Advice for external storage and backup

[Nethy]

Hello,

I just bought a MBP 2010 with the i7, and I'm trying to figure out what to do for external storage and backup since this is my first Mac ever.

I have an Icy Dock with a 1TB harddrive in it, but it only has eSATA and USB ports. USB would not be preferable for trying to back up stuff.

I was reading these forums about eSATA ExpressCards, but they seem really suspect (kernel panics sound terrifying) and a lot of work to get going.

I was thinking about just getting another enclosure with FireWire 800, but can't seem to find any advice on good ones. I was wondering if I should just get a new external harddrive.

I would like to get out of this without having to buy too much new stuff. Can somebody give a recommendation regarding whether I should get an expresscard, new enclosure, or new external?

Thank you

 

[miles01110]

USB would not be preferable for trying to back up stuff.

Why not?

Sure it might take a little longer, but it won't require any new hardware. I back up with USB all the time.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

without getting into too much detail, there is no reason why USB won't be sufficient for incremental backups done (say) at night. Once you get the first one over with, obviously, the rest comes easy, especially if you exclude specific high traffic but non essential folders (like downloads).

 

[Nethy]

OK I will give USB a shot. Usually, I've seen people refer to USB as "painfully slow" but if it works decently enough I'll stick with it