, thinking I might see some opinions or reviews, if you will. I guess it’s one of those things that I’m hesitant to recommend a product to someone needing a drive when, not only do I have no experience with it, but I don’t hear the name being bandied about in circles like the Lounge and elsewhere.

Reply | Quote

Al,

My apology, Harris Technology is the retailer. The manufacturer of this particular HDD was LaCie.

Reply | Quote

Hi Al,

I recently bought a 320Gb “Conceptronic USB Drive” as the box advertised in big letters. But reading the small print it becomes clear that Conceptronic only manufactures the casing and interface, and puts a Western Digital Caviar inside. So maybe these brands you mention do the same trick.

Reply | Quote

That was my idea behind the question, Jan. Great example, thank you. If a person has a particular bias against or a preference for some company, it’s nice to know the innards (the OEM story).

Reply | Quote

It’s true what everyone is saying – sizes are up and prices are down. I bought my first external USB drive about a year ago from Buy.com. I bought a Seagate 100 gig drive for $90. A few months later, I bought another Seagate, this time 160 gig for about the same price, what with “special” discounts, etc. They ARE small by current standards, but I only backup one machine, so I’m able to keep 4 or 5 backups on each one.

Reply | Quote