Computer back up/storage?

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · March 17th, 2011, 10:08 am

my computer started acting strange recently, so i want to back up a bunch of the files i have on there just in case i either have to fix it or replace it. but i think some of the larger files won't fit on back up discs, so figured there were more tech savvy minds at work here that might be able to advise what the best investment would be...zip drive? external hard drive? some way to transfer them directly to my laptop? thanks for any assistance!

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » March 17th, 2011, 10:34 am

External USB harddrive. $60 for like 500 gigs.

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » March 17th, 2011, 10:55 am

Or a service like Dropbox, which gives you access no matter what computer you're on: https://www.dropbox.com/

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · March 17th, 2011, 11:39 am

kbadr wrote:External USB harddrive. $60 for like 500 gigs.

cool! that sounds about perfect for my needs (and budget). thank you sir!

ratliff wrote:Or a service like Dropbox, which gives you access no matter what computer you're on: https://www.dropbox.com/

i thought that might be an option, but since one of the oddities of my computer's current behavior is not allowing me to access the internet, i didn't think it would do much good. but excellent to know for future reference!

mpbrockman · Post by **mpbrockman** » March 17th, 2011, 12:12 pm

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:
kbadr wrote:External USB harddrive. $60 for like 500 gigs.
cool! that sounds about perfect for my needs (and budget). thank you sir!

Yes, these are awesome. I've been using them for years and they're reliable as sin. You can carry huge amounts of information around on your keychain. I've several Sandisk Cruzers and an old Kingston Datatraveler, but there are others out there.

I think Edge is making one with 2TB capacity for about $150 if you want to go berserk.

Spots · Post by **Spots** » March 17th, 2011, 3:07 pm

If all you need is USB 2.0, the prices are a steal: $55 ||$70 || $100

I would recommend Western Digital, Seagate, & Lacie. For reliability sake.

I have to buy Firewire or USB 3.0 drives because I have an increasing number of videos I need to store, and the file transfer speeds of each are considerably faster. The same goes for video editing processes. I believe this is why the prices are coming down for USB 2.0 and that's plain awesome.

MitchellD · Post by **MitchellD** » March 19th, 2011, 7:33 pm

By larger files do you mean 4gb+ single files which would most likely be video files. In my experiences in editing, 1hour of footage is about 7-13gb perfile. I wasn't able to find something to split the file.... well actually, I did. If you have imovie, you are able to create a new project, using that footage and split it in two. And just maintain your original files as split files. Then when you get a new computer or working computer edit them back together and export them again into one large file. Actually, some of it might be compressed if you do this, so it's a bit iffy.

Anyway that's only if you are talking about movie files. I don't know what else would be large enough to not transfer.

The other thing is that if it is set up as a Mac/PC external hard drive, then you have that 4gb limitation. But if you have a hard drive set up for only one type. Such as a PC only or a Mac only configuration, then you should be able to transfer files without any limitations.

These days, external drives go for about $80-$90 for 320gb-500gb at best buy.

Spots · Post by **Spots** » March 19th, 2011, 11:53 pm

The only competitive prices at Best Buy are the ones they advertise in the paper THAT weekend. You never want to buy cables (firewire, USB, eSata, HDMI) at Best Buy because that's exactly how they make their money. All the markup is hidden in those types of accessories.

But every once and a while you will find a competitive price on a hard drive.

Mitchell, you're referring to formatting hard drives to fat32. I cannot tell you how many times I've tried to pull files off a Mac before realizing the harddrive is formatted NTSC. Fat32 is definitely the way to go, despite the 4 gig dealio.

MitchellD · Post by **MitchellD** » March 20th, 2011, 12:05 am

I forgot: can you format so that it doesn't have the restriction, then reformat to the opposite type. Or will doing so reset it, wiping the data?

But yeah, duel formatting is the way to go, except when it comes to these crazy giganto files which are quite rare to come across, unless you deal in certain business.

Spots · Post by **Spots** » March 20th, 2011, 1:19 am

I deal in a certain business, and the crazy giganto files don't cause too much fuss. I have a hunch Jordan was exaggerating. I don't think he has 16G files or anything.

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · March 24th, 2011, 11:55 am

thanks again for the assistance, y'all! wasn't sure how much space i needed, but the price difference between the 500GB and the 1TB drive was only 10 bucks (the latter was on sale), so i figured "fuck it." turned out to be WAY more than i needed, but it's good to know i've got the extra space if i need it.

Spots · Post by **Spots** » March 24th, 2011, 12:38 pm

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:turned out to be WAY more than i needed

Not if your next investment is a flip cam!

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · March 24th, 2011, 12:42 pm

Spots wrote:
Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:turned out to be WAY more than i needed

Not if your next investment is a flip cam!

doubtful, but good to know.