USB Hard Drive recommendations?

HeadAboveWater

Hi all

OH was using my laptop at the weekend and got the blue screen of death :eek:

Panic mode!

Has been working fine since and got another back up of files and photos done so we're good!

However... music! I don't have this backed up, and a lot of the CDs I've either passed on, sold, or given to charity. I've only got a 16GB USB stick at the minute which is fine for files and pics, but would like something bigger for backing up music just in case my laptop decides to die!

My laptop has an 80GB hard drive (I think!!) so my back up drive won't need to be any bigger than that. My first place to look is always ebay. I'd buy new and I'd buy from the UK. Are there any makes I should avoid, or even any particular make I should go for?

Thanks for your help!

WhiteChristmas

First of all, it is traditional for the first response to tell you that, when you sell or otherwise dispose of the original CDs, you have to delete the copies you've made otherwise you're breaking the law.

OK, so now that you've done that, you need to back up the remaining files. I'm tempted to suggest that, for such a small amount of data, you'd be as well to make a few copies on DVD and store them properly and separately.

If you really, really want a USB hard drive, I'd buy an enclosure from eBay and a suitably sized hard drive from Western Digital. The USB electronic interface is likely to be the weakest point of any pre-assembled one you buy so you might as well be familiar with how it all fits together for the day you need to extract the drive from the casing.

HeadAboveWater

Thanks for the reply

I'm well aware of the law and have already been sorting that bit out, but thank you for the reminder!

Not exactly looking forward to the day when I have to switch hard drives but there you have it. Built in recovery but I'd already created the recovery discs way back when I got the laptop.

I probably could get away with just backing up onto DVDs. Would need to check the total size of everything together right enough. Figured USB HDD would be a lot quicker and handier if I was transferring data, rather than fiddling about with DVDs.

esuhl

WhiteChristmas wrote: »

First of all, it is traditional for the first response to tell you that, when you sell or otherwise dispose of the original CDs, you have to delete the copies you've made otherwise you're breaking the law.

Actually, it's unlawful (but not illegal for personal use) to rip the CDs in the first place. Keeping the files you ripped isn't in itself unlawful or illegal... There's no additional legal penalty. But that's the law for you... :-/

You could just get a new drive, install it internally, then use another OS (a live Linux distro? A DOS boot disk?) to transfer your personal files before you re-install Windows.

Or maybe a USB/SATA interface would suffice if you don't need the enclosure itself: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-TO-SATA-IDE-CABLE-FOR-HDD-WITH-POWER-ADAPTER-CONVERTER-/150896142864?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters&hash=item23221c6a10

hanwellmike

You can buy a 250 gb or 320 gb portable external hard drive from Amazon for less than £40. If you go for a well known name eg Toshiba, Seagate, Freecom or Western Digital you should be ok. Not a lot of money and it will work straight out of the box.

closed

Blue screens are more likely to be a software problem than hardware

disk imaging makes recovery easy

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

the choice is enormous

http://www.ebuyer.com/288344-toshiba-500gb-stor-e-basics-hard-drive-hdtb105ek3aa

HeadAboveWater

Thanks all for the replies

Blue screen, yes agreed, but the noise the laptop was making could've woke the dead! :eek:

Was just a not-so-gentle reminder for me that I needed to get my butt in gear and make sure my backups were up to date. HW or SW related problem is irrelevant!!

I didn't make a note of the error number when it came up as the noise was so deafening!

booler

I have been using one of these for four years without a hitch. Seagate seem to be good drives.

hanwellmike

OP should note that the smaller portable drives do not need a power source. Just plug them into the USB port and away you go. The larger ''desktop'' (non portable) drives do require do be plugged in to work. I would have thought for a laptop you would want a portable drive but your choice.

HeadAboveWater

Thanks all again

Laptop is rather on the huge and heavy side so never goes further than between bedroom/living room/kitchen!!

Portable USB HDD will suit me just fine. Thanks for the recommendations on the makes. WD would prob be my first option. FS I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. But that's me!!

Thanks again

HeadAboveWater

Hi and sorry to resurrect this thread!

Wee question just and sorry for (probably!) sounding stupid!!

Got my USB HDD delivered this morning - hunky dorey. It comes with a USB cable (duh!) What I don't get is why it's got 1 USB at one end, and 2 USB connections at the other. Can I assume it can be like a mini network by connecting to 2 other devices at once?

EDIT:
Typical! Just found this