What size/kind external hard drive to get for a noob ??

Good day all.

Stupid, and easy question.

Stupid, because for as long as I've owned my laptops (my T61, and X301), I have NEVER made a backup to an external drive. I just use the backup that is stored in the laptop itself.

My T61 currently only has about 20% free capacity on it's main drive, so I'd like to buy an external hard-drive to transfer some of the files off the laptop, to free up some space. Only problem is, I have no idea how to go about doing that, or what size external HDD I should get. My T61 currently has a 160GB HD, with about 30 gig's remaining on it. I don't have that many songs (maybe 300 at the most), and I have about 400 pictures, with some movies in the mix as well.

Also, once I get the external HDD, how would I go about transferring the files ?

Sorry for the easy questions, I'd just figure I'd ask the pro's here. I'd also figure I'd kill two birds with one stone (get the external HDD to 1. backup my system, and 2. free up some space on the hard-drive).

Any help wold be great !!

 

Your T61 has 3 USB 2.0 ports, as well as a firewire port, so your simplest and probably cheapest solution is to just buy any of the myriad USB 2.0 pre-built external hard drives, preferably one of the 2.5" drives that can be powered directly through USB. There are many available, but the most common and popular ones these days are probably the 500 GB drives, that will run you around $50-$60, depending.

As for transferring files, there are several ways. You can do it "old-school" and drag and drop the files you want to transfer over to the external drive, and then delete them off your notebook drive if you so choose. Or, most external drives will come with backup software, that you can use to automatically make a copy of everything currently on your notebook drive. The exact method of using the backup software will depend on exactly which software it is, which varies by manufacturer, and sometimes by model.

 

USB-powered, 2.5" external hard drives are quite affordable these days. I've been happily using both Western Digital and Seagate products for a few years now. They range from 250GB to 1TB in capacity.

Most drives come with backup software that allows you to incrementally back up what you have on the main drive, i.e. your latest additions and modifications.

However, I prefer to do it manually. I initially format the drive to be NTFS, then create the folders as needed. The rest is trivial: plug in the external drive, then copy-paste or drag-drop between drives, then "safely remove hardware", then unplug from USB port.

You could use the same external drive for your various laptops. How to organize the folders on the external drive is totally up to you.

 

If you don't know the answer, how do you know it's an easy question...or a stupid one? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Anyway, the amount of storage you get on your external HD depends on how much you want to store/backup, and only you can answer that question. However, I'd prefer an external with at least a 500 GB capacity for most application like the one you describe. That should be enough to keep you happily backed up for some time to come. As for how you do it, depends on your preference:

As other have said, you can purchase backup drives made expressly for that. These storage device come with the backup programs included and can even be configured to do regular backup automatically and behind the scenes. All you have to do is remember to plug them in.

Incidentally, as for recognizing the wisdom in backing up your data, I'm glad you finally came to see the light before it became too late.



p.s. you might want to also think about updating your current internal drive capacity. It appears woefully in adequate for today's myriad tasks.

 

I personally think 250GB-320GB is a good size for back-up and extra storage.

 

Thanks everyone for your comments !

I didn't know that certian external drives will automatically just back up your computers hard drive for you. I'd much rather do it that way, than manually.

I think I'll go for a 500GB model, since as was mentioned, will be plenty of space.

Thanks again for the fast response's !!