HDD or SSD for backup purposes?

Neil_Jones

Oh yeah regarding pen drives I probably should have said this earlier: Do not depend on them for long term data storage - they are cheap for a reason and that reason is they break easily. They're fine for taking stuff to and from home/work and for temporary storage - ie you can afford to lose what's on them.

Re Caddy - yes to answer your first question and to the second question, it would be the same as when you buy standalone external drives already - the only difference is you can swap the drive out for a bigger one later whereas with one you buy ready made you can't do that. Its no more reliable or unreliable than any other way of doing it. Mine's lasted 14 years. But it isn't plugged in very often.

bsod

they are cheap because there's hardly anything in them, and it's the value the marketplace places on them, nothing to do with longevity. I've never had one fail, or a hdd for that matter, but they both can (often due to user error in the case of flash)

The chances of the original, the primary backup, and further backups failing, all at the same time, when they are refreshed and checked monthly, are minute - if you are still worried, throw another hdd into the cycle.

A greater risk probably, is not backing up properly in the first place, or attaching everything in the middle of a virus outbreak

economic

bsod wrote: »

they are cheap because there's hardly anything in them, and it's the value the marketplace places on them, nothing to do with longevity. I've never had one fail, or a hdd for that matter, but they both can (often due to user error in the case of flash)

The chances of the original, the primary backup, and further backups failing, all at the same time, when they are refreshed and checked monthly, are minute - if you are still worried, throw another hdd into the cycle.

A greater risk probably, is not backing up properly in the first place, or attaching everything in the middle of a virus outbreak

cool thanks so i will go with my plan of original, backup1: HDD in a caddy, backup2: pen drive

Oblivion

My favourite backup media has always been the Western Digital 'My Passport' USB hard drives. Lovely and small and in my experience incredibly reliable. I have several of them and use them in rotation.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LQQHI8I/ref=sr_ob_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1518174931&sr=8-7