bACK-UP DRIVE/MEDIA

[mabaty]

I am just wanted opinions on a back-up/media drive, I am currently using A 160GB SEAGATE sata drive and want to back-up all my mp3's videos pics etc... one reason is to back them up on a clean drive, and the other is i want to clean my main drive up for just games, windows and a few apps, so should i get an internal drive or should i just get a external? if i got external and get a eSATA drive it will read it like it was an internal drive right? so what would you guys do?

Thanks

 

[mesarectifier]

Just get any external drive, be it eSATA, USB2.0 or FireWire. Unless you want to invest in a tape streamer.

 

[PCcashCow]

Try to an external, if your only using it for backup, you wouldn't need it on all the time, so you'll be able to extend the life of the drive by not having it constantly on.

 

[mabaty]

but i will use it all the time to access my media i want to get it off my main drive to clean it up i just figured i could leave it unplugged when not using my media to keep it a little safer.

 

[mabaty]

or what would honestly be the best ...or most reliable back-up for my music for the long-term...after all i never plan to go back to CD again.

 

[PCcashCow]

NAS

 

[Doughbuy]

WASTE OF MONEY...

you don't need a NAS drive. If you just want to move it off your main drive, just buy another internal HDD, and stick it on there. It seems to me you want a drive for deep storage, and a drive for regular use i.e. windows and shiz. Best option to go there.

If you really want backup, buy two hdd's together and Raid 1 them together. But I doubt you want to do that.

You could get an external drive, but I don't see a point... your not really backing-up per say. You just want another hdd... internal is fine.

Tape would probably be the most reliable for back-up... the LTO-3 standard is pretty nice, but its damn expensive and unless you own a buisness of >20 people, pretty damn useless. If you want true back-up, external HDD is fine.

 

[PCcashCow]

WASTE OF MONEY...

Why? Enlighten me. Your tape suggestion makes no sense according to your logic.

 

[Pain]

So, you don't want a backup at all. IMO, you should have a backup unless you can live with losing all your media, so ask yourself that question before you decide what you actually want to buy.

 

[Doughbuy]

This guy seems to just want this for his own private use, and he is one person. He never specified sharing music throughout his whole household, or needing it on at all times in order to access media from his TV or anywhere else. For all intents and purposes, he just wants another drive to store shiz in. NAS enclosures are already $20-30 more than regular enclosures, and what would he need it for.

It may be useful if the scope of work he wanted specified anything that required a NAS... but since it doesn't thats why I went out on a limb and said it was useless.

Now I saw a deal however, for a 4 port USB2.0 and print server which for around 15 bucks which can act as a NAS also. I might get that, but then again, I run a house with around 6 computers, and a small buisness with another 10 or so.

Edit: My tape idea is that tape is probably the best back-up medium there is. But not for a single person, because tape drives cost a shit-ton of money. But I've had tapes from 10 years or more that still work fine. If you have a larger sized buisness that needs storage like that, then the cost is justified. Not for a single person.

 

[mabaty]

Ok I can get more specific now as the work day is over, I currently run everything on 1 drive which includes mp3's for ipod etc.. video files: movies, music videos etc.., pictures, graphics i make in photoshop, docs, etc.. I really just want to clean up my main drive for games and windows only and have a drive for media and docs only, but i want to use it as a back-up too, i guess what i want is 3 things, to clean all media(mainly mp3's) and BS docs and apps off my main drive put them on another drive but i want the other drive to not only act as my 2nd hd for when i want my mp3's etc but as kind of a back-up incase my pc blows up or i build a new one, so i guess i kind of just answered my own question....does eSATA when plugged in as an external drive, still being looked at as a normal partition? so say if i plug it in to update my ipod itunes will automatically look for the music on that drive? then when i am done i can unplug and secure the drive to increase its lifespan? Sorry if i make no sense...lol

 

[Pain]

That is not a backup, it's simply a second disk where you keep your data. If that disk blows up, you will lose your data. So, again, is that OK with you? If the answer is no, it's not OK if I lose all my data and media, then you still need a backup.

The answer to your last question is yes, the ipod will still sync with...it's still a regular disk.

 

[mabaty]

Soy our saying I should maybe bay an 80 gig HD or so for media and docs and maybe a external drive for back-up only purposes also?

 

[Pain]

I'm saying if you would be upset if you lost all your data/media, then you need a backup of some sort. If your data and media are disposable, then don't worry about it. What you decide to buy is up to you and there are many different ways to have at least a little bit of backup, from having your data stored on 2 different internal disks, to having a second external disk, to having a tape backup. You have to decide how much you want to spend and how much value you put on your data.