Back up solutions

I'm looking for a safe way to keep back ups of my m17x and my desktop. So I started looking into getting an external drive. I found this:

Western Digital (Recertified) - My Book Essential 1TB Desktop External Hard Drive [MODEL# WDBAAF0010HBK], Free Ground Shipping

Good deal or not?

 

I do not recommend any 'pre-built' external drives + enclosures. (Much too proprietary for my taste).

I do recommend the Vantec enclosures and WD Scorpio Blue drives (bought seperately).

I also highly recommend you buy two complete BU devices (preferrably different hardware in each) to have a backup of your backup.

For casual use the MS SyncToy utility is all you need (if you know its limitations, you can also use it for more 'pro' uses too - just be aware of the 'gotchas' with this utility).

Good luck.

 

You could also go with a docking station like this.

Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

It becomes very handy when you need to make a complete system image backup onto your new HDDs or SSDs or update the firmware on your OS boot SSD drive etc...

 

This is not a good model to buy from Western Digital. The main problem is that it doesn't allow you to drag and drop (folders or files) like a real external hard drive. You are forced to use the Western Digital software, unless you search on Google on how to get rid of the software. It will not be as simple as deleting or uninstalling the software.

I would recommend buying an older generation Western Digital model if you want to buy a pre-built external hard drive.

 

Get Ghost or Acronis, with an enclosure you build yourself and keep imaged backups.

 

Other than being more difficult to open, there is nothing proprietary about simple drive and enclosure pairings sold by any company. There is nothing proprietary about SATA or the 2.5" or 3.5" form factor. I have a WD enclosure housing a Samsung drive sitting right next to me.

 

Some enclosures you have to claw and bite your way through the enclosure. Some of the Hitachis from like 9 months ago were cheapo plastic and you had to break it to get to the enclosure.

 

Trottel,

You're totally ignoring the soldered on HDD connectors, the proprietary firmware on the drives and the worst being the junk backup software solutions they all offer.

Not all, of course - but enough that it makes no sense getting this 'tech' and becoming totally dependent on accessing your data at the whim of a third party.

 

Agreed; SyncToy and an external hard drive is the way to go for simple backups. It is also a great way to sync files between computers.

Here's a guide on how to use it:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5462&review=Windows+PC+Optimization+Guide+Part+Two

 

I don't know of any 3.5" externals that are soldered in. And if you don't want all the bells and whistles, don't buy the much more expensive versions that come with those. There is nothing special about basic 3.5" external drives; they are just normal external enclosures that aren't made to be opened by end users. The WD one I have isn't hard to open at all though, and you can see videos of how to open any of these drives on Youtube. The prices of separate external enclosures are rather steep and these pre-built external drives often offer a much better deal that putting one together yourself. It always used to cheaper to do it yourself, but these days that just isn't so.

 

So, no one uses a docking station like the one I posted above? I also use a couple of 1TB Seagate external HDDs and works great for bucking up or storing data (music, photos, videos etc...).

But, the docking station works much easier as you can just slide in HDDs or SSDs. You don't need to open anything.

 

I've been considering buying one.

 

Trottel, I'm not going for 'cheaper' here - I'm going for best practices - even if the prices were double, I'd still recommend separate enclosure and HDD.

HRK, the problem with the dock as a backup solution is that the drive is bare - too many possible things to go wrong to recommend that. Although as a matter of convenience, it is hard/impossible to beat.

 

Good stuff to read guys. Thanks. I did not know the drive I linked probably wouldn't alow me to drag and drop files. Good to know because I think that's something I need. Guess I'm gonna keep looking.

 

I would use a dock if I want to have a rotating backup schedule.

As for the software, currently using W7's built-in backup. Create a snapshot of the system image when I have made major system changes and proved to be stable. In addition, a nightly scheduled file/folder backup of the whole \Users. Because it only backup the difference, the daily incremental size is not that large.

 

Docks are iffy. We had 5 Thermaltake dual SATA 2.5/3.5 docks all opened at the same time. 6 months in 2 died, 1 started frying hard drives (dunno how that happened). 1 is iffy, doesn't always recognize HDD's (perfectly working hard drives).

I would also avoid those cheap docks/USB hard drives connectors. I believe the Kingwin one we had fried like 4 hard drives before we narrowed it down to the bridge.

 

I see. I guess I'm lucky then. I have been using one for two years and no problem at all. But, as tiller mentioned, it's not for everyone.

 

Oh of course, it's not for everybody. If you are constantly moving around hard drives docks are incredibly convenient. What I'm saying it don't buy a 10 dollar hard drive dock. You will pay for it in the end (fried hard drives)

 

Yea, I know what you mean. Anyway, it has been convenient lately because OCZ keeps updating the SF firmware.

 

Well unfortunately there are alot of "cheap" people in the world and on this forum.

What people fail to understand that cheap in the computer world almost always equates to crap or low quality. I'm not asking people to spend 100 bucks on an enclosure but certainly not 10 dollars. You can spare eating that McDonalds meal or that Starbucks latte and spend more money on quality components.

Case in point for desktop power supplies. "Cheaper" power supplies (sub 30 dollars) are less efficient than "quality" power supplies, usually don't have APFC, aren't sleeving, aren't modular, aren't made with Japanese made capacitors. In the long run that cheaper power supply will cost you more money in energy bills (power supply is less efficient), will usually burn out components (motherboard/GPU). By spending more up front you will actually save money and better protect your components.

 

LOL. What makes you think I don't know that princess?

 

Best practice? How? Other than choosing a different look, it doesn't offer any tangible advantage. Now I could understand if the specifics you are looking for aren't offered cheaper or at all in a pre-made solution, but otherwise there isn't any real reason not to go with it.

According to WD it will let you "opt out" of that. But it totally negates the point of buying that drive. The WD Elements series is what you are after, and a lot cheaper too, not the WD My Book.

 

I thought Elements has no software, lower warranty. Basically it's like Seagate's Expansion series. It's a no BS drive. You just drag and drop to go.

 

Thanks! I'll check out that out.

 

I thought that was what he was after. Just something to back up his data onto either manually or with some 3rd party software. Not the primary location for data, so usage is minimal. Also if either the Elements or My Book fails, the stored data is just as lost on either one whether warranty or not. If no special features of the My Book are needed, such as a fast connection or the software, then the only real difference is warranty, and the only case that would be worth it is if the Elements fails between years 2 and 3. Even then though, the money saved on the initial purchase negates most of that. Also the Elements is just barely larger than the drive itself, while the My Book is quite a bit bulkier and the light is annoying, at least to me.

 

Yeah, 'best practice' as in never putting your valuable data into (possibly) proprietary hardware.

 

Considering I have a Samsung drive inside a WD My Book, I think your fears are unfounded. Since it sports extra hardware and capabilities than a basic enclosure, it shows up as My Book with a WD drive inside of it, though this doesn't affect the function at all. And in either case, the 3.5" drive inside any enclosure can be removed and used separately. It is always just a regular 3.5" drive like the retail and OEM ones. There are just some 2.5" drives that are soldered in and are not separable from the enclosure.

 

Another question for you guys. Is it possible to get a non AC powered external drive? My laptop does have an eSATAp port. I'm willing to either get pre made or buy an enclosure and put a hdd in it. I'm looking to spend about $80-$90 or less and to get the most storage space possible. But I'd really rather not be tethered by another power cord.

 

esata doesnt power a drive

it needs to plug into a esata AND a usb, or just a usb.

Thats why usb 3.0 will be nice for this use.

 

2.5" drive via USB enclosure usually don't need external power and eSATAp just take power from the USB port, it doesn't need external power.

The problem is finding the correct cable which I would like some recommendation as well.

 

So the eSATAp being a eSATA/USB combo port wouldnt allow for data transfer and power in the same cable? Guess I misunderstood it's function then.

 

The original thread on enclosures that support eSATAp natively is here. The Seagate GoFlex system also comes with a eSATAp cable option as well, but I believe that would require a proprietary GoFlex drive. And yes, a combo USB/eSATA port can allow for data transfer and power in the same cable, given the right enclosure/cable. It can also be used as simply a regular eSATA port, or a regular USB port.

 

I missed the proprietary discussion but uh

the circuit board of the HDD has no SATA. Its direct USB.

...and im pretty sure it also has a 32 bit encryption chip. You cant even use it with SATA if you replace the board.

 

Judicator, thanks for the link. That post has some good reading. Dunno how I missed it. My search skills must bee failing me tonight.

 

It's about 10 pages back at this point. There hasn't been much action on it, since, last I remember, a new enclosure had been announced, but it hasn't been released yet. And for whatever reason, it seems people aren't all that interested in eSATAp for the most part. It also didn't help that for the longest time, combo USB/eSATA ports were relatively rare, and that very few people realize exactly how much faster eSATA can be, or that need it. Of course, with the push for USB 3.0, eSATAp may get marginalized even more (even though currently eSATA still is often faster than USB 3.0, due to lack of native chipset support and driver issues). In any event, the thread is there, and happy reading!

 

I would have bought one of the enclosures tonight that was listed on the first post on the geeks.com site but they were sold out. Guess I will have to keep looking or hope the new one from Delock is available soon. It is surprising how not widely known eSATA is really. I honestly had no clue until I started really researching external drives. I'm now really glad that my laptop does come with an eSATAp as it fits my needs to a T. It's like being able to have a 500 or more GB flash drive that's kinda big but eh gets the job done fast!

 

There were some posts nearer the end where somebody had them in stock... of course that's months ago now, so I have no idea if they still have them in stock or not.

 

I use the rosewell encolsure from newegg it has USB 2.0 and eSATA, which is really nice. Oh and it has a fan. Comes in blakc adn white. They also have a usb 3.0 one too.

Newegg.com - Rosewill RX358 RX-358-U3S Full Aluminum Cover, metal tray 3.5" Silver USB 3.0 External Enclosure

Newegg.com - Rosewill RX-358-S BLK (Black) 3.5" SATA to USB & eSATA Ext. Enclosure w/Int.80mm fan

 

Thanks dcmaker but I'm looking for something that doesn't require an AC cord or take a second USB port for power.