Which External Drive To Buy?

[ricklev]

I have a 1000 gig hard drive in my computer and I want to use the Windows 7 backup program. In the past I bought a Seagate drive that somehow wasn't compatible with Windows backup. What brand should I buy for the least problems and what size do I need? How much? Where?

Thanks for your suggestions!

[connda]

I'm using a Western Digital Passport external drive. It works fine.

[aarn]

If you just want a backup, might be worth considering 64Gb flash drive. AA

[topt]

OP did you mean 1000GB - 1 TB? - if so then you should probably get as much as you want to pay for especially if you are going to be recording a lot of movies or something that takes up that sort of space - 3 or 4TB maybe?

This seems to come up fairly regularly as a subject - http://www.thaivisa....ve#entry5749531

I think it is the luck of the draw - Western Digital, Seagate, Buffalo as to how reliable they all are. I personally have 2 x WD portable drives and touch wood no issues yet.

[ricklev]

It is a 1 TB internal hard drive. The hard drive failed about a month after buying the computer and was replaced under warranty. I had been using a 1 TB external drive for backup, but it did not create a system image so restoration was more processes than I liked. I guess there was not enough room on the external? Now I've read that if I get any 3 TB external drive Windows 7 can't make a system image due to the size of the file allocation or something I don't understand...... Storage is not the problem. I have lots of 500GB drives. I just want it to be as easy as possible if the hard drive fails to restore the computer.

[topt]

It is a 1 TB internal hard drive. The hard drive failed about a month after buying the computer and was replaced under warranty. I had been using a 1 TB external drive for backup, but it did not create a system image so restoration was more processes than I liked. I guess there was not enough room on the external? Now I've read that if I get any 3 TB external drive Windows 7 can't make a system image due to the size of the file allocation or something I don't understand...... Storage is not the problem. I have lots of 500GB drives. I just want it to be as easy as possible if the hard drive fails to restore the computer.

Thanks as I did not know that about 3TB. Here is the MSN info - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408

From what you say why not just get a 2TB drive then - especially as storage is not the issue?

[Gary A]

I have had the unfortunate experience of losing everything when the hard drive failed and then once again when the "free" backup program failed. Since than, I try to be cautious. I paid for a backup for dumbies program called Rebit. It is slow but very simple for a simple guy like me. I have WD 500 GB and Seagate 500 GB USB powered hard drives and I keep them both backed up with everything on my computer. I also have a 350 GB Acer that I no longer use for backups. All three portable hard drives have been trouble free.

[JSixpack]

Good for you

I have had the unfortunate experience of losing everything when the hard drive failed and then once again when the "free" backup program failed. Since than, I try to be cautious. I paid for a backup for dumbies program called Rebit. It is slow but very simple for a simple guy like me. I have WD 500 GB and Seagate 500 GB USB powered hard drives and I keep them both backed up with everything on my computer. I also have a 350 GB Acer that I no longer use for backups. All three portable hard drives have been trouble free.

Good for you!

[Chicog]

If you want an image backup, Norton Ghost should do the job.