I need a back-up device that works, easily

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I have a Seagate Dashboard. It is supposed to be a back-up device. It has stopped working. What is a good piece of hardware that will not try to sell me an “upgrade” like Mimeo does? To buy the device, only to find that you need to buy an upgrade does not make me trust the company.

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http://smile.amazon.com/Passport-Portable-External-Storage-WDBY8L0020BBK-NESN/dp/B005HMKKH4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458419153&sr=1-1&keywords=wd+my+passport+2gb+encryption+usb+3.0

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Office Max/Office Depot/Staples combine, Costco, Sam’s Club, Fry’s, etc. sell numerous 1-3 TB platter-clatter pancake hard-drives that can be reformatted and used with only your chosen software for backups and restores. Macrium Reflect comes to mind as one of many choices.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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FWIW, the WD Passport I linked to above comes with it’s own auto-backup software that is easy to use.

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Any WD drive with encryption/SmartWare self-installing software/drivers and a non-standard drive interface, like the suggested Passport model is, will be a costly recovery job should anything go wrong (it does, see the 1* reviews for some examples). You can’t connect the bare drive to anything and WD’s answer when it goes kaput, helpfully suggesting some data recovery companies. Normal data recovery software will, at best, detect and perhaps recover a single encrypted file – that’s all there is of your data, inaccessible except to $$-$$$ data recovery companies.

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…a non-standard drive interface, like the suggested Passport model is, will be a costly recovery job should anything go wrong…

I gave up on WD & Seagate offerings w/ non-standard drive interfaces long ago.

The Seagate one I had w/ a non-standard drive interface failed but the 2TB HDD inside had standard SATA and power connectors so I was able to fit it to a generic enclosure (but I had to break into the enclosure to get the HDD out).

Since then I use standard HDDs fitted to generic enclosures. My preference is Vantec http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/index/21

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Don’t buy a WD Passport or similar automatic data-encription platter-clatter HD, unless you are wanting to have your images passworded and encripted.
Holdum333 and I recommend staying with platter-clatter hard-drives that allow full format and allows user choice of backup/restore program.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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…Can you attach a screen shot of the enclosure you use…

43944-Vantec

“Vantec NexStar CX”

About two years old, USB2, but Vantec has newer USB3 enclosures, e.g.: “Vantec NexStar NST-316S3-BK”.

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…Is the HHD inside that closure??…

Yes, of course. It is a standard Seagate 2TB SATA HDD.

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FWIW, my “WD My Passport 2TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 Black” was purchased from Amazon.com on 12/23/2012, lives in my right back pocket and is still going strong.

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I have a Seagate Dashboard. It is supposed to be a back-up device. It has stopped working. What is a good piece of hardware that will not try to sell me an “upgrade” like Mimeo does? To buy the device, only to find that you need to buy an upgrade does not make me trust the company.

Well, to start with Dashboard is a management/backup program that comes/came with Seagate drives. I had a 2TB Seagate drive a number of years ago and uninstalled the Dashboard program shortly after I found that it wasn’t what I wanted or needed.

Any decent external drive coupled with a good backup program (like Macrium Reflect Free) should do you just as well.

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