View Full Version : backing up external hard drive...?
bigcountry
3rd of June 2009 (Wed), 22:22
i am looking for a way to back up my external hard drive.
maybe something where i can just drag and drop files to it...if this option is even available. does anyone have any experience or suggestions?
thanks!
alessandro2009
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 04:19
I don't understand your question. :confused:
I think that every external Hard Drive USB 2.0 can do it (a backup from pc to external hdd and from hdd to pc).
Personally I preferred instead an option a slightly more expensive but that allowed me more flexibility that the purchase of a multicard reader with hard disk (format 3.5 inches) so also i can download the photo from my memory card without having a computer all the time.
But, i repeat i don't understand clearly your question. Sorry. :confused:
Note:
If you intend a direct transfer from an external drive to another, and with two units connected to the PC at the same time, I think it is possible, but it is certainly a very slow due to the Usb bus and temporary files generated during the operation.
nadtz
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 11:37
unclear here as well. DO you want to back up a machine to the external HD, or the external HD to another device?
CyberDyneSystems
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 11:43
In addition to clarifying your needs and desires, please inform us of what you have now.. ie: OS, hardware, if you are using the external as a back up, or are your files stored on the external only.. etc...
If your external is your primary storage,. I;d get another quickly and use some software (lots of free ones) to mirror the contents of your two external drives.
Village_Idiot
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 11:45
unclear here as well. DO you want to back up a machine to the external HD, or the external HD to another device?
Sounds like the second option to me.
Another HDD? A RAID enclosure with two mirrored drives? A server?
There's a ton of options and it's easy to do automatic backups. We need a budget and how big of a drive you're backing up.
bigcountry
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 17:51
i have a mac w/ os x. i use one external for time machine and another for backup.
what i would like to do is have a place in cyber space that i can use as another "external" hard drive/storage place. somehwere i can drag and drop files to and from.
i am beginning to think that my online server may be my best option.
Familiaphoto
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 19:14
OP, if you mean backing up files from your PC to an external HD...
You could look at utilities like SyncToy which are free. But to help most we do need some clarity.
bigcountry
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 19:51
no, i want to back up files on my external and my mac all into one place in cyberspace or in otherwords, offsite.
Wilt
4th of June 2009 (Thu), 21:00
no, i want to back up files on my external and my mac all into one place in cyberspace or in otherwords, offsite.
Be very wary, a number of storage services have gone belly up and left their clients with no service forwarding to another company, leaving their clients with lost data (when there was not a local copy in the customer computer)
rklepper
5th of June 2009 (Fri), 01:53
You are much better off to back up to another hard drive and store that drive off site,
alessandro2009
5th of June 2009 (Fri), 01:59
Be very wary, a number of storage services have gone belly up and left their clients with no service forwarding to another company, leaving their clients with lost data (when there was not a local copy in the customer computer)
Yes, it's not sure transfer important data on web because there isn't warranty that they will not be lost.
However some Swiss bank makes image hosting (after payment) for a long period of time.
The Swiss Picture BankŪ Guarantee (http://info.swisspicturebank.com/Guarantee.html)
I never use this service so i don't known is are really reliable.
Wilt
5th of June 2009 (Fri), 12:44
Swiss banks?! I thought they were only good for hiding money! ;)
NinetyEight
5th of June 2009 (Fri), 15:28
You are much better off to back up to another hard drive and store that drive off site,
Agree, just get a second external drive and copy the files to this once a month or something to keep it up to date, and keep it at work or round a family members house etc.
Use something like SyncToy or SyncBackPro (which i use) to make the backups easier (assuming Windows).
EDIT, just read you are on a mac so you'll not be using Synctoy!
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