Advice on an external hard drive please.....

alison74

Hello

I can use my computer for basic things but otherwise am not techie minded.

Can someone please tell me if this external hard drive is any good ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0009F0T0C/ref=amb_link_macro_34819565/026-7086979-8359604?ie=UTF8


Do they just sit on top of your tower ? I have a lot of photo to store (thousands) and I figured that this would be a good way to store them so when it comes to getting a new computer (prob next year) I don't have to transfer them all over.

Is this what these are used for ? And do you have to back up the exterbal hard drive aswell ? It's all very confusing !

Any advice, pointer or links to info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

espresso

I have a similar one and Western Digital is one of the best manufacturers drives available, it's not often that you find a cheap branded drive. Basically you just plug it into a USB port as and when required and copy stuff across. If you are really worried about loosing data, you could also copy it onto CD's/DVD's for safe keeping.

alison74

Thanks for that info. What are the chances of losing the info from the hard drive ? Is a comparison it it breaking down like the chances of a digi camera breaking ? i.e It could happen, but probably won't and get a good couple of years out of it ?

And is the one from Amazon a good buy at that price ?

espresso

Data can be lost from any hard drive but that one is from one of the best manufacturers. It does look a good deal for a branded drive if the size (160GB) is right for you.