Questions about computer storage devices

[JasonL]

The only way this relates to tractors is that I have a lot of tractor pictures! Basically, what I'm wondering is what is the safest way to backup my pictures, files, etc. I have a laptop with an 80gig hard drive. My wife has organized our family pictures, and we currently have about 6gig worth. Our camera uses SDcards. Should I get an external drive, or thumb drives, or more SD cards? How is data stored on these devices? For the pictures, she just wants a backup so they should be just written to once. (CD's maybe?) I have already had one hard drive crash. Thanks for any help! Jason

 

[LMTC]

Watch the ads for Offfice Depot, Best Buy, etc. You can get 80-200 gig external HDs with rebate pretty reasonable. I bought a WD 160 gig "My Book for about $60 after rebate a few months ago. I also bought a 100 gig Maxtor internal HD for around $20 after rebate and installed it as a second HD.

 

[Bird]

My computer only came with a 20 gig hard drive, but then later I bought an 80 gig Maxtor and got it installed as Drive C (primary drive) and the original as Drive D (which I formatted and use only for my backups)

If I were doing it now, I'd probably have a hard time deciding whether to go the external hard drive route, mentioned by LMTC, or the USB flash drives favored by my brother and his son.

 

[dmccarty]

Jason,

I had a similar problem a few years ago and ended up getting external hard drives and DVD burner. They cost a bit more but I can move them to other systems if needed. My system really needs to be replaced and when I do in the next couple of years the externals will just plug into the new system.

Externals cost a bit more but for the flexibility in this case its worth it. I bought mine to save the videos of the kids as well as having space to create DVDs from the same videos. Videos require lots of disk space.

Later,
Dan

 

[JasonL]

Thanks for the replies. I guess my concern with hard drives has to do with the fact mine always seem to go bad! I'm wondering what storage devices will last for years if not written to over and over again. I think I heard somewhere that CD's/DVD's have a definite life span. Are USB thumb drives/ digital drives similar? Thanks Jason

 

[texbaylea]

Depending on how you might be planning to expand your computer system, you might go the way I did. Netgear has a unit, an SC101, that will accept 1 or 2 standard IDE drives. It is a stand alone on an ethernet network, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device. Now you don't need a full network with a hub and all, but just a crossed over cable between your laptop and the SC101.

If you use 2 drives you can mirror them, i.e. the same info is written on both drives so if one goes bad, replace it then use a provided utility to write the existing info on the new drive. About as safe as you can get unless you use CD/DVD's and store a copy some where secure and fire safe.

Don't go to BestBuy or the like to get a crossover cable, they won't know what you are talking about, probably claim it does not exist or can't be done that way. It is similar to the old null modem cable.

I have been using and assembling my own microcomputers since the mid 70's; these young hotshots don't know half of what they think they know.

Vernon

 

[riptides]

Well I use a combination of external hard drives (hey, THEY crap out too) and
DVD's (that are kept in a bank).

The DVDs are my long term storage, the HD's are transient.

-Mike Z.

 

[jwstewar]

A secondary attached hard drive is NOT the way to go for a couple of reasons. One if it is attached to the computer if a virus would happen to infect your computer it is suseptabled as well as your primary drive. Another problem is if your house would happen to take a power surge or water or burn then there goes your primary and your back-up. Another problem with this solution is human error, someone could delete something they didn't mean to.

I use a secondary drive to store my data - that is not my backup. It is stored there. In the event I need to reinstall Windows or whatever I can w/o having to worry about touching my data. A partition on the drive works just as well for this.

For my back-up I use a DDS3 SCSI tape drive to only back-up my data drive. I then take this tape and leave it at work. I use a product called Retrospect to do this automatically each morning at 2:00 AM. I don't worry about the OS/application drive since I figure I have the CDs and can reinstall that stuff.

In your situation, I think the best bet would be either a writable CD or DVD (better) drive. You can back up your files take them off site (either your office desk drawer or a bank deposit box if you have one) and your items are secured in the event of a disaster. Even if you have to reburn these items once a year (incremental back-ups should be done more frequently) it will still be far more reliable and secure than a secondary drive. Media for either of these devices are cheap. You could do incremental back-ups to an "RW" type of disc, but then do a "full" back up to an "R" type disc weekly, monthly, or yearly depending however long you feel comfortable.


Just my .02.

 

[jwstewar]

Mike looks like we are saying the same thing, you typed less and beat me to the punch.

 

[Bird]

Jim, that makes sense to me, but what do you think about the USB Flash Drives?