External hard drive for computer back up?

[LoneSage]

Hey so I'd like to buy something so I can back up all my computer files just in case if/when my laptop ever kicks it. Recommendations please

 

[famicommander]

Just don't buy a Seagate. Any other drive is a good drive.

 

[skate323k137]

Just don't buy a Seagate. Any other drive is a good drive.

Pretty much this. I find external toshiba or WD to be fine. Everyone's luck varies, but seagates like to (literally) die in a fire from time to time.

 

[famicommander]

There are only four manufacturers left: Western Digital, Hitachi (which is owned by WD anyway, but the drives are still produced separately), Toshiba, and Seagate. Any other brands (LaCie, Buffalo, Matsunichi, Iogear, etc) are just a repackage of one of the others.

WD, Hitachi, and Toshiba drives seem to fail at about the same rate, but Seagates are way, way more likely to fail.

 

[hyper]

Toshiba canvio 2tb usb 3.0

 

[Yodd]

Just don't buy a Seagate. Any other drive is a good drive.

This!

I remember when Seagate was top tier. Over the last 10 years it's been a race to the bottom of the barrel. And they are winning.

 

[LoneSage]

WD, Hitachi, and Toshiba drives seem to fail at about the same rate\

what the fuck, why bother buying a backup if the backup dies.

 

[kuze]

what the fuck, why bother buying a backup if the backup dies.

RAID5

 

[madman]

what the fuck, why bother buying a backup if the backup dies.

What are the odds of a backup drive dying the same day the laptop HD dies? If one dies, get on Amazon and order a new drive. Or yeah...NAS with RAID for all your backup needs.

 

[famicommander]

what the fuck, why bother buying a backup if the backup dies.

Anything with moving parts will fail eventually. It's just a matter of time. But most studies show Seagate drives are more likely to fail early.

 

[Cylotron]

Anything with moving parts will fail eventually. It's just a matter of time. But most studies show Seagate drives are more likely to fail early.

Last I checked(a few months ago), Seagate drives had around a 30% failure rate. Which is significantly higher then any other manufacturer. I've noticed oddly, that refurbished Seagate drives are more reliable.

As for the moving parts bit, yes that's correct. At least with traditional hard drives, when they go bad there's still a good chance(depending on how many bad sectors there are) of recovering data.
With solid state drives, once they go bad(which can happen suddenly)... the chances of recovery are very slim.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Fucking Seagate... they used to be the best in the 80's and 90's... then when Maxtor folded (for good reason) and Seagate bought them out they took on their shitty quality control for some reason. Assholes.

I buy WD exclusively now.

 

[celeritas]

This!

I remember when Seagate was top tier. Over the last 10 years it's been a race to the bottom of the barrel. And they are winning.

I know...used to have 5-year warranty too. Now, I think its like 1 or 2, if that.

RAID5

I run a RAID5 right now, but I'm getting to the point where I really want to build a new array, probably RAID6.

 

[Neo Ash]

RAID5

RAID is not a backup replacement; a second copy of the data should still be stored somewhere else. Also, with modern drive capacities, RAID5 is a terrible choice due to the increased likelihood of UBE.

 

[hyper]

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-Turbo-256GB-Flash-Drive/dp/B00JN1TOHM

 

[LoneSage]

lol 256gb what am i a duckin peasant

 

[Tripredacus]

GoFlex or go home. Or just buy an enclosure and put any sort of drive in there. For Seagate just stay away from 7200.11 and you'll be fine.

 

[NeoSneth]

Synology NAS.
You can get a 2 drive or 4 drive system very cheap.
They configure to raid 1 very easily for a little more redundancy. RAID is not a backup platform, but it certainly helps.

 

[Cylotron]

Synology NAS.
You can get a 2 drive or 4 drive system very cheap.
They configure to raid 1 very easily for a little more redundancy. RAID is not a backup platform, but it certainly helps.

what's funny is that I was helping someone at work awhile ago who brought in a synology. one of the drives was bad(and it was a seagate)

 

[celeritas]

Also, with modern drive capacities, RAID5 is a terrible choice due to the increased likelihood of UBE.

Precisely, which is why I'm looking at alternative parity setups. But I'm also too broke right now to build a new array.

 

[Jibbajaba]

I bought a WD drive at Costco. It's I think a 2TB drive, while my Macbook only has I think a 500 or 750GB HDD, so I partitioned the external drive so that one partition gives me enough room for something like 10 Time Machine backups, and the other half I can use for storage of non-critical data (that I don't mind losing if the external drive dies.)

 

[Undefined]

It's 2015, screw external drives and go with something like One Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Access your stuff from anywhere and never worry about a drive failure.

 

[celeritas]

It's 2015, screw external drives and go with something like One Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Access your stuff from anywhere and never worry about a drive failure.

Until you lose internet connection.

I cloud backup too. Its a shame OneDrive no longer has an unlimited option, but at least Amazon Cloud drive lets you back up pictures without limitation (well, other than the cost of an Amazon Prime subscription).

 

[xelement5x]

Honestly, I would just recommend using something like Crashplan (http://www.code42.com/products/crashplan/) for external backup. When we had fires near here a couple years ago the people who just had an external HDD were still fucked, a friend had used Crashplan and was able to recover pretty much everything data wise. Pricing is also really damn reasonable if you ask me for something that is really just a raw backup.