2.5" external hard drives

[Locals Find!]

Anyone have some opinions on 2.5" external hard drives? Was thinking about getting one or two. To make my storage life a little less cluttered and easier to secure.

Anyone know of some things to watch out for that would make these a bad decision??

I currently have all my data backed up on a 320 gb simple drive external. However, I wanna make sure I have more than just one back up for my artwork files just in case.

 

[James Burke]

I have four drives that I rotate on a regular basis. Back up early, and back up often.

JB

 

[round man]

just make sure you use the eject hardware safely icon on the taskbar before you remove the drives and handle them gently,just because they are small and portable doesn't mean you can toss them around like a thumb drive. use of the eject hardware safely icon will prevent data loss due to post write processes.

 

[CentralSigns]

I bought some hard drives and cased them they work awesome. hard rives on sale and cases are a $20

 

[James Burke]

Yep...that reminds me. If you have some old computers laying around, pull the hard drives and put them in a case. I use an I/O Magic case, but there are quite a few others out there.

Open the case, drop in the hard drive, plug it in, close the case and plug it into the PC. It's that easy.

 

[Locals Find!]

James I do have some old hard drives laying around that have some misc. files on them. Thanks for the tip. Hadn't thought about putting them to work that way.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

I don't trust the aftermarket cases for hard drives. I'd rather just buy the whole thing brand new. I've had an hard drive go out...and I blame the case. Not enough heat desapation.

I just got a seagate 2TB on ebay for $100. I've also been using a 500 gig seagate with no issues.

 

[iSign]

treat them all like they WILL have issues.. not IF, ...WHEN!!

and saying you want more then one back up, in case... well, it's not even a "back-up" until you have more then one!!!

 

[CentralSigns]

Rotate your backups so no problems. the heat issue hasn't messed me yet knock on wood.

 

[Locals Find!]

treat them all like they WILL have issues.. not IF, ...WHEN!!

and saying you want more then one back up, in case... well, it's not even a "back-up" until you have more then one!!!

Good Advice Doug. Currently I have my drive on my CPU, then 1 external with copies of all my files, and a secondary slave drive also attached to the CPU as well with copies because, like you said its not if but when. I know you can get large externals cheap and large cases to make your own cheap.

The reason I was asking about the 2.5 minis is they look attractive as they are so much smaller and require less of my preciously limited space in my safe when they get secured at night, rather than having to install a bigger safe. Just wasn't sure with them being that small if their were any issues like heat to look out for or other known issues.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

Just wasn't sure with them being that small if their were any issues like heat to look out for or other known issues.

If you get one, and think there is too much heat, you can always just set an ice cube on it, you know, to help keep it cool.:ROFLMAO:

 

[signswi]

NAS are a much better solution, a bit more cost upfront but true raid, usually built for business environments, networked, etc.

 

[tcorn1965]

NAS are a much better solution, a bit more cost upfront but true raid, usually built for business environments, networked, etc.

+1 I use readynas it also has hot swappable drives

 

[SignBurst PCs]

NAS are a much better solution, a bit more cost upfront but true raid, usually built for business environments, networked, etc.

+1 on the NAS. We sell them to our customers because there are some very real advantages.

 

[theskipman_98]

suggestion for back up drives and retrieving info off of old hard drives is a HD dock. Usually run anywhere from $20-$80 and some even have built in media card readers. and their footprint is fairly small