Dizzy Posted September 6, 2015 Report Share Posted September 6, 2015 Can anyone recommend a decent external backup/storage device please.I'm really pushing my luck as I've never backed up my PC since I got it two years ago (not good I know). To give you a clue how much stuff I risk loosing its about 200gb worth of photo's and other info.So what am I best going for as I've been looking online but am completely baffled by all the options these days. There are backup ones, expansion ones, passport ones, cloud ones, combinations of those, and more besides.The one I used on my old PC was a basic Seagate Expansion Drive that I just used to plug in and copy/paste things over to but that was years ago and things are probably better now.I knew I should have bought one at the same time as getting my PC and forced myself to be more organised and back up daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted September 7, 2015 Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 I use a drive out of an old dvd recorder than went haywire and stopped playng dvd's. all you need to do is get the hard drive from one ot those, buy a case for it to fit in from pc world and you have a backup external drive. think i paid about £10.00 for the case to fit it in. think it was only about 200gb though. depends on how much you want to pay. 500 gb portable hard drive's usually start around the £40.00 mark but depends on where you shop for it. tanzy's is usually good for prices. (always get my printer ink from there and really great saving's on the compatable cartridges) usually if i am looking for anything along those lines i will start at p.c. world to get an idea what they have and teh price and then troll around a bit to see what other's have that are similar and what price they are charging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 Thanks Evils I'm looking to get something like a 1TB or 2TB depending on price but I don't really want to spend more than about £50 if I can help it.I did go into PC World last month but to be honest they weren't very helpful at all when I asked what the difference between all the different types was. I'm not sure the sales assistant actually knew though in fairness and there was nobody else available to ask.Staples were really helpful but said there were pros and cons for each sort and completely baffled me so I was non the wiser and Mr Dizzy was getting fed up and grumpy by then as he doesn't like shopping Maybe I'll just go for a bog standard expansion drive and forget about the rest, I don't think I'd better take the hard drive out of our DVD recorder to use though as I'd be in trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 REWIND.... re your case you bought for yours Evils.My old computer died a couple of years ago. The graphics card went (or so the chap in the repair shop said after having it for a while). So I paid for a brand new graphics card to be fitted and it was fine for a few hours but then kept freezing and crashing again. If I left it and turned it back on it would be fine for a little while longer but then went again. I took it back but he said there was nothing wrong with it. There clearly was.....so I took it somewhere else only to find repair shop 1 had been completely wrong and it wasn't anything to do with the old graphics card I had (in a bag) as they tested it for me and also re-tested my PC and it was the mother board. They didn't charge me either. I was pretty fed up having spent £70 on a graphics card I didn't need but I couldn't get a refund from place 1 but never mind Anyway, rambling again....... I still have the PC even though it doesn't work so if I took the hard drive out of it and put it in one of those cases you mention could I then access all my photo's and documents etc that are still on it or would it not work like that ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted September 7, 2015 Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 2tb portable hard drives in pc world satrt at £65.00 that is for a seagate one. i have a verbatim 500 gb portable drive as a backup bacup. comes with its own software and has a really good drive eraser if you have a few hours to spare whilst it completly wipes the drive. as for the one from your old pc you should be able to access all that is on the drive. if it is a sata one you could always have it put in your new pc as a second drive like i did with mine when i upgraded to a new pc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 How would I know if it's a sata one, will it say on it? I wouldn't really want to use that as a second drive/back up though as it's about 8 years old and has already had a hard life. It would be great to be able to access it though as I'm sure there are still things on it that I hadn't perhaps backed up and it would be easier to search too as the backups I did from it as it started to fail all have the same date stamp on every file that was copied over rather than the original file date. No idea how that happened but makes searching a nightmare.Super I'm going to buy a little case too and give it a go. I'll look at those Verbatim ones tooThanks Evils :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 7, 2015 Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 250gb USB drive £19 off ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-250GB-External-Portable-2-5-USB-Hard-Drive-With-Free-POUCH-and-Warranty-/181710288296?hash=item2a4ec6f5a8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 Thanks Wolfie Probably completely wrong of me to say this but I read the description and then the sellers next bit further down about faults and returns and it reminded me of those fake/scam emails and letters we sometimes see. It says.... (cut and pasted)"Any item found not working or damage when received please send us within 7 days please contact us through eBay messages. This is buyer responsibility to package and post return item to at their own cost in any circumstances. Thanks" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 7, 2015 Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 Well I bought one last week for the same reason you want one and it worked fine. Next day delivery too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 But Wolfie, having just done a bit more research it seems they are from China and have inbuilt photo editing software thats programmed to work all by itself though. After 14 they they start to upload all its 'self edited' personal photo's of you to forums and facebook so don't blame me when we all see you waxing your legs whilst wearing a mankini and eating candyfloss :lol:Sorry my silly head just woke up for a few minutes...... yes £19 is very good but 250gb is too small for me. Thanks anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 7, 2015 Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 500gb one then, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-500GB-External-Portable-2-5-USB-Hard-Drive-with-Warranty-Next-Day-Available-/330470222765?hash=item4cf18f6bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2015 Ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Bloody hell hour upon hour of reading the posts, researching and scouring the web for bargains, and all you get is a 'Ta'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 You could always print them out and put em in a shoe box under your bed. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 I use a one terabyte external with a one touch backup system on the disk, it's not a good idea to get a big one (say two tb.or three incase it dies, in other words don't put all your eggs in one basket) since there are good deal on the 1tbs and later when that's full buy. another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good advice Jean thanks Bill good idea also but unfortunately I can't print all my photo's and stuff off and put it all under my bed as I'm scared of heights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted September 9, 2015 Report Share Posted September 9, 2015 transfer them to cd's is another option as long as you label the cd's so you at least have some idea of what is on them. may work out cheaper and you can use them in a cd player to show on teh tv as well if you really want to bore your guests with holiday photo's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted September 10, 2015 Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 2TB from Maplins used to be about £60 when I bought one, probably gone up by now though Dizz but still worth checking. I only have a 250 GB hard drive so really needed a large external HD and would not be without it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 What make is your 2TB one Algy ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 After days of research. WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 External hard drive on Ebay £49.99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Thank you ever so much so spending so long researching Mr Wolfie. Your help and continued support regarding this has been far beyond the call of duty and as such you have been awarded the much sought after 'Dizzy Star'.(thought I'd best not just say 'Ta' again after last time ha ha) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 About time, sarky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Sorry for the late reply Dizz - Samsung. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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