External Hard Drives
Users increasingly rely on external hard drives as back up devices connected directly to their systems using USB or Firewire interfaces.
Don’t think it won’t happen to you;
If your desktop or laptop hard drive stopped working right now, do you have a current copy of all of your files kept somewhere else?
There are essentially two main physical sizes which are used for Desktop use or Laptops (mobiles).
Typical products (as seen below) are available from Lacie or Western Digital
Desktop
The Desktop type commonly are based around 3.5″ hard drives and require the use of a separate power supply.
They are larger and heavier then the mobile versions but feature greater storage capacity.
Mobile
The Mobile type use 2.5″ hard drives are powered by the host using the USB cable and therefore don’t require an external power supply.
These drives are smaller but can be limited in storage capacity depending on your requirements.
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Try and keep your mobile device apart from your laptop. If your laptop is stolen along with your back up then you obviously have no back up!
Capacity
The storage capacity of these drives changes regularly, and my advice is not to buy the biggest capacity available but to go for the next size down.
Software
Search the web for backup software applications, but many external hard drives come with software pre-installed.
I’d recommend setting up a schedule so that your back up happens regularly and understand the difference between a straight copy of files and doing an incremental back up (where only changed files are copied across to the hard drive).
An incremental back up will be far quicker after the first time the process has been run.
My favourite software is from 2 Bright Sparks who offer a freeware version as well as paid versions of Syncback SE with more features.
NAS
See this post about NAS - Network Attached Storage
Tags: back up, hard drive, lacie, western digital