Loads of photos music, downloaded stuff on the PC. Getting a bit worried now What’s best for backup storage?

for backup or for active storage?

I use an external hardrive as a network area storage (NAS) for both Mrs S and me as a media server. The irreplaceable data on that is backed up periodically to a second hard drive floatng around in a spare bay in my desktop. I use BeyondComparre to manage my backups.

Depends how paranoid you are/how much stuff you’ve got.

If you just want to make a backup but you’ve got enough space on your pc to keep storing it then just get a little USB external hardrive – I’ve got a little Western Digital My Passport with a backup of iTunes and photos (powers off the USB drive so no need for any power supply…).

If you want to get fancy and allow the data to be access on your network (assuming you’re running wireless or similar) then maybe a NAS is the way to go. If you get one with RAID1 capability it’ll have two disks that’ll make two copies of everything just in case one disk fails. Obviously that’ll not stop you deleting files, or a virus destroying them etc..

They are probably the two extremes (certainly costs-wise!). Probably need to think what you want it for and make a call.

Or, of course, start burning DVDs……

I got an external HD a couple of yrs ago abd plug it in every now and again to back all my stuff up on. Mainly in case the interal drive dies on me.
Drives are sooo cheap these days.
I paid £55 for a 250GB Western Digital MyBook a couple of yrs ago. You can get 1TB for about £75 now, although if I was spending anymore than that I’d get 2x500GB rather than 1TB.

That RAID idea breatheeasy mentions sounds good.

Thanks guys, I need something just for peace of mind a la Stumpy01, for itunes and photos really So USB HD it is, these things are robust enough then?

nickc – they are design to be portable so have an element of “robustness”, though it’s still a fairly fragile thing really. And like all harddrives, it might just stop working one day. If it’s gonna sit on a desk beside the PC and maybe get moved to the laptop then it’ll be as good as you need.

And always something easy to grab if the house is on fire and you want to save all those years of photos you’ve built up on the way out….

I wouldn’t bother with just a USB one (laptop drive), if you don’t need the portability.

Get one of the plug-in mains powered ones – you get more memory for your cash that way and the cases seem more substantial than the teeny portable ones.

Been meaning to get my butt in gear and source an external Hard drive for work/home use stacks of old files reports etc plus 2x iTunes family piccies etc
I’m a bit of an IT numpty so suggested brands models and where to buy would be nice

Portability isn’t an issue just want all valuable docs etc backed up in the event of fire etc ..

Cheers Folks