External Hard Drive for BackUp?

pcblues · 08-25-2006, 04:14 PM

I’ve recently had some power shut down problems and was told by best buy to consider a external hard drive to back up my stuff as opposed to burning everything to CD’s. Just hook it up and drag & drop is what I was told. I could spend $50-500 depending on how big I want to go.
I started out thinking just to obtain some recommendations on quality externals and how big/expensive I should go. I don’t want to buy a Jaguar, if a Yugo will do. But, I’ve been reading through posts and am a bit confused now about slave drives, clones etc.

I do have a lot of word & excel docs on pc that would be a major pain point if I lost, so I have backed those up on CD’s. I do have pics, music & other stuff that aren’t critical, but would produce a major pout if I lost them.

Being as I really don’t know what I am looking for now, can someone explain what slave drives, clone drives are, how they relate to an external hard drive and how someone like me can choose a unit that fits my needs?

Thanks for help - Denise

**blackduck30** · 08-25-2006, 06:02 PM

Hello Denise,
basically a slave drive is considered to be an internal drive that is coupled along with your main ide drive, they run off the same cable. just to throw a bit of complication in there you can have a primary master and a primary slave and also a secondary master and secondary slave.
A clone drive is usually a drive that you setup to back your info onto, these can be internal or external depending on how you set the cloning/backup program you use

**w00t** · 08-25-2006, 06:18 PM

Usually recent external drives are just about as easy as pugging them in.

So you shouldn't have to worry about any of that.

Depending on how much space you need, make your decesion from there.

Don't go to large and spend to much money for space you will never use.

Don't buy just enough though, because you will be amazed at how fast stuff you want to back will build up.

As for quality drives I recomened maxtor drives, they have never died on me and there are so many out there you would have no problem getting help.

Bender10 · 08-26-2006, 05:45 AM

The Maxtor is a great drive, I would go with that. Buy a size that exceeds your needs (need 200, buy 300). Then go to www.xPCgear.com, and buy an external enclosure (w/fan) like the UE325BK.

You can also get firewire if you need it...

08-25-2006, 04:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
pcblues Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: MN Posts: 11 OS: WXP-SP2	External Hard Drive for BackUp? I’ve recently had some power shut down problems and was told by best buy to consider a external hard drive to back up my stuff as opposed to burning everything to CD’s. Just hook it up and drag & drop is what I was told. I could spend $50-500 depending on how big I want to go. I started out thinking just to obtain some recommendations on quality externals and how big/expensive I should go. I don’t want to buy a Jaguar, if a Yugo will do. But, I’ve been reading through posts and am a bit confused now about slave drives, clones etc. I do have a lot of word & excel docs on pc that would be a major pain point if I lost, so I have backed those up on CD’s. I do have pics, music & other stuff that aren’t critical, but would produce a major pout if I lost them. Being as I really don’t know what I am looking for now, can someone explain what slave drives, clone drives are, how they relate to an external hard drive and how someone like me can choose a unit that fits my needs? Thanks for help - Denise

08-25-2006, 06:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
blackduck30 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Wollongong/Australia Posts: 4,230 OS: XP pro SP3/Vista Ultimate My System	Hello Denise, basically a slave drive is considered to be an internal drive that is coupled along with your main ide drive, they run off the same cable. just to throw a bit of complication in there you can have a primary master and a primary slave and also a secondary master and secondary slave. A clone drive is usually a drive that you setup to back your info onto, these can be internal or external depending on how you set the cloning/backup program you use __________________ Blackduck30 Time is like money and milk, It's always running out Any Donations Help Keep TSF Free For All

08-25-2006, 06:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
w00t Chex mix and Cream soda! Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Oahu Posts: 596 OS: Slackware 11.1, Fedora Core 3, K12LTSP, Suse ES 9, Windows 2000sp4, Mac OSX, Knoppix, Mephis	Usually recent external drives are just about as easy as pugging them in. So you shouldn't have to worry about any of that. Depending on how much space you need, make your decesion from there. Don't go to large and spend to much money for space you will never use. Don't buy just enough though, because you will be amazed at how fast stuff you want to back will build up. As for quality drives I recomened maxtor drives, they have never died on me and there are so many out there you would have no problem getting help. __________________ Elvis didn't die he just went open source w00tb0t, because you can't make tea with potatoes

08-26-2006, 05:45 AM	#4 (permalink)
Bender10 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 7 OS: XP SP2, Ubuntu, Windoze x64 My System	The Maxtor is a great drive, I would go with that. Buy a size that exceeds your needs (need 200, buy 300). Then go to www.xPCgear.com, and buy an external enclosure (w/fan) like the UE325BK. You can also get firewire if you need it...