USB Hard Drive - Backup recommendations

[sammm]

After my home PC crash last week I've decided it probably wise to invest in some sort of backup strategy. (My last backup was July 2005 )

A USB attached hard-drive seems like an easy solution. Like this 80GB Western Digital. LINKIE

Anyone have an opinion?

[Treibenschnell]

Anyone have an opinion?

That's exactly what we have as our backup... it works extremely well, especially if you have an auto-backup function setup.

[tailchaser]

Bigger is better... Fry's has a 200GB for 129 after rebate...

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/#Hard%20Drives

[Kakkyo]

As far as brands of drives go, Western Digital and Seagate are on the top of their game. I can vouch for the reliability of their drives. Maxtor, however has become not as good as they used to be. But if you need a TCB solution for an external drive, buy a drive (like this Seagate 200GB IDE/ATA for $40 after the $40 rebate) and then buy a good and reliable external enclosure for cheap. The "prepack" drives are nice, but sometimes their prices just break wallets.

Just another insight for you!

[TheChadVIII]

I got a NexStar external hard drive enclosure at last year's micro-center Black Friday Sale for $15, but they run for about $30-40 and I used a 120gig Maxtor I had laying around.

SOO... if you wanna find yourself a good external hard drive enclosure, Like Kakkyo said, thats the way to go usually. That Seagate is tempting by itself!

And this is the exact enclosure I have, comes with USB cord and power cord, for $29 shipped.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817145125
And I'll vouch for its bullet-proofedness.

So theres your 200gig external for $70!

[Bolix]

As far as brands of drives go, Western Digital and Seagate are on the top of their game. I can vouch for the reliability of their drives. Maxtor, however has become not as good as they used to be. But if you need a TCB solution for an external drive, buy a drive (like this Seagate 200GB IDE/ATA for $40 after the $40 rebate) and then buy a good and reliable external enclosure for cheap. The "prepack" drives are nice, but sometimes their prices just break wallets.

Just another insight for you!

I'm gonna have to dissagree on Western Digital. I hate them and will never ever buy one of their products ever again. I had four drives go out in one year. When the last one went out it was well under warranty and I could have RMA'd it but I instead chose to tell them how shitty their product is and that I will sway everyone I possibly can away from their product.

Seagate on the otherhand is bullet proof.

[Kakkyo]

I'm gonna have to dissagree on Western Digital. I hate them and will never ever buy one of their products ever again. I had four drives go out in one year. When the last one went out it was well under warranty and I could have RMA'd it but I instead chose to tell them how shitty their product is and that I will sway everyone I possibly can away from their product.

True about WD's bad rep about possibly 6 years ago... That was when they couldn't make drives if their life depended on it. Though at that time, Maxtor was on top of their game and no one seemed to take notice of Seagate too often. The times have since changed and WD drives are now great while Maxtor's just suck now. Luckally, Seagate hasn't had any major flops in quality control.

[Bolix]

True about WD's bad rep about possibly 6 years ago... That was when they couldn't make drives if their life depended on it. Though at that time, Maxtor was on top of their game and no one seemed to take notice of Seagate too often. The times have since changed and WD drives are now great while Maxtor's just suck now. Luckally, Seagate hasn't had any major flops in quality control.

I would agree but that was two years ago when my drives crapped out, and I have heard many other people having similar problems with WD drives as late as December last year, so I am still very skeptical of them. It seems to me that it wasn't just a case of the IBM DeathStar drives and not a random fluke of crappy drives. I'd just rather not take my chances and stick with Hitachi/Seagate.

[tailchaser]

Hard drives are a religion.

I'm wary of Maxtor (who Seagate merged with) drives. I really like Maxtor externals, though, as they are in a fantastic enclosure that's worth the price premium over build your own externals.

That said, I've got a bunch of hard drives. Internal, external, you name it. Build your own. Maxtor. WD. Hitachi (used to be IBM). Even Seagate. Most of them have been running 24/7. I've had three drives fail (including laptop drives) in the last years. I'm a lucky bastard. All three gave warning signs (thanks, S.M.A.R.T.) and I didn't lose a single bit of data. Knock wood. I lost a Hitachi laptop drive in a Sony laptop (which cooked/cooks the drive with the RAM venting heat into the drive). I lost a Maxtor internal in a DVR (and I probably lost some "bits" of data, but hey... who cares with video, right?) that started developing weak sectors. RMA'd it and the replacement has been running 24/7 for 3 years. I lost a WD in a DVR. Developed a noisy bearing after 5 years. It's now a wall clock.