expansion drives backup

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
9

9dig

Honorable
Aug 10, 2013
4
0
10,510
my 1 tb seagate freeagent go failed during back up file transfer.
in addition to this external usb drive I have a kingston 298 gb external usb, a seagate 500 gb usb expansion drive

I would like some input for protecting data on all of these devices (hopeful I can recover failed seagate files) as well as a desktop with two internal drives 320 gb each, and two laptops 500gb & 320 gb.

I am thinking about two external usb 2tb drives partitioned to accommodate the various drive sizes and then mirror each drive?

thanks for any insight
 
Solution
RealBeast
If you use external USB drives, which can be pretty unreliable if not used carefully, I would only connect them to one primary operating system (don't use between PC and MAC) and always safely eject the device before disconnecting or powering off to help prevent MBR corruption. I would also attach them to my UPS so that a power failure doesn't damage their data integrity by powering off mid-write.

Try using Recuva (its free) to access the files on the failed drive.
Sort by date Sort by votes
dingo07

dingo07

Distinguished
Jan 5, 2012
3,155
0
21,160
my first question to you would be: do you want external drives to bring them off-site, or would an internal drive suffice as long as the data is backed up?

my second Q is - can you implement USB3 on your desktop?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RealBeast

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Sep 13, 2010
17,109
474
104,790
If you use external USB drives, which can be pretty unreliable if not used carefully, I would only connect them to one primary operating system (don't use between PC and MAC) and always safely eject the device before disconnecting or powering off to help prevent MBR corruption. I would also attach them to my UPS so that a power failure doesn't damage their data integrity by powering off mid-write.

Try using Recuva (its free) to access the files on the failed drive.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
9

9dig

Honorable
Aug 10, 2013
4
0
10,510


answer for first question is: I do need to take off-site on occasion.

answer for second question is: I don't think so. my desktop is more than 4 years old

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
9

9dig

Honorable
Aug 10, 2013
4
0
10,510


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
9

9dig

Honorable
Aug 10, 2013
4
0
10,510




you describe my situation quite accurately RealBeast.

my drive is no longer visible (win7 home premium 32bit)
I will try Recuva.

I do not have a new drive to recover files to yet and unplugged the drive when I discovered the problem.

Thank you

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
popatim

popatim

Titan
Moderator
Dec 2, 2009
38,904
980
135,890
First I would start backing up everything really important to archival dvd's.
Next I would add a 2tb drive to your desktop and use it as your internal backup.
Then I would back that up to a 2tb external drive or NAS. I would not take this drive anywhere, use your other externals for when your data needs mobility.

Alternately you could use a NAS as your primary backup and then backup that to a 2tb drive in your desktop.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RealBeast

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Sep 13, 2010
17,109
474
104,790
^ +1

IMO external USB drives are a highly unreliable solution to important file backup. If you don't believe me, just look through the storage forum at all the lost USB external drive posts.

At a minimum to use a USB external drive with any reliability I would only use it on one machine, always safely eject the hardware, not shutdown with the drive attached, and run the computer and external drive on a UPS to insure no power failure during a write.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom