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Thread: Back-up Hard Drives

  1. #1
    John W. Sumner
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    Default Back-up Hard Drives

    What is the external hard drive of choice now?

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    Co-Founder James Shadle's Avatar
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    Anything USB 3.0 if your computer has that capability.
    USB 3.0 is fast, fast! I love it.

    Make sure it is a 7200 rpm drive and not a 5400 rpm drive.

    Interface in order of my preference:
    USB 3.0
    eSATA
    USB 2.0
    Last edited by James Shadle; 11-26-2010 at 05:11 PM.

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    If you have a modern operating system, get the new 3 Terabyte drives that have just come out (usb 3). XP-23-bit won't see all of the drive, and may not see it at all.

    Also, for portable (laptop size) drives, 1.5x terabytes are out too (and usb 3).

    Roger

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    i am using a drobo back up system on my local network. with 8TB of space. it seems to work pretty good for what i am doing. have not had any problems with it. or really the need to test it out with a system failure as of yet.

    -Susan

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    Quote Originally Posted by Susan Griffith View Post
    i am using a drobo back up system on my local network. with 8TB of space. it seems to work pretty good for what i am doing. have not had any problems with it. or really the need to test it out with a system failure as of yet.

    -Susan
    Susan,
    I assume the drobo is a RAID 5 system, correct?

    Is the drobo at the same location as your main computer? Do you have an off-site backup?
    If not, how would you feel if all were lost in a flood/fire/hurricane/tornado/etc?

    Raid systems can also fail. In the last few years I have had two raid 5 systems fail: fan/power supply failure taking out all 16 drives in each box. All data lost on the array. It was backed up to other drives including off site, so no actual data loss.

    Never trust a single backup.

    Roger

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    Hi Roger,

    I have had raid systems fail before.. they do require a bit of maintenance.. i replace the hard drives every other year or so... then use the old drives in an external usb enclosure for travel backups.

    The drobo system is on my local network at home, but i am lucky enough to have unlimited disk space at work for an off site back up.

    The drobo is primarily an immediate retrieval with out being compressed, should i delete, loose, or generally mess up (which are all quite possible).

    I even go so far as to have the images that are really dear to my heart stored on DVD. There are just some images you can never live with out. :D

    -Susan

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    BPN Member Patrick Sparkman's Avatar
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    Roger, when you mention a 1.5 Tb laptop drive, are you referring to a Raid 0 750 Gb external drive? Or is there a 1.5 Tb single drive coming out?
    Best

    Patrick Sparkman

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Sparkman View Post
    Roger, when you mention a 1.5 Tb laptop drive, are you referring to a Raid 0 750 Gb external drive? Or is there a 1.5 Tb single drive coming out?
    Patrick,
    1.5TB laptop size single drives are out. I just bought 3 this weekend at a local big box store. Seagate. I thin western digital has them too. powered only by the USB cable. The seagates are usb 3 (and back compatible).

    Roger

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