resolve to make those backups in 2019

...and save money

WD My Passport Portable External Hard Drives; USB 3.0 (see https://www.amazon.com …3330602-000-000000-web-20)

1 TB $53

2TB $60

3TB $95

4TB $95 (same as 3 TB, maybe an error?)

Backups should incremental and offsite. Keep that offsite disk at work / family / bank vault / in your car / etc. Use Acronis / CloudBerry / etc.

I have at least a half dozen of the 2TB Black MAC WD’s for Back Up purposes here and off site.
Good advice indeed

I am using the WD-4TB for storing my pictures stash and to host a local incremental backup of my laptop. And this entire HD get's an incremental off-site backup. Most likely data loss scenario will be that my laptop goes puff (= dropped, lost, stolen, ....) and then the retrieval will be fast from the external HD.

For those using these devices, how do you like the included backup software?

Most included backup programs are great except for one factor. Most do not do incremental backups. If you have several terabytes of data, it can take longer than overnight to do your backups.

For those with less than three or four thousand images the included backup programs are fine. For the rest of us, a paid version is much better mainly so we can incrementally backup our data.

Perfectly Frank wrote in post #18784328
For those using these devices, how do you like the included backup software?

I never liked any of the included backup software. For the most part I find them limited feature-wise and a little fiddly. I keep my photos and catalog on an external RAID drive and I have GoodSync scheduled to back the RAID drive to a portable unit every night. Every few months I swap the portable with another that I keep offsite.

Nogo wrote in post #18784336
Most included backup programs are great except for one factor. Most do not do incremental backups. If you have several terabytes of data, it can take longer than overnight to do your backups.

For those with less than three or four thousand images the included backup programs are fine. For the rest of us, a paid version is much better mainly so we can incrementally backup our data.

But there are plenty of free packages that do incremental easily and well. EaseUS ToDo is one. See https://www.easeus.com​/backup-software/tb-free.html

Microsoft SyncToy is what I have been using for about a decade.

I got a pair of EasyStore Western Digitals. 2 TB each, $50 USD each from BestBuy (Christmas sale).
I "mirror" my pictures on them. One stays in a fire resistant safe.

KeithS wrote in post #18784645
Microsoft SyncToy is what I have been using for about a decade.

Synctoy is not appropriate for backups as it copies files and erases the current version. If you get hit by a virus, ransomware, or corruption that you don't notice until after your sync has run you lose the backup. This is why incremental backups are essential - you keep versions of all your files.

an aside of sorts, but for the cheaper (under $80 for PC) 2TB brands WD, Seagate, etc, is there one that is better than the others? I've been reading the reviews and some say WD is difficult to install with their package insert, and that Seagate makes you pay for data recovery if something goes wrong.

Looking at the drive failure statistics of Backblaze (https://www.backblaze.​com/b2/hard-drive-test-data.html) I take that there is not a specific brand that is per se better - but that specific series might perform better and worse. I would go with a brand that actually produces their own hardware (WD, Seagate) and don't worry too much about their differences. I personally had very good experience with WD drives for home use.

Do not rely on WD external drives as a sole backup: The I/O boards are an additional failure point, and the drive encryption is paired uniquely with each I/O board.

Mike Deep wrote in post #18785197
Do not rely on WD external drives as a sole backup: The I/O boards are an additional failure point, and the drive encryption is paired uniquely with each I/O board.

You should go into more detail because the WD drives listed in this thread are connected by USB. Most people would consider the USB to be the I/O, rather than the circuitry in the drive itself. The EasyStore drives appear to be laptop drives with a USB 3 interface with a nice packaging.

I have two of them, with the same information on both ("mirrored"). If one goes down, I buy another and bring the data over from the working drive. I didn't bother to use any back-up software, so I just drag the directories to where they are needed.