Looking for a back up computer storage

[FJR1300Jeff]

I'm looking to get a back up storage for the computer. I have a 80gig HD on my computer but incase it takes a dive I want to have all my pics and things backed up.

Any suggestions on a good brand or size?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[slapnpop]

I would recommend getting yourself a DVD burner. This way you can put all your pics/music/documents on a standardized disc, and access them with the computer you already have, or the next computer you get when you're upgrading. Media is fairly cheep. Go with a Plextor.

If you want to do something more along the hardware line, you should either switch to a mirrored RAID hard drive array (in your exisiting computer) or go with an external backup computer such as the Mira.

Any followup questions?

 

[FJR1300Jeff]

external backup computer such as the Mira.

Yes I'm thinking more on the lines of external. I have CD burner not DVD and it only holds maybe a gig.

Is Mira a good external backup?

Thanks

 

[boogahboogah]

Cheap quick & easy...

Go to Best Buy or CircuitCity & get an external USB disk drive, thry're going for peanuts these days. Last one I saw on sale was a 200 GB USB external drive for $150 or so. You can burn CD's or DVD's for a permanent copy, but nothing beats a quick copy to the external hard drive. If you run the Redmond OS, the externals also usually come with backup & recovery software, very useful if you get a bad virus or have a disk crash...

 

[FJR1300]

I recommend Acronis to all my clients... it's the best backup software I have ever used! I use the Home Edition on my computers at home.

In fact, just this morning I setup a new computer using a backup from the old computer. If you ever get a virus... you will be thankful for a full system backup.

This morning's job was because the old computer developed some serious hardware problems. Since it was four years old, I simply bought a new Dell. The new Dell arrives; I plug in my external USB HD, boot with the recovery CD and install the backup from the external drive onto the new computer.

Here's what is great... the new computer's HD is bigger than the old drive. No problem, the Acronis software re-partitions the new drive and then installs the backup. Because I was running Windows XP, it only took a couple of minutes to install drivers for the new hardware and the new computer was ready for use.

 

[FJR1300Jeff]

I recommend Acronis to all my clients... it's the best backup software I have ever used! I use the Home Edition on my computers at home.

Acronis says it doesn't make harddrives only backup software.

Any particular brand to you recommend, I'm heading to circut city today.

 

[slapnpop]

The external USB drive is cheap and quick, and definatly works. I recommended the mira because it's network connected, and more of a standalone data storage/backup unit. This way you can add all your documents here as a backup, and also use it with any computers you add through the network, making the backup completely indepenant of the specific computer, and more functional as data storage.

 

[FJR1300Jeff]

Cool thanks for the info....I'll see what I find at Circut city.

 

[weekend rider]

B) pencil and paper

 

[Shadowfax]

If you have the room in your PC, adding an internal drive is cheaper and faster (for data transfers, not the install).

For the cheapest external, buy a cheap internal plus an external case.

$79 250GB SATA drive

SATA external case $32