Safe storage/backup devices: are there any safe hard drives?

[Guest]

Hi,
An old question I know, but having resolved to splash out on an external
hard drive back up system at last - pc totally jammed with pictures -, I now
notice that pretty well all reviews I read come with a number of sad stories
of people who have trusted them and lost all, and of manufacturers being
hard to contact and even harder to get to accept responsibility. 'RAID'
devices have been mentioned as more reliable by some - whatever they are -
but expensive...

Are there any truly reliable and trusted, and affordable, external hard
drives and manufacturers out there, and if so, what should one be buying
these days?

Many thanks,

S

 

[Michael J. Mahon]

Hi,
An old question I know, but having resolved to splash out on an external
hard drive back up system at last - pc totally jammed with pictures -, I now
notice that pretty well all reviews I read come with a number of sad stories
of people who have trusted them and lost all, and of manufacturers being
hard to contact and even harder to get to accept responsibility. 'RAID'
devices have been mentioned as more reliable by some - whatever they are -
but expensive...

Are there any truly reliable and trusted, and affordable, external hard
drives and manufacturers out there, and if so, what should one be buying
these days?

All hard drives are made by just a few major manufacturers these
days, so there are no "fly by night" hard drives.

Anecdotal evidence aside, all are reasonably trustworthy, but none
(as you might imagine) will guarantee that you can't lose data. ;-)

A RAID configuration protects you against hard drive failure, but it
doesn't protect you against yourself! If you mistakenly overwrite
or delete a file or group of files, then they are reliably gone unless
you keep a backup on a different drive (and preferably off-site, since
fire and flood are still possible).

I've had very good luck with Seagate drives, but Maxtor, Western
Digital, and Hitachi are all fine drives.

Don't worry about the drive failing, just use it to back things up
regularly--then you'll be safe unless you have *two* near simultaneous
failures (on-line drive and backup drive), which is so unlikely you
don't need to worry.

-michael

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."

 

[mscotgrove]

I agree with everything Michael (not me) has said.

Also consider an online backup service. There are many available, but
I've used (and have no connection with other than being a user)
www.carbonite.com For $50 a year they backup all my photos, with no
limit on size.

A word of warning, Seagate drives are going through a phase of
failures.

With any backup, do allow for fire, theft, lightening etc so multiple
locations are required.


Michael
www.cnwrecovery.com

 

[Guest]

Thanks Michael,

But I don't see any other comments but your own, this end at least.
Can you give me a link to the other 'Michael' comments which you endorse?

Much appreciated,

S

 

[mscotgrove]

Thanks Michael,

But I don't see any other comments but your own, this end at least.
Can you give me a link to the other 'Michael' comments which you endorse?

Much appreciated,

S










- Show quoted text -

It was the Michael J Mahon in the previous posting

 

[Guest]

Thanks Michael,

But I don't see any other comments but your own, this end at least.
Can you give me a link to the other 'Michael' comments which you endorse?

Much appreciated,

S










- Show quoted text -

It was the Michael J Mahon in the previous posting

?
I don't see any postings from Michael J on this subject, this month at
least?

S

 

[John Inzer]

It was the Michael J Mahon in the previous posting

?
I don't see any postings from Michael J on this subject, this month at
least?

S

==============================
I think the following message is the one
being referred to:

Saving pics to CD
http://tinyurl.com/2m6984

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.photos/msg/7f48cc88920e4ccf

Personally, I save copies of all my images
on CDs, DVDs, and a second hard drive.
I use Nero StartSmart for burning the disks.
And with thumb drives / flash drives being
so cheap these days,...that's another way
to make backups.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/695

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Michael J. Mahon]

==============================
I think the following message is the one
being referred to:

Saving pics to CD
http://tinyurl.com/2m6984

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.photos/msg/7f48cc88920e4ccf

Personally, I save copies of all my images
on CDs, DVDs, and a second hard drive.
I use Nero StartSmart for burning the disks.
And with thumb drives / flash drives being
so cheap these days,...that's another way
to make backups.

Actually, the message the OP is not seeing is this one:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.photos/msg/3bbf82f5a011f131

-michael

NadaPong: Network game demo for Apple II computers!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."