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Best Solution For Backing Up HDD

H

harryhood

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 15, 2006
240
0
I have a 1tb HDD in my iMac. I have my lifes collection of music (only on this HDD over 22,000 songs) and about 600gb in total filled on this comp. I've been meaning to get a good (possibly regular) back up solution for all my computers content.

I was looking into getting a 1tb Time Capsule. Is this the best option for quality/price? I'd like to have the best option for the cheapest possible.

Thanks
 
harryhood said:
I have a 1tb HDD in my iMac. I have my lifes collection of music (only on this HDD over 22,000 songs) and about 600gb in total filled on this comp. I've been meaning to get a good (possibly regular) back up solution for all my computers content.

I was looking into getting a 1tb Time Capsule. Is this the best option for quality/price? I'd like to have the best option for the cheapest possible.

Thanks
Click to expand...

the cheapest would be carbon copy cloner and external harddrive , carbon copy cloner is free and a external 1 tb drive cost about ~£70 ~$110
 
or time machine plus an external 1tb drive (usb - the cheapest(kinda slow),or firewire800(fast but $$$)
 
Time machine works great if you plan to stay with macs. I say that and a extrenal drive. That is how I do mine. Every so often I hook it up and let time machine catch up.
 
I don't understand how people can say that they have irreplaceable files and then say they are planning on doing a backup solution sometime in the future. Your disk could take a dump tonight. You should really go get a 1tb external USB drive asap and let time machine do it's thing. Seriously.
 
I have a 1 TB external in a Mercury Elite Pro enclosure connected via Firewire 800 - SuperDuper backs up automatically three times a week.
 
Whats the cheapest most trustworthy 1tb drive I can use with time machine?
 
Harry,

You need to buy another drive and back-up your data immediately. No matter who manufactures your hard drive, it can fail. You'll hear all sorts of opinions on hard drives, but one manufacturer is not necessarily better than another. I would start by shopping at www.newegg.com and pick out a 1 or 2TB drive. I suspect that you're not too concerned with speed, so i would look at buying a drive that only does USB 2.0. You don't really need a firewire which would only increase the cost.

Backing up your data is extremely important. As a matter of fact, I have data that would be catastrophic (to me) if I lost it, so not only do I have a back-up drive here at the house, I also have an off-site back-up as well. It's a drive that I keep at my office and I bring it home every month or two to run a 3rd back-up and then I take it back to work the next day. It protects me in case of a fire, theft, or the very remote possibility of losing two drives at once. It's cheap insurance for the unthinkable.

Hope this helps,
Bryan
 
I use Time Machine and it makes it much easier if yes you do stay with Macs which I do. When I got my new iMac I had the initial setup transfer all my Apps and personal files like music and documents over for me.
 
I'm using a Seagate FreeAgent Go 880GB drive for Time Machine plugged in all the time. Right now, I'm using just under half of my 1TB HD, so I'm not really hurting for a 1TB drive. If I ever get to the point where I need a full drive, I'll just exclude some non-vital video folders that I can keep on a different drive.
 
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I back up to a 1 TB time capsule and it's great (I know some say they fail ~18 months but my mom's is that old and fine, and mine is not that old but fine). I also create a full, bootable backup on an external HD (with ccc) every month or two.

I would recommend the TC though - really great (so far).
 
"I was looking into getting a 1tb Time Capsule. Is this the best option for quality/price? I'd like to have the best option for the cheapest possible."

DON'T get a Time Capsule. They have a very high failure rate, often dying at the age of 18 months. They're too expensive, anyway. Do a search right here on "Time Capsule" and you'll see why.

DO get a hard drive and back up RIGHT AWAY. If that music collection is important to you, you had better get at least a second copy of it all somewhere. Actually, you really need a _third_ copy, as well -- again, if it is "important" to you.

Others here will comment about external hard drives, but I'd like to suggest an alternative course. Check these out:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(various items shown)

Once you get one of those, buy a "bare" hard drive to go with it.
Or - better yet - buy TWO bare hard drives, and do "rotating backups". Did I hear you say that this was your "life's collection"?
Best solution is to do two backups, and store one of them in a different location.

Since your collection is a large one, you might even consider a Firewire 800 docking station, which will allow you to backup much more quickly than with USB2.

If you go to Other World Computing, they have their NewerTech Voyager Q Firewire 800 docking station on sale right now:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock

They also have complete docking station/drive bundles available.

DISCLAIMER: I have no financial connection to OWC, other than being a customer.

Another good source for bare hard drives is newegg.com.
I'd avoid Hitachi drives, have had two failures from them lately. I'm leaning towards Seagate as the best choice out there right now. I'd avoid Western Digital and Maxtor as well.

As for backup software, I would suggest CarbonCopyCloner (free/donationware). Easy to set up and use, and far, FAR preferable to Time Machine.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
http://timecapsuledead.org/

Just stick with an external HD and use time machine, or drag and drop files manually. The more you use your external HD, the more likely it will be to fail. I'd back your stuff up and store the HD. I read on here recently that HD's don't like to be stored for more than a year if not in use, but that go contrary to my experiences and makes no sense as well. Good luck, don't keep putting this off, external HD's are too easy to come by. I like LaCie.
 
harryhood said:
I have a 1tb HDD in my iMac. I have my lifes collection of music (only on this HDD over 22,000 songs) and about 600gb in total filled on this comp. I've been meaning to get a good (possibly regular) back up solution for all my computers content.

I was looking into getting a 1tb Time Capsule. Is this the best option for quality/price? I'd like to have the best option for the cheapest possible.

Thanks
Click to expand...

If every one here has you worried that you have to back up right away, you don't even have to wait for the mail. Go to you local radio shack, they have plenty, inexpensive hd there.
 
150 bucks and no firewire 800 ? ... i'd just buy a clean hard drive and a cheap enclosure for it ;/
 
harryhood said:
Thanks for all the responses everyone.

I think I'm going to get the OWC Mercury Elite 1.0TB. Is this site the best/cheapest to order from?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MAU4S7S1TB32/
Click to expand...
Looks like a good choice!
You can get the FW 800 here;
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEAQ7S1TB32M/
for $30 more if you like it.
Did you say if you had the "Time Capsule"?..If you are thinking of getting a timecapsule look at this first; http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2091667&start=690&tstart=0
...I have one and have been reading about how they are poorly designed for heat dissipation and I am looking for a back up as well ...anyway best to you!
Led
 
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