My 1st External Harddrive; a couple of questions:

[kwitel]

Im about to buy my first HD for a Toshiba Laptop with unfortunately a 1.1 USB port. The primary reason I am getting onw is simply to backup all my files and maybe to use as an active HD in the future when my laptop fills up.

Some q's:

1) USB powered vs. Seperate power source: any advantages/disadvantages to each? I know the former is a bit more expensive. Will the USB slow down my laptop when my laptop is plugged in? (not going to use the HD on the go).

2) Which is more reliable? (the USB's can be had for quite cheap online)

3) How do I manage my monthly back-up sessions? (is there some sort of simple software I can get?-funds are limited).

4) Anything in particular I should be looking for?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanx,

-Kwitel

 

[cire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 1) USB powered vs. Seperate power source: any advantages/disadvantages to each? I know the former is a bit more expensive. Will the USB slow down my laptop when my laptop is plugged in? (not going to use the HD on the go).

depends on what kind of external HD you end up buying. the ones based off 2.5in laptop HDs are most, if not all USB powered, but the ones based off 3.5in standard desktop HDs are all wall powered. the only disadvantage with going USB powered is that it drains more battery
Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 2) Which is more reliable? (the USB's can be had for quite cheap online)

which what?
Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 3) How do I manage my monthly back-up sessions? (is there some sort of simple software I can get?-funds are limited).

drag and drop through windows explorer is free
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Originally Posted by kwitel 4) Anything in particular I should be looking for?

the most cost effective way to do this is buying a 3.5in HD enclosure that has a cooling fan and throwing in a Seagate HD of whatever size you want. pretty much all enclosures are about the same.

 

[jjhatfield]

I bought a Seagate 250gig and an Ultra 3.5 Enclosure and had them together in a few minutes, like legos. Inexpensive to if you shop around. I prefer all my large external devices to have external power, but thats just my personal perference.

My laptop is a desktop replacement, it never moves, so thats not a problem for me.

 

[kwitel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cire depends on what kind of external HD you end up buying. the ones based off 2.5in laptop HDs are most, if not all USB powered, but the ones based off 3.5in standard desktop HDs are all wall powered. the only disadvantage with going USB powered is that it drains more battery which what? drag and drop through windows explorer is free the most cost effective way to do this is buying a 3.5in HD enclosure that has a cooling fan and throwing in a Seagate HD of whatever size you want. pretty much all enclosures are about the same.

you ask which what...which Hard Drive, what else?

I asked which is more reliable, the one that connects through USB or the one with the External Powersource.

As for your second resonse "drag and drop through windows explorer is free". Im not understanding this answer-is drag and drop a program?

I think its quite obvious I dont have a clue as to what im doing so some further explanation would help-thanx.

 

[muckluck]

Buy any 3.5" HDD enclosure, and throw in any 3.5" drive that has the same interface as the enclsoure. Enclosures are cheap (~$20.00) and HDDs are getting cheap (~$70 120 GB).

 

[echo1]

When you plug in the ex. hard drive it will show up as another drive letter in your explorer or file manager, You can use it to drag and drop like any other internal hard drives,flopppy drives etc.
Which is better,they both work.I like the 2.5 drives better but I use mine from computer to computer. In its case it is about the size of your hand.

 

[floydenheimer]

Microsoft SyncToy is a free program that is pretty nice. It doesn't have the feature to run at regular scheduled intervals, but it really only takes 1 push of a button once you get it setup. You get what you pay for!

Get it here.

As usual, I'll pimp AMS enclosures because they're the best.

Here is a 400GB seagate for $110. Seagates are the most reliable of hard drives.

You didn't really give a price range so that's the best I can do at reading your mind.

 

[russdog]

3.5" drives will give you a ton more GB-per-$ than 2.5" drives will. They also require a USB enclosure that you plug into the wall.

It is normal for people to bitch about many, if not all, brand names. Almost nobody bitches about Seagate. If you watch places like TigerDirect and Buy.com, it's easy to find 120GB for ~$60. I think TigerDirect now has a 250GB for $65 after rebate. I think it's a bargain, I'd get one, I just don't need another one.

You will get conflicting advice about whether you need an enclosure with a fan vs. just aluminum contruction to keep it cool. I don't want to tempt fate, so I use enclosures that have a fan. It's probably OK to have backups that are rarely used in enclsoures without a fan. At first glance, enclosures with a fan can look expensive. But if you're patient and watch sales, you can get them for $20-$25.

For synching, I use Synchromagic. I like it a lot, so once I found it I quit looking. It gives you eleventy-seven synch options. (You don't realize all the different things that "synch" might mean until you see the choices.) Synchromagic has "Home" and "Pro" versions. I forget what the difference is, but after trying the Home version I paid them a few bucks for the Pro version. No regrets, and now I couldn't live without it. People who tell you to use drag-and-drop haven't done this very much. Synchromagic recognizes what needs updating and what doesn't, and it does what is needed.

I would never ever ever trust just one hard drive with my music files. This is because it took me a month to get high quality EAC rips of 700 CD's. I never want to do that again. So I make sure that I keep 2 backup hard drives that are up to date as spares. I may be nuts to keep 2 backups, but it is only sane to keep at least 1 backup. If you do this, make sure the spare backup is somewhere else, up on a shelf and not plugged into anything.

It's an easy 2-minute job to put the drive in the enclosure. I find it helpful to assign custom drive letters towards the end of the alphabet to each of my USB drives. That way, neither I nor Synchromagic can get confused about which one is which. If you don't do that, then Windows just picks the next letter as you plug them in, so that the order in which you plug them in determines which one is which letter. I figure that could be a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[lini]

kwitel: If you only have USB 1.1 speed, it won't be fun. Does the notebook have a FireWire port, by any chance? Or a Type II PCMCIA CardBus slot where you could add a cheap USB 2.0 card (~ US$ 15)?

As for the backup software, if you want to save all your files anyway, then I'd recommend to use some imaging software (e.g. Norton Ghost, Powerquest/Symantec Drive Image...).

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[cerbie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 1) USB powered vs. Seperate power source: any advantages/disadvantages to each? I know the former is a bit more expensive. Will the USB slow down my laptop when my laptop is plugged in? (not going to use the HD on the go).

Your laptop won't be significantly slowed down unless it is very slow. With anything newer than a PIII (except a P4 using SDR SDRAM, of course), it will basically be transparent.

However, USB 1.1...OK, look, it's going to be deathly slow. At best, you'll get 1MB/s. 20 or so is typical with 2.5" drives, and even better with small bursts.

Quote:

2) Which is more reliable? (the USB's can be had for quite cheap online)

External power, but it does meant having a brick. Most 2.5" drives can exceed the current that USB is supposed to offer. However, I've not noticed any trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if the ratings on drives are liberal, or if they are transient enough for capacitors on the enclosure's side to handle. USB is not supposed to give more than 500ma@5V (2.5W). If you have problems, one solution would be a powered USB hub, which can generally be had for $15 or under, shipped. A small one and velro dots to attach to your laptop, and you'll have the advantages of brick power, and more USB ports.

With 3.5" HDDs, you must use external power.

Quote:

3) How do I manage my monthly back-up sessions? (is there some sort of simple software I can get?-funds are limited).

Karen's Replicator.

4) Anything in particular I should be looking for?[/QUOTE]It has 1.1 port: what OS are you running?

 

[lipidicman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cerbie However, USB 1.1...OK, look, it's going to be deathly slow. At best, you'll get 1MB/s. 20 or so is typical with 2.5" drives, and even better with small bursts.

To put this into perspective 3.5GB will take an hour!

My 20 gig USB1 drive used to take 8 hours to write. I would not even consider a 20Gb+ drive in USB1.1 mode

 

[jjhatfield]

Quote:

Originally Posted by floydenheimer Microsoft SyncToy is a free program that is pretty nice. It doesn't have the feature to run at regular scheduled intervals, but it really only takes 1 push of a button once you get it setup. You get what you pay for! Get it here. As usual, I'll pimp AMS enclosures because they're the best. Here is a 400GB seagate for $110. Seagates are the most reliable of hard drives. You didn't really give a price range so that's the best I can do at reading your mind.

\

I've never seen AMS enclosures, those look great! And a 400gb seagate at 110 is a steal. 110 + 40 = 150USD for a 400gb external drive? Holla!

 

[K2Grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel As for your second resonse "drag and drop through windows explorer is free". Im not understanding this answer-is drag and drop a program? I think its quite obvious I dont have a clue as to what im doing so some further explanation would help-thanx.

When the term drag and drop is used, it refers to moving a file from one place to another by clicking on an icon, holding the mouse button down, moving it to another place, and releasing the button.

Basically, it means that you can transfer files onto and off an external hard drive in the same manner, using the same methods, that you can use to transfer files to and from different locations on your own hard drive; for example, from one folder to another. No specialized software is necessary, or even necessarily desirable.

BTW, make sure your HD and HD enclosure are compatible. If your enclosure is for 3.5' drives, buy a 3.5' drive. If your enclosure supports IDE, buy an IDE drive (as opposed to say, SATA II; although I could be wrong on this, I believe they use different connectors).

 

[pedxing]

The AMS external drives with a big fan are good. I own one and recommend them. The only problem is that they cool way better with the case off.

Many other people suggest AZIO and galaxy metal gear box as external enclosure solutions.

I suggest getting a 3.5" disk because they are bang for the buck.

USB 1.1 is very slow and probably impractical. In addition of buying an external case, you may want to look for a router with USB storage capability (you can connect and external USB storage device to the router). I think you can pick one up for like a $100. This way, you can transfer the data quickly over the network.

I suggest sticking to Western Digital or Seagate drives.

 

[lipidicman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedxing In addition of buying an external case, you may want to look for a router with USB storage capability (you can connect and external USB storage device to the router). I think you can pick one up for like a $100. This way, you can transfer the data quickly over the network.

If you have gigabit or 100 baseT networking! if the machine doesn't have usb2, it may not!