New Toy - External Hard Drive

[beccanoles 0]

With all of the recent talk about disaster recovery plans, we decided that it was high time that we put some plans into action. Over the weekend Dale and I decided to go shopping for external hard drives that we can keep off premises. We ended up purchasing a Western Digital hard drive. At the touch of a button (like the Maxtor One Touch) we can back up our systems...AWESOME!

 

Anyway the best news...it was only $49.99 (US) at Circuit City!! It's an 80GB which is great for us and if we need additional space, we will simply purchase another one. So if you have been putting off this element of your disaster recovery plan, at prices like this, it's hard not to get one.

 

If you are not tech savvy, don't worry, the set up is a breeze!

 

 

[Guest]

Good thinking! I am going to check out the prices in my area...a recovery plan in case of disaster is mandatory.

 

Thanks for the infomation as well as the reminder!

 

Nancy

[Guest]

Good thinking! I am going to check out the prices in my area...a recovery plan in case of disaster is mandatory.

 

Thanks for the infomation as well as the reminder!

 

Nancy

[Candy Beauchamp 84]

Awesome! Congrats! I love my backup hard drive. I swap it out once every couple of weeks with another one off-site.

[lynne@virtualsunsolutions.com 0]

Becki,

 

Are you still happy with your WD external drive? I see they are on sale again.

 

Shoplocal external hard drive

 

Best Buy has the 160 for 99.00 but wanted to check with you to see if the 80 gig was more than enough space.

 

Lynne

 

[beccanoles 0]

I still LOVE it. Very, very easy to use. The 80GB was enough for me. If in the future I need more space (which I don't anticipate for a long time), I will purchase another because they seem like they are coming down in price all the time.

 

[lynne@virtualsunsolutions.com 0]

Thanks, Becki!

[ValleyVA 0]

I have the western digital and I got the 160MB (it was $99)...primarily so that I could just hit a button and back up.

 

The kids take turns backing up...even days, Matt gets to do it, odd days Samara gets to do it.

 

They get a kick out of it!

[Guest Snoodrey]

Becky,

 

I got my HP Compaq Pressario from Circuit City here in Saskatoon...and I will likely deal with them only where I can as far as software and other upgrades. I like their service...and that they even allowed me to take a month to pay off our computer. I would imagine that to use the external drive, I would have to plug it into my front USB slot...right? I have not worked with external drives at all, so please enlighten me!

 

Thanks,

Gerry T

Kenderdine Virtual Office World

Saskatoon, SK

[Guest]

Gerry,

Yes, modern external drives connect to your USB port, which saves you time from the old paralelle zip drives from years past.

 

Rob.

[TaylorMadeVA 0]

So, how many of you keep your external hard drive plugged into your computer?

 

I've been advised by a computer techie to unplug it if I'm not actually doing a backup because if a virus manages to get past my security system, it could wipe out the backup drive as well as the internal drives. I think the risk is pretty low, and it's a pain to have to connect & disconnect each time - but I am not willing to risk my data!

 

Any comments?

 

Bonnie

[Lori 1]

I was advised the same thing Bonnie and I do keep it unplugged unless I'm backing up. The way I have everything set up though, it's easy. I have 2 USB ports on the front of my computer and that's what I plug my Maxtor into when I do a backup. Everything is within easy reach - I don't even have to get up from my chair to do it!

 

[Guest]

Though the suggestion does sound reasonable, I wouldn't worry about the threat.

 

The only way a drive can be infected, is if you are writing to it at the time your system gets infected. It's no more of a threat than it would be to do a system backup while having a virus on your system you haven't detected yet.

 

Rob.

[Guest Snoodrey]

Rob,

 

I'm with you on that. I would probably keep my external drive plugged in no matter what. I would likely not worry about viruses on that drive either. I think there are times where on can go overboard on how to get viruses...just like we do with the common cold (a different virus type). I don't have one yet...but that is something nice to consider. And it never hurts to have additional storage space if you need it...but for now my 80 GB seems to be plenty.

 

Gerry T

Kenderdine Virtual Office World

Saskatoon, SK