External hard drives?

[donutsweeper]

Appealing to my flist for information here :)

I know next to nothing about computers. I would like to get an external hard drive or a zip drive or something that I can back up my files with. I would be backing up word docs, photos and a bunch of .avi files (tv shows and movies). Anyone have any suggestions as to what device would work best for this? Any info- like what brands are good or which ones should be avoided or what storage size is ideal would be appreciated.

Comments

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Both of mine are Western Digital. They're a little pricier but I think they're worth it because they're easy to set up, have no problems and last a long time. My oldest is six years old and I only got the second one because I had too much stuff for the first one.

Your ideal storage size is the same or more than your computer can hold because you should be able to fit your entire hard drive on your external hard drive for an easy transfer whenever you get a new laptop or desktop.

Western Digital also this great feature where I just keep it connected to my PC and it runs in the background, automatically saving all my changes so I always have an up to date backup and never have to do anything.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I mostly use a laptop, so keeping it attached all the time wouldn't work, but I hadn't thought about storage size, that's a very good point, thanks!

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I second all this about Western Digital. I have two, because I filled the 500G with just extra files (not back-up -- I have so many photos) and I wanted another for more extra files plus an actual back-up of my computer. The WDs work with Mac or PC, but I think you'd have to format it for one or the other when you start.

I love the auto-save backup feature too.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Good to know, thanks.

Don't you have a laptop though? How does the autosave work with a laptop?

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

My main computer is a desktop (iMac) so I just leave it hooked up all the time. With a laptop, I would just schedule a daily (or weekly, whatever you want) backup for 4am or somesuch, then plug it in to the laptop when I go to bed.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

oh, that might work, thanks!

[pointytilly.livejournal.com]

That "great feature" is just really hard to kill bloatware if you don't want it, though. Took me forever to actually remove (not disable) it, and I'm still not sure if it worked because the drive with it has slightly less space :/.

My MyPassport also refuses to spin down properly unless I mess with it in a drive manager thing or do it manually via the command line. Having a hard drive that I have to hold in my hand and make sure is not still spinning before I unplug it = not fun!

My older Western Digital's worked nicely, though. No complaint, no failure ever other than a minor filesystem wobble when it lost power (easily fixed with the Linux answer to checkdisky tools). And it has a pretty blue light.