Looking for top tips...

[madmike]

My Iomega 1tb media hard drive has gone belly up. It the one before the cloud edition. Local computer whizzos are trying to retrieve my 600 gigs of mixed media...needs a linux machine etc etc

I shall need a replacement soon so what to get ?

I shall need storage for all media capable of being accessed wirelessly via the wi fi router from my laptop, sony bly ray player, SB classic, and Roberts internet radio.

The only options locally are in Staples, another Iomega or a Western Digital mybook.....there must be other options ? What do the pink fishies use ?

many thanks in advance....

 

[Cereal Killer]

Samsung make nice HDDs

 

[Stunsworth]

I bought a 2 TB Western Digital in Currys yesterday for £109.

Buy two and use one as a backup. If you use a Mac you can use Time Machine, if a PC think about some folder mirroring software to keep the two in step.

 

[Eyebroughty]

Hi,

Visit the Qnap site, various options of NAS's.

Get two drives minimum to work in RAID.

Dont expect much change out of £400-£500 for a decent and robust setup.

I would also suggest an APC battery backup, another £100 on top.

Then a USB drive to use as a backup of the Qnap NAS, another £80+.

There will be those that say this is overkill, hard disks fail as you have experiece of and will again.

Best to be ultra careful with data especially if you reply on it.

Cheers

John

 

[robs]

Whatever you get, GET TWO OF THEM, & backup....

 

[Bluedroog]

Whatever you get, GET TWO OF THEM, & backup....

Worth saying twice, often takes a failed hard drive to sink in. Disk space is so cheap these days and it's more a question of when and no if they fail so there really is no excuse.

Whatever you get, GET TWO OF THEM, & backup....

 

[Richard Kimber]

Samsung make nice HDDs

Well, yes. Though I made the mistake of buying an external one that had unconfigurable power saving features. It seems to spin down after about 5 seconds and takes about 10 seconds to spin up again. Aaaarrgghh.

- Richard.

 

[mudlark]

I use a large box for my computer, a system disc and 3.5 inch drive for data. The box has a large fan on it to keep it cool. I then back up to a usb box every week. (ish)

I have two 1tb drives from small usb devices that are knackered and also a laptop hdd.

Keep them cool. Use the backup for backup and not for everyday use.

 

[sonddek]

Get a Mybook mirror type drive. You can always spot them as they are twice as thick as the standard Mybooks. As soon as you plug it in, use the provided software to convert the two drives into mirrors of each other rather than the concatenated RAID state in which they are supplied. Better still get two of these drives, and backup one mirrored pair to the other, then send it off site. Those advocating two drives haven't spent a lot of time dealing with data. Forget the Seals, three is one, two is none.

And remember, a RAID mirror is not a backup. Mirrored RAID gives you a little security against the certainty of hardware failure. Backups give you a little security against accidental or automated deletion. Neither is a substitute for the other.

 

[madmike]

I have seen one of those, has a white case and a top that springs up when you press it revealing the two drives. My question would be if one is a mirror of the other is that a raid mirror and therefore not a backup as you say ?

 

[Nic Robinson]

Anyone using a cloud based solution?