I've been putting it off but I've got to buy one or all my pictures will disappear into the ether if I don't. If I do buy one then my computer will remain perfectly docile and keep hold of them!
Basically thinking along the lines if 500gb, USB - what is there to look out for, o wise and learned STW'ers?
Cheers
Rich
freecom toughdrive if you are gonna move it around at all
You have 2 choices:
a) External Desktop drive - Anything upto 1.5gb in size but run off the mains via a power brick. Cheaper.
b) External Portable drive - Anything upto 500gb, 320gb is the norm at the moment tho, pricey but they are powered off the USB port (usb 2.0+) so no extra wires.
Either way go for Freecom and your laughing.
maxtor from Tescos...big storage and cheap.
Thanks chaps - just found a portable Iomega 320gb one at Tescos for £45. Good point about the plug - I've run out sockets in the PC room!
don;t for god's sake buy an iomega!
Just a thought. Last year I started keeping all my work, photos, music etc on external, powered USB hard drives. A few weeks ago I plugged one in, and it was dead! I managed to buy an exact duplicate disc and replace the PCB controller, which resuscitated the disc thankfully, but it's pure luck I managed to buy one with an identical PCB, and it's fortunate that the problem was as simple as a shot PCB.
A USB hard disc is convenient, but if you want "permanent" storage then also consider a pro flickr account or some web hosting and keep them online, then they're backed up etc and you can get at them from anywhere, or burn them to duplicate DVDs and keep them somewhere safe.
nobody sensible keeps important files on any form of hard drive, gotta be a physical memory format like DVD or possibly a tape system if you are really keen on keeping it safe
I work on the principle that as long as everything is on at least 2 drives, it's ok.
me too, but then i'm not sensible and don't have very important work stuff
I have 4 hard-drives in my main machine. One is the main boot disc, the second is a Time Machine back-up of that one. The third and fourth are in a mirrored RAID format, and used for a further back-up and overspill storage; ie, all work, pics, music, fillums etc are stored there. These files are then backed up to DVDs, as they accumulate. So basically, I have up to 5 copies of each individual file! At least 3 (2xHDs and DVD).
I am thinking of getting a 4 HD RAID NAS setup as well, for extra security, and considering off-site physical data storage.
Paranoid, me? 
Back up, back up and back up again.
And maybe back up the back ups, just to be on the safe side...
And maybe just one more little back up, just to be on the safe side.
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