External HDs, backups and system image

Grampus8

Hi chums!

What is the best external HD to buy?

Also, do you have to do a system image every time you backup?

Isn;t a system image like a repair disc?

Also, I've had nothing but props with Western Dig so am giving seagate a go, any good?

Sorry for the raft of questions.

agrinnall

I have external drives from Transcend and LaCie, they all work fine but having lost data when I dropped a drive on a hard surface I now only buy ruggedized ones, and I think the Transcend is the best of those.

There's no need to do a system image every time, I use paid for back up software (Acronis True Image) but I also make copies of the data folders on my computer.

The other thing is not to rely totally on a single backup but at least copy your data to a second source, even if it's just a USB drive.

Grampus8

good point pal.

forgotmyname

A disc image takes a snapshot of the drive and you can backup and restore quickly.

Takes a few minutes to restore everything to a new drive and it powers up exactly the same.

Backups can read and update single files or folders incrementally. It can scan to see if changes have been made and only update the new stuff.

Can take longer though.

When i do a fresh install i take several disc images. One with just windows then another after installing the updates and again after installing the essential software.