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Recommendations for good external hard drive solutions?
superboyac:
OK, I think I've finally settled on my backup solution. Here are the details:
My current tower has four 5.25" bays, all of which are being used in the following order:
--main hard drive in special fixed cooling enclosure
--2nd hard drive in a removeable bay/tray enclosure
--DVD player
--DVD recorder
(I have two DVD drives because I didn't have a burner when I built the computer in 2001)
So, here is what I will have to buy:
--two SATA 500GB hard drives (I think I prefer Seagate's new 7200.10 line)
--The new Snap-In mobile rack from Addonics
http://www.addonics.com/products/mobile_rack/aesnapmrsa.asp
--I probably need some kind of SATA PCI card or something since my computer doesn't support SATA at this time.
The reason why I like Addonic's snap in rack is because I can just slide the bare drive in and out. One of the new drives will be kept in there for the most part and backup the other two main drives. Then, once a month, I will bring the other new drive (from some offsite location) and switch the drives in the rack and backup the other two drives again. I like that I can just use the bare drive. Since I have no more available 5.25" racks, I will remove the DVD player, which I don't need anyway.
For backing up, I will actually use some kind of synchronization software like DirSync. The reason why I do this instead of imaging is because I actually want the files useable on a standalone basis on the drive. There are no program files being backed up, just program settings, music, documents, etc. I don't really care if my OS crashes or programs crash since I can just reinstall them.
So that's my solution for now. I like it, but it's also somewhat temporary. One day, I will build a new computer (mine is 5 years old already), and I will have something more sophisticated, like an external enclosure with multiple bays or something. But since I'm not a gamer or graphics person, I think this computer can last me a couple of more years, until I can afford a newer system.
Any thoughts are appreciated, especially if you see something very wrong with my solution.
cranioscopical:
I think I prefer Seagate's new 7200.10 line
--- End quote ---
FWIW I have one of these in and running because I just began a program to replace smaller drives in the box I use most. Response/transfer is fine, and the noise level's no problem (in an Antec P150 case). I can't help but think you'll be pleased if that's what you buy -- good value for money, too. (What a contrast there is between the noise levels of older and newer drives! One of my old machines, a PIII that's still doing sterling service as a back-up, has four 10,000 SCSI drives in a very large tower case. When that one's on it sounds like a Harrier jump-jet spooling up.)
superboyac:
Thanks cranio, the value of the Seagate drives is really why I'm getting it, and I like their 5-year warranty. I know Carol here has a slight problem with Seagate's temperature, but I haven't had any problems with Seagate so far, or Western Digital. I don't really need anything really special for what I'm doing, but that 7200.10 line seems to have good value overall. And I heard there will be some good sales after Thanksgiving on the 500GB drives.
superboyac:
OK, I'm getting close to purchasing my backup drives, I wanted to explain my reasoning for my solution.
Currently, Fry's is offering the 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA II drive (16 MB cache) for $180. I'm going to get two of these for the backups. I almost went with the Samsung drives (equal specs as above), and it was only $150 per drive, but only a 3 year warranty compared to Seagate's 5 year. I know that Seagates run hot (as Carol mentioned) and that they may be louder than the Samsungs, but the warranty is really the deciding factor. The reason is, since I'm backing up my information on two separate drives, it is unlikely that both will break or go down at the same time, so even if something happens, I'll be able to recover my data. Therefore, if data recovery isn't an issue, I'd much rather have a longer warranty (almost twice as long) so that if something does happen, I can replace the drive for free.
Anyway, that's my choice, if any of my assumptions are incorrect, please let me know! I'll probably miss the current Fry's deal, but I'll get the next one when the prices are $180 or lower. By the way, in order to swap the drives in and out of my computer, I'm going to use this SATA mobile rack:
http://www.cooldrives.com/quswsamorafo.html
app103:
I finally decided on the enclosures I want ...
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1286816
I'll be getting 2 of these. :D
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