External Storage - USB?

Infidel

Hi.

Just a quick question. My PC is pretty much full to the brim so I need to offload some stuff (also I should ideally back-up all my photos and music regardless - just in case it finally conks out).

I was wondering if instead of buying an external hard drive it might be better to get some USB storage devices (like the small ones that look like small mp3 players).....I've seen small ones that are around 64gig.

Anyway, just wanted people's opinions on the pros and cons. Are they reliable? And finally a recommendation on a good place to buy at a good price (high street or internet).

I'm looking for a minimum of around 200gig........but it doesn't have to be on the same device. I heard that often it's better not to put all your eggs in one basket anyway.

Thanks.

Anne_Marie_2

Definitely back up your important files. There have been so many threads on this subject, when the hard drive has crashed, looking for help in recovery. Better to do it now, and keep on backing up, as a matter of course, rather than lose altogether, or have to pay a fortune to recover your data.

I'd go for a portable hard drive every time, rather than several usb flash drives. It will be cheaper and more reliable. I've had several usb flash drives which have fallen to bits, over the years, they are just not as durable.
You could buy 4 64 GB usb flash drives, costing £15 each, to suit your requirements, or buy something like this, which will more than cover what you need, at the moment. It's a no brainer really.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Slimline-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B008PABFX8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423135728&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+portable+hard+drive

droopsnoot

Both have pros and cons - flash memory has a finite number of read/write cycles before it starts to cause problems, hard drives are relatively fragile and will be less happy to be dropped on a concrete floor than a USB memory stick. As well as a portable HDD or USB stick there is another method - the USB drive "bay" which allows you to put a normal SATA hard drive in the dock and use it as an external drive. Mine has to be connected to mains for power, but it does let me use a load of old small-capacity SATA drives as backup.

I've been backing stuff up to various USB hard drives for some time without any serious issues, but I also use USB memory sticks for some stuff. Price per Mb I think is lower for hard disks than it is for memory sticks. Have a look at ebuyer.com for prices, though I'm sure there are many other similarly-priced outlets. Last time I looked a 32Gb USB stick was slightly less than half the price of a 64Gb stick, so as long as the files can be logically split it would be better to buy two of the smaller ones, but again that will come down. I've just had an email through for a 1Tb portable drive for just under £40 from ebuyer.

mac.d

Anne_Marie wrote: »

I'd go for a portable hard drive every time, rather than several usb flash drives. It will be cheaper and more reliable. I've had several usb flash drives which have fallen to bits, over the years, they are just not as durable.
You could buy 4 64 GB usb flash drives, costing £15 each, to suit your requirements, or buy something like this, which will more than cover what you need, at the moment. It's a no brainer really.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Slimline-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B008PABFX8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423135728&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+portable+hard+drive

I'd second this. And if you want to make your back-ups even safer (hard drives do fail too), buy your 1TB external hard drive, and a couple of smaller flash drives for a second back up copy of your really important files/photos, and also take advantage of some cloud storage too.

macman

Clone the PC drive to a larger replacement drive and use that in the PC. Then use the older drive in a USB caddy to back up to, if it's big enough.

grumpycrab

macman wrote: »

...Then use the older drive in a USB caddy to back up to

dilemma. Or keep the older drive as an archive...

gjchester

Infidel wrote: »

Hi.

Just a quick question. My PC is pretty much full to the brim so I need to offload some stuff (also I should ideally back-up all my photos and music regardless - just in case it finally conks out).

Your really asking two questions, one is how do you get more space on the drive and the second is how can you do a backup regime.

More space is easy, either delete stuff you don't need, or buy a bigger hard drive and clone your disk to a bigger drive as Macman said. (Macrium Reflect can do this and it'sfree..)

For a backup and this may sound odd but if you offload stuff you are not backing it up.

A backup is a second copy, if you copy the files from the PC to another device, then delete them on the PC you don't have a backup you still only have one copy.

What you probably need to do is sit down and take a good look at your PC, Most of us (I know I do) keep software long after we really need it, just because we may need it. (Maybe you have software for a MP3 player that died years ago)

Second, Look at what software you have installed, and what you have install disks for. If you have a CD you probably don't need to back that up, worst case you re-install it. Windows can be pretty big, but if that fails you re-install Windows, Run Windows update it and it will find all the files it needs through a Windows update. [Note: if you have XP that's different, you'd need to back it up entirely....] You should be able to calculate the sort of size you need.

Taking off old software you'll never used and trying to calcualte the size of software should give you a size of your documents.

You should now have a idea of how much data you really have, and know where to go from here.

In terms of devices, both hard drive and flash drives fail, Flash drives tend to be seen as less reliable, as most of the time we carry there everywhere and treat them badly. You may have a USB drive on your keys,. but you'd never dream of putting a small hard drive on a keyring and putting it through what a USB goes through.
That said recovery from a hard drive is more likely to succeed, but its still costly.

So Where do you go?

Money no object, I'd suggest you get two hard drives at least as big has your hard drive, label them Backup1 and Backup2 and use something like Macrium Reflect to image the hard drive to Backup1 on weekend 1. After the backups done disconnect it from your PC.

Next weekend you do the same but image it to Backup2, weekend 3 you use Backup1 and keep cycling them around. That way you always have a backup that's seperate to your PC.
If you want to be extreme store the one not in use at someone else s house or at work.

This IS a hassle, but its the cheapest way to do reliable backups you have control over.

Cheaper options are to just have one drive, and clone the drive on a weekly basis, the risk is that if you hae a issue (say power surge) in the middle of the backup you could destroy the master and the backup at the same time, its a remote issue but possible.

Other options are cloud services, (you may even have one with a Antivirus package or your ISP) but they typically only copy your user files not back up the PC, and you usually have to pay yearly to use them.

Infidel

Thansk everyone.

So it looks like the best option is to buy one of those 1Tera external drives (I take it it's better to buy branded - like the posted Samsung?). and grab a few 32-64 usb storage devices as extra back-up and also for the portability options - like if travelling I'd rather not have to take an external HD with me (for some of the reasons mentioned).

I take it Amazon is always the place to search?

Anne_Marie_2

I only posted the Samsung as an example, although I do have a few, and can recommend for its durability so far. I also have a Toshiba and a really old Iomega, which are both great too, and have stood up to the test of time. There are other really good makes out there. Best thing really is to check out reviews when you are looking.

As for Amazon, again, it was just an example, there are many places to buy, and may be cheaper than Amazon. Have a look on HotUKDeals and look for portable hard drive in search, and see if there are any current deals on there.

Carrying a portable hard drive about is really hardly a big deal, when travelling. They are extremely light, and take up little space. You might want to consider buying a couple rather than going for usb flash drives.

prowla

I would suggest an external drive to supplement your existing one.

However, note that data held in only one place is susceptible to failure.

(Memo to self: must back up my data too!!!)

tavernman

prowla wrote: »

I would suggest an external drive to supplement your existing one.

However, note that data held in only one place is susceptible to failure.

(Memo to self: must back up my data too!!!)

If the data is worth keeping one device is never going to be enough, redundancy is the key word...
How many times do people come on forums like this and say my PC/Tablet/Phone is borked can I recover my selfies/Priceless photos of my baby/CVs/Accounts etc.?

Paranoia says use at least two devices and keep one off site, but hey if the house burns down/gets flooded then the data tends to blend into the background.