Data Storage Advice, Please

[boombox]

Yes, it\'s been a while, but it\'s time for another "Andy needs your advice again" thread. I don\'t know where I\'d be if not for the advice I\'ve had over the last couple of years here - would be nice to know people locally who could help, but no-one has a clue and shops always just want to sell you the product they get the biggest back-hander on.

I have been promised some cash by my parents for Christmas to buy some additional storage for the pc. Had thought I would just get a 500GB external drive from amazon or similar, but reading reviews, it appears that many of the big makes are not actually that reliable, or have compatability issues with Vista. An additional internal drive might then be a better option.

Can someone please recommend a proven solution - I don\'t want to back up loads of data to a drive which may pack up after a year. I do realise backing up to DVDs is somewhat safer, but as I am now getting more into gig video recording, I may want to leave multiple authored versions on the HD for periods of time in between sessions.

I guess the main question is external hard drive, such as the WD Book, or a powered external enclosure and another HD? (Have already filled the spare bay inside my machine with a 250GB HD, which I could swap out to the enclosure and put the 500GB in the machine.) Then, having decided on the option, I need to know the proven larger HD manufacturers and a decent make, if appropriate, for an enclosure.

Thanks in advance.

[ChrisF]

I guess the main question is external hard drive, such as the WD Book, or a powered external enclosure and another HD? (Have already filled the spare bay inside my machine with a 250GB HD, which I could swap out to the enclosure and put the 500GB in the machine.) Then, having decided on the option, I need to know the proven larger HD manufacturers and a decent make, if appropriate, for an enclosure.

Thanks in advance.

i got the 500gb WD book at circuit city for $130. its just an external drive, but if u wanted to crack open its enclosure to take the hard drive out you could do that, but the enclosure will be  broken.

[boombox]

Thanks for responding. My main quandrary is whether to buy an internal drive and pop it in and get an enclosure for my existing 250GB drive or to get a bespoke external drive like the WD book. Incidentally, how reliable has the WD book been?

[ChrisF]

only problem i had was formatting it in ntfs format. it came in fat32 and i forgot about the 2GB limit. and was going crazy trying to figure out why i couldnt transfer my files to the drive. then windows wouldnt let me format the drive to ntfs so i had to get partition magic.

i use it to store large video files while im editing multi camera video, so if it can handle that you should be fine using it to back up your music and stuff like that.

[jocelyn]

Wow I understand this thread less than I do Swahili.

[kindm's]

I would just choose a reliable HDD that you like, WD, seagate, Hitachi etc etc

Then just get a HDD enclosure and put the thing together. That is what I did. It is really easy and provides tons of space and you can easily take it with you, use on multiple computers etc etc.

You will svae a good deal of $ making an external HDD yourself and you will have better components.

I cannot imagine compatibility issues with Vista as these just show up as external storage under windows. If u want i can take mine to work with me on Monday and make sure it does work in Vista. I am running win2k at home.

[boombox]

I would just choose a reliable HDD that you like, WD, seagate, Hitachi etc etc

Then just get a HDD enclosure and put the thing together.

This is the way I was thinking - do you know a reliable HDD enclosure manaufacturer? I bought one a couple of years ago, which only lasted 15 months - no data lost , but a bummer all the same.

[Mark]

Bumpage.

Looking for any advice for buying an external HD.  My primary purpose is to back up 3 computers as well as store music/photos.

Are there any programs/software I should look for?  Any brands that you would recommend?

Thanks

[freddiewaht]

Bumpage.

Looking for any advice for buying an external HD.  My primary purpose is to back up 3 computers as well as store music/photos.

Are there any programs/software I should look for?  Any brands that you would recommend?

Thanks

best buy has a 1.5 for 140..
get on that.




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