External Hard Drive?

[nunzia]

I have so many pictures on my computer, I think I should get some off and put in a safe place. Would getting an external hard drive work? How much do they cost and is one place better than the next to get one? What do you do, just plug it into a USB port and then...how do you get stuff from one to the other? Do you have to get a program on the external to bring up the pictures when you plug it in? Will it safely store pictures for a long time?
Mainly.. COST and where to get?

 

[TallyTutter]

I keep watching the deals at Buy dot com. I am wanting to get on for the same reason. I have seen this featured but I am waiting for the price to come down or Santa to be very nice to me

Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential USB 2.0 External Hard Drive $107.99

or I just saw this

FD G-Force Hard Drive - GF1000EU
Fantom 1TB G-Force Hard Drive - Dual Interface (eSATA & USB 2.0) - External Hard Drive $74.99 (after $20 mail in rebate)

 

[torinsmom]

How about this one? I just saw it and it sounds like a good deal....

http://www.buy.com/prod/fantom-1tb-g-force-hard-drive-dual-interface-esata-usb-2-0-external/q/loc/101/206821006.html

Marsha

 

[prncess674]

You don't need any software. Your computer has a C drive and if you hook up the external drive it will be recognized as some other letter like E or F. Just open up "My Computer" and locate your picture folder and then click edit, copy and then paste them on the new drive which is probably E or F.

1TB is a lot of storage. I bought a 250 gig portable hard drive a few years ago and it is plenty storage for me, but only you know how much you need. Also think about backing up more than just photos. Keep it separate from your computer in a safe place.

 

[WDWorBUST]

I just bought one not too long ago because my computer had gotten a virus and I thought I had lost everything. I was able to retrieve my photos...and eventually got the computer fixed. But I am much more diligent about backing up now. Mine is a Western Digital 250GB that I got at Walmart for $68 (I'm pretty sure that was it).

 

[Tina]

I use the My Book Essential external drives. I have a 250 GB and a 500 GB. They are so simple, just plug in and go. They show up looking like a regular drive on your "My Computer."

However, you may want to read some reviews on the drives before buying anything larger than 500GB. I've read that drives over that size have had some reliability issues. 500 BG is a TON of space.

 

[jakoky]

Hi there, i have had an external harddrive for a long time, and it is great...i just recently bought a netbook and bought a portable external drive too...so now i have all my pics backed up to 2 hard drives and i like that security...the external harddrive is awesome, we are heading out of town next weekend, and i will bring it along and it takes no time to back up my pictures i will be taking...my newest one is a 250 gb iomega...

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I bought a Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus about six months ago at Costco. It is a 750GB drive and cost under $100.

One neat thing is called "Safety Drill" which is a 100% backup of your hard drive, including the Registry and all System Files. If your operating system crashes you just reboot from a provided CD and then it will completely resore your hard drive to the last backup. And if it necessary to replace your hard drive, or you get a new computer it puts in everything you are used to.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

I use a Maxtor also. Mine is a Onetouch mini 4. I got it on sale at Office Depot for around $80. I love it for the ease of use and no electrical plug! It is only a little larger than a cell phone. It also comes with a 5 year warranty.

http://www.officedepot.com/catalog/...ddq0t8b?fkey=null&Ntt=maxtor+one+touch+mini+4

 

[dawson5]

I've heard great things about LaCie's and Seagates. LaCie's are expensive though, Seagates a bit more economical.

 

[bmr12]

I recommend shopping at newegg <dot> com. Go to Computer Hardware -> Hard Drives, then select External HDs. For a windows box, you can use USB interface. You should be able to get 1 TB for less than $100 shipped; and smaller HDs should be somewhat less.

 

[sherreis]

I asked the tech guys at work what they recommended and they told me Maxtor or Western Digital. I bought mine through buy.com using Sunshine Rewards. I have started placing all my pictures on it as a back-up.

 

[manning]

Don't forget to BACK IT UP.

A hard drive has a disk that spins at a 7200 rpm or more.

It is not if it crashes but when it crashes. It can crash the first time you use it or ten years from now.

I had a new one crash after just one month of use.

Consider getting two drives or a RAID 2 drive.

 

[torinsmom]

I guess you need a back-up for your back-up Seems kind of crazy. SD cards are so cheap($10 for 2 GB), I am thinking of just replacing them when they fill up, and storing them in a fire safe(labeled in some way of course). Then back them up on an external drive AND have them on my computer.

Will SD cards "keep" well?

Marsha

 

[nunzia]

Great advice! I'm nervous about the back up needing back up??? I was thinking of putting the pictures on the external and then deleting them from my computer since there are so many, they must be taking up a ton of space. But now I'm worried about the external crashing....

 

[Tina]

I guess you need a back-up for your back-up Seems kind of crazy. SD cards are so cheap($10 for 2 GB), I am thinking of just replacing them when they fill up, and storing them in a fire safe(labeled in some way of course). Then back them up on an external drive AND have them on my computer.

Will SD cards "keep" well?

Marsha

That's all well and good, as long as the SD cards don't become obsolete. I can recall the days of saving stuff on floppy disks. Disks that I can no longer read.

 

[prncess674]

Great advice! I'm nervous about the back up needing back up??? I was thinking of putting the pictures on the external and then deleting them from my computer since there are so many, they must be taking up a ton of space. But now I'm worried about the external crashing....

That is easy to check. I wouldn't delete them just yet. You may have a huge internal hard drive and until you are really running out of space I would leave them be and just back them up.

Just go to Start ---> My Computer and your hard disks will be listed. Right click on your C drive and little diagram will pop up and tell you how much space you have used and open.

 

[MickeyMom2Boys]

Great advice! I'm nervous about the back up needing back up??? I was thinking of putting the pictures on the external and then deleting them from my computer since there are so many, they must be taking up a ton of space. But now I'm worried about the external crashing....

PLEASE do not just move the pictures to the external drive. As one PP already stated, it's not IF a hard drive will crash, it's WHEN. Look at your computer and see if the pictures are truly taking up too much space. Go to My Computer, right click your C drive and go to properties. See how much space is available. If the computer is fairly new, I'm willing to bet you have plenty of free disk space available and you can use the external as a backup drive. If you do not have enough space, consider adding another large internal drive to your computer, storing your pictures on it, then backing that drive up to the external.

My boys are 2 and 5. I got my first digital camera when my oldest was 3 months old. Their entire lives are on my computer. I have logged over 10,000 pictures on my current camera alone. One of my friends once told me they love looking at my vacation pictures because they feel like they were right there with us. If I lost those pictures I would be devastated! I store my pictures on a 1TB internal drive and back them up to an external. I always back up before leaving for vacation and I either take the external with me or leave it with my Mom - for fear of someone breaking in while we are away and stealing my computer equipment.

I have been in the IT field for 12 years and have seen many people lose all their family pictures due to a crashed hard dive with no backup. It's well worth the $100 to safeguard these memories.

 

[nd5056]

Check this one out HERE: for $69.99 today only.

.

 

[dawson5]

Tina you should still be able to find a reader for the floppy. Heck we have one from an old pc up in the closet. Those floppy's couldn't hold very much, I assume they aren't pictures stored on it. Can you take it to one of the picture places, they might have a slot on the machine.

SD cards are not infallible, they can actually wear out. CD's are susceptible to a nasty little thing called CD rot. You need to have them backed up in a few different places. Always invest in quality on these type of things (IMHO). Portable hard drives can have problems also. You can also try online storage.

Just back your pictures up in a few ways. If you put them on cd's, burn at a slow speed and use a good quality disc (I use taiyo yuden, I can only buy them online but worth the money/effort for me.).

I believe heat is bad for all of these. Keep them in a cool dry place.