Backup hard drive suggestions (Page 2): Right. If you have one backup, do you really have a backup? I copy important files - seven folders

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

brucewells wrote:

The trick to being successful in your backup strategy is 'redundancy'. Yes, having a drive to which you back up is great, but get 2 or 3 of them. ALL of them will fail at some point. The trick is to have another with all your precious data when it does.

Right. If you have one backup, do you really have a backup? I copy important files - seven folders - to other computers, as well.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

jerryc41 wrote:

Right. If you have one backup, do you really have a backup? I copy important files - seven folders - to other computers, as well.

I maintain 4 copies of all my data (not just photos) at all times. I don't think one backup drive is sufficient, but of course, it's better than nothing!

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

mackphotos wrote:

Hello,

I'm need two external hard drives one for backup and a 2nd for photo storage. What do you use? size? manufacturer? backup software? etc.
Costco has a Seagate 4TB for $109 which seems like a good deal. What do you think. Thanks.

I have a 2TB Seagate in use for 10 years, I like it, never had an issue and it works like a charm!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

mackphotos wrote:

Hello,

I'm need two external hard drives one for backup and a 2nd for photo storage. What do you use? size? manufacturer? backup software? etc.
Costco has a Seagate 4TB for $109 which seems like a good deal. What do you think. Thanks.

As Jerry suggested, a premium quality drive installed in a suitable, well ventilated (with a fan) enclosure, will serve your purposes better than the cheap consumer junk you buy from Seagate, Hitachi or Western Digital. They have considerably better drives, but they don't put it into consumer cases and sell them for $0.0275/gb. I have had great success with HGST Ultrastar drives, as well as Western Digital Black and RE series. Black is a well-made high performance drive and the RE is certified for use in RAID arrays. All three drives have 5 yr warranties.

B and H has the 4 TB WD Black for $208, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822235128&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Hard+Drives-_-N82E16822235128&gclid=Cj0KEQjwxPbHBRCdxJLF3qen3dYBEiQAMRyxSwM0JbARCLpcJ2n3QucqIjOwXA44uowtp0kBhdKh5jIaAlrO8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

AllHDD.com has the 4tb HGST Ultrastar for $219 http://www.allhdd.com/hard-drive/sata-6gbps/4tb-7.2k-rpm/hus724040ale640-hitachi-ultrastar-4tb-7.2k-rpm-64mb-buffer-3.5-inches-form-factor-sata-6gbps-hard-disk-drive.-new-retail-factory-sealed-with-full-manufacturer-warranty./

You are getting two drives - is one for active storage as opposed to a drive installed in the computer? Is the other for backup? Are you making an image of your system drive and also backing up your data (on the other external drive) to the same drive?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Gitchigumi wrote:

I use a Western Digital MyCloud Mirror. That has two identical drives in it that are mirrors of each other. If one drive fails, the data (photos) is still there on the other drive. Just remove the dead drive, put in a new one and the unit copies the data to the new one. So, you always have a backup. 👍😎👍

And if you end up getting some file corruption on Drive #1 you will copy that corruption to Drive #2. You will end up with an identical copy of your corrupted files. This is not a backup strategy, but it is a good strategy for redundancy and to help ensure "up" time. But a good backup strategy will allow you to save files to at least 3 locations - active storage, an external "shadow copy" of your data, and a third backup to a cloud service like BackBlaze. Ideally you would put backup info into dated datasets, so you are not overwriting old "good" data with possibly corrupted "new" versions of your files. Keeping them separate allows you to go back in time, in the event some form of corruption enters your system.

While your approach works ok for drive failure, it is not a complete backup solution, only a part of one.

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

why not just back them up to somewhere on the cloud?

johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio

Three backups here. I used to store all my files on my computers hard drive, and used an automatic (daily) backup on a separate external drive. I have a Mac, so Time Machine is the auto backup feature. My computers hard drive failed a month ago, no issue, I had the backup. Now I don't store any files other than software on my computers hard drive. Why, because I have a lot of photo files, and it fills my internal drive, slowing down loading software. Now I have a 500gb external SSD, which is great, much faster. I only store 2 years of photo files on this SSD. The rest are on an external 8tb network drive that I can access from any computer using MyCloud. Works great. I store most of my other files on Icloud, which works great too. These files I back up on the 8tb drive. For important files, I think 3 drives are the best for me, the SSD for speed of frequently used files, a second drive accessible from any computer for all file back up, and Icloud for ease of use. Turns out, with my wifes computer, we also have a couple of other external drives which I can use too.

Storage prices are so low now it makes sense to buy the largest amount of storage you think you will ever neeed. 4tb is probably the best now.

hj Loc: Florida

Until it doesn't. How many folks would trust a ten year old hard drive?

speters wrote:

I have a 2TB Seagate in use for 10 years, I like it, never had an issue and it works like a charm!

reader Loc: Los Angeles

jerryc41 wrote:

If someone gave me a Seagate, I wouldn't use it. ... (show quote)

Like some or perhaps many, I am a little intimidated about assembling a back up or storage drive. Is really just a matter of buying the drive, inserting in an enclosure and pluging in a USB cable?

Thanks

jodo4138 Loc: Long Island NY

I have two WD Passports that I've used for a little over 2yrs. now. I use one to store my photos, and the other as a backup using a program called GoodSync. Free 30 day trial or 30 bucks. Works great

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

Kmgw9v wrote:

I currently use a LaCie that I purchased at the recommendation of an Apple Store employee. Since then, I have become aware of negative reviews. What makes it the worst brand that you have dealt with? Should I replace it today--before it fails? Serious question.

Why are you hijacking this thread. Strart your own to save confusion. DUH!!!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Kmgw9v wrote:

I currently use a LaCie that I purchased at the recommendation of an Apple Store employee. Since then, I have become aware of negative reviews. What makes it the worst brand that you have dealt with? Should I replace it today--before it fails? Serious question.

Even before the Seagate purchase, they have been using cheap consumer Seagate drives in their enclosures. Pretty enclosure, awful hard drives. I think their SSD products may be considerably better, but only time will tell.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

reader wrote:

Like some or perhaps many, I am a little intimidated about assembling a back up or storage drive. Is really just a matter of buying the drive, inserting in an enclosure and pluging in a USB cable?

Thanks

That's about it. Once it's connected and turned on, it's just another drive in your system. An enclosure like the one below would work.

https://smile.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-K32-SU3-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B0065DUJ0C/ref=sr_1_10?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1493037003&sr=1-10&keywords=hard+drive+enclosure

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

mackphotos wrote:

Hello,

I'm need two external hard drives one for backup and a 2nd for photo storage. What do you use? size? manufacturer? backup software? etc.
Costco has a Seagate 4TB for $109 which seems like a good deal. What do you think. Thanks.

I would set up a RAID array, which could back up and store at the same time.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I have two hard drives on each oh my two computers at home. One is storage by date (170424is today) as taken out of the camera and the other is storage by location of subject after processing. This setup is a merrier on both computers. Years ago I lost a hard drive and they wanted $1,000.00 to TRY to retrieve it.