New Wave Outpost Forum

Why am I fixated on this topic? Because I've had a drive crash before and I just accidently wiped my whole music drive this weekend while playing with Unix syncing scripts on my Mac. Just a SLIGHT boo-boo caused me to designate the source drive as the target drive...so it promptly erased the whole thing. I was backed up but am still only half-way thru the painful process of reassembling my music just the way I had it before. OUCH!...but not catastrophic.

So get off your asses, take advantage of crazy external hard drive prices (from reputable brands no less), and back up!

FD 160GB HDD for $59.99!
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/detai ... 083077.asp

FD 500GB HDD for $199.99!!!
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/detai ... 005291.asp

I finally got one! Now I have to figure out how to use it. If I backed up all my music, then d/l more, do I back up the music file and it will skip the stuff it has?

Phil, if you use the Windows Backup utility (in Programs > Accesories > System Tools > Backup), you can create a "Normal" backup the first time. After that, you can do an "Incremental" backup that will theoretically just add new files. However, I hate this method since Windows places all the files into a compressed "*.bkf" file that's not freely browse-able. It works fine though.

There are free Mac tools for keeping things in the their native formats (RSyncX for example), but I don't know what's best for PC if this is what you prefer.

Blir, that 160GB external drive sounds like a great deal. I only have a 70GB external now, but it uses a Firewire cable. Any idea how much slower a USB 2.0 device is than a Firewire device?

I'm thinking of getting an adequate external, copying my internal hard drive to it, then trying to replace my internal hard drive with a 250 or 300GB drive. Do you or anyone have any idea how interchangeable hard drives are?

Anyone have a recommendation of a good resource for a computer case-cracking virgin?

USB2 is actually rated a bit higher than Firewire - 480Mbps vs. 400Mbps. However, in the real world, the Firewire architecture yields anywhere from 10-70% faster speeds. For music and backup use though, you won't notice much difference. Just buy the cheapest brand name drive that's on special.

Adding a new HD is pretty easy on PCs. They usually have a controller that can handle one main and one slave drive. So you may not even have to remove the original drive - just keep your system and applications on it and big files and scratch space on the new. There'll be a 2nd loose ribbon connector in the case when you open it. Just make sure you match up what kind of drive you buy with what kind of connectors your computer uses: EIDE, ATA, SATA, etc.

Blir -

Do you subscribe to dealmac.com? They alert you to great deals in a variety of areas. I just picked up two 400GB SATA drives for $110 and bought two MiniStack V2 cases to drop them in. I'm building multiple copies of my music library that I can move between houses.

Blir, thanks for the valuable info. As soon as I order a new drive I think I'm ready for the endeavour.

[quote][i]Originally posted by beatschool[/i]
<br>Do you subscribe to dealmac.com? They alert you to great deals in a variety of areas.
[/quote]
Ooh, that wouldn't be good for me...$$$$$

OK, I was all set to buy an 8 gig flash unit tomorrow. Instead, I just ordered the 160 gig unit. And for less $$$ than I was going to pay for the 8 gigs!

Timely suggestion Blir!

I just bought a Western Digital My Book Premium 500GB for $269.99. Maybe not the best deal around, but this one does automatic scheduled backups. And since I'm very lazy, that was best for me. (Plus, who can resist that little black book exterior.)

I've never had an external HD before -- always backed up to DVD-RAM carts -- but I'm kind of lax with that, and the horror stories have been getting to me.

CompUSA also has been having various online deals on the Maxtor Ultra 250GB SATA-150s. I got one to upgrade my other computer. Now I just have to get the stuff to upgrade it to SATA... Any recommendations there?!

SS, don't know about the weather where you live, but I live in the lightning strike capital of the world. I never leave my external hard drive plugged in. If I get hit with a power surge that will fry my computer it will take my external along with it.

Holy crap, 500GB drives [:0].


[i]Blir, that 160GB external drive sounds like a great deal. I only have a 70GB external now, but it uses a Firewire cable. Any idea how much slower a USB 2.0 device is than a Firewire device?[/i]

Quite often, those external drives can be cracked open and upgraded, although I don't know what the limitation is (eg. 160GB).

[quote][i]Originally posted by Jefe[/i]
<br>SS, don't know about the weather where you live, but I live in the lightning strike capital of the world. I never leave my external hard drive plugged in. If I get hit with a power surge that will fry my computer it will take my external along with it.
[/quote]
More anality from me...analness?...whatever. All my stuff are on Uninterruptible Power Supplies. They're mostly just batteries, so even the cheapos are fine imho. I had a main one from APC but picked up a few of these for the kids & wife and my peripherals:

For small computers, $19.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0238818

For larger plus accessories, $29.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0210432

SWEET!
Im running out of room on my HDD cluster.
I currently live at .6TB with 3 drives at 100, 200, and 300

I think I should break down and buy a LaCie Bigger Disk Extreme.

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/det ... 00801U.asp

or just stop collecting music.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/Rfrayo/nerd2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a> "I ain't a-Frayo-No Ghost!!!"

I bought an external 200gb last spring and an additional 200 gb internal hd then realized I didn't have enough slots so I bought a cheap internal hard drive external usb case to convert it to a bonified external USB
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1204 works great, so if you can find a cheap internal you can adapt them.
<img src="http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/V13-3210-main.jpg">

<img src="http://www.virginmusic.de/images/cover/150/0724357803526.jpg"><p><font face="small Fonts"> ONE NO

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