Hi

I've currently got a Seagate FreeAgent Go 80gig external drive with 2 usb connectors for my laptop. Apart from filling up it seems a bit unwise to rely solely on a portable external drive for backups.

Do people use desktop external drives as their main backup drive for laptops? I could use a desktop external drive and keep my existing external drive for when a portable device is needed.

I've had my eye on the Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive 500GB FireWire 400/USB 2.0

Alternatively I could just get a bigger portable external drive.

Thanks

I use a desktop external drive, a WD My Book, for backing up my MacBook. I reckon 3'5" externals have a similar fail rate to a 2.5" portable external drives though, despite better cooling, more ventilation, etc. They can all fail at some point. It's not really 100% ideal to rely on ANY external drive no matter what it is, unless you're using RAID and are able to recover your data.

However the chances of both failing at the same time is very low. It just depends how valuable your data is.

Hi

Yesterday I saw a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1 terrabyte external drive with both usb and firewire for $290 at XON Computers in Melbourne.

Would that be good enough? Should I also do periodic backups of important data to blank CDs or DVDs?

Thanks

There are numerous threads here Peter about losing data and the best way to backup. Here's one.
Worried sick I have lost important photos!
It is commonly held that the best advice is to back up your data three times. This is mostly for a desktop setup but the principle remains the same.
1 - To another hard drive in your machine.
2 - To an external drive that is solely turned on and used for backing up all data.
3 - burning all data to DVD that is then stored offsite or to another hard drive that is also stored offsite.
This is to ensure that should your house burn down or someone rob you and steal everything at least all your data is safe.
There are of course other ways to backup one or more of these steps such as backing up over ethernet to an external server etc and what method like TM or Dantz Retrospect configured to your taste.
Some, like Brains also suggest burning all your data to disc every five years or so, as that seems to be the accepted lifespan of CDs and DVDs.
You have to ask yourself " Can I afford to lose my data ?"
It is also highly recommended to buy the best case you can afford and install the hard drive of your choice. See Clockworks excellent article on various external hard drives.

Stewie

Thanks for the replies. I decided on an Iomega 500 Gig MiniMax Desktop Hard drive. I found them on sale at XON Computers for $175 so I'm picking it up soon.

I'll follow the example stewiesno1 talked of and develop a 3 way backup plan.

Thanks