Best Connection of External Storage/Hard Drive

wizzer

On the back of my computer I have the following ports:

USB BIOS Flashback
USB 3.0
Power e-SATA 6G
USB 2

I think I understand that USB 2 is better/faster/newer than original USB and presumably USB 3.0 is better still? But I don't know anything about the others.

I want to buys some external storage to back up photos etc for safety. Given what I have above an anyone suggest the best options ?

I'm doing this not because I don't have space on my HD but more for safety/back up considerations.

Thanks

prowla

I would suggest USB3 (with USB2 compatibility), as this is the most standard interface, and so would allow you to restore onto another computer/laptop, and is sufficiently fast for saving photos.

Oblivion

Yes USB3 is the way to go as it's significantly faster than USB2.


If your wallet will run to it, I can personally recommend the Western Digital 'My Passport' external hard drives. They are USB3 (USB2 backward compatible) and are delightfully small and quiet. Also convenient is the fact that they get their power from the USB socket and don't require a separate power adapter so less trailing wires.
I have three of the 2 Terabyte models in different colours so that I can quickly tell them apart.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007IA3S22/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers


This Amazon Basics case is perfect for storing one in ...


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003LSTD38/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

amiaspden

Remember to disconnect your drive after you've finished backing up, because malware nasties such as Cryptolocker will attack any attached drives they find.

wizzer

Oblivion wrote: »

Yes USB3 is the way to go as it's significantly faster than USB2.


If your wallet will run to it, I can personally recommend the Western Digital 'My Passport' external hard drives. They are USB3 (USB2 backward compatible) and are delightfully small and quiet. Also convenient is the fact that they get their power from the USB socket and don't require a separate power adapter so less trailing wires.
I have three of the 2 Terabyte models in different colours so that I can quickly tell them apart.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007IA3S22/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers


This Amazon Basics case is perfect for storing one in ...


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003LSTD38/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the recommendation!

Oblivion

wizzer wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendation!

Just to mention one important thing since it sounds like you may not have used USB storage before.


The first time you plug the drive into a USB port, Windows will automatically load the appropriate drivers for it. It doesn't take long before a little window will pop up to tell you it's now ready for use.


When you've finished with it, you mustn't simply disconnect it from the USB port or you could lose or corrupt buffered data that is still being written to the drive or is in use by some programme. Look down on the taskbar (bottom right) and you will see a little icon that shows a USB device is connected. Click on that and select 'Eject USB Device' and wait until a message pops up to say it's safe to disconnect.


Sorry if you already knew that but better to be safe.

wizzer

Oblivion wrote: »

Just to mention one important thing since it sounds like you may not have used USB storage before.


The first time you plug the drive into a USB port, Windows will automatically load the appropriate drivers for it. It doesn't take long before a little window will pop up to tell you it's now ready for use.


When you've finished with it, you mustn't simply disconnect it from the USB port or you could lose or corrupt buffered data that is still being written to the drive or is in use by some programme. Look down on the taskbar (bottom right) and you will see a little icon that shows a USB device is connected. Click on that and select 'Eject USB Device' and wait until a message pops up to say it's safe to disconnect.


Sorry if you already knew that but better to be safe.

Thanks - yes picked up on that.

One further query - the cable that came with the WD looks like USB 3 at one end and what I'd call a normal USB 1/2 at the other presumably to make it backward compatible.

I've already had a little message pop up from the task bar saying I could get better speeds if I use a 'super fast' USB 3 connection.

So does a proper USB 3 cable look the same at both ends?

Thanks

tberry6686

The computer end of the USB cable should have a blue plastic insert instead of the black USB 2 kind. Make sure it is plugged into the USB 3 port on the computer, it's easy to plug it into the wrong one.

wizzer

tberry6686 wrote: »

The computer end of the USB cable should have a blue plastic insert instead of the black USB 2 kind. Make sure it is plugged into the USB 3 port on the computer, it's easy to plug it into the wrong one.

Sorry blue plastic insert - not sure there was one!

vacheron

On the back of your computer some of your USB sockets should be blue. These are the USB3 compatible ports. If your computer is more than a couple of years old you may not have any, in which case just connect the lead supplied with the drive to one of your normal black sockets. However this will only allow the drive to operate at USB2 speeds.

If you don't have any blue USB3 sockets you can buy a USB3 expansion card to go in your computer for about a tenner which will provide some USB3 sockets for you, it all boils down to how fast you want your backups to take.

Both USB2 and USB3 leads look the same from the outside but if you look into the plug you will see extra pins behind the usual 4 copper pins. These are the new USB3 connectors which aren't there on the older black sockets and are only picked up by the newer blue sockets.

bluesnake

wizzer wrote: »

Sorry blue plastic insert - not sure there was one!

USB3 looks the same as usb2 and can be plugged nto each other, however usb has more connections on the plug and is blue coloured