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Do You Own An External Hard Drive?

Do You Have an External Hard Drive?

  • Yes & Back-Up Daily

    Votes: 18 17.0%

  • Yes & Back-Up Every 2 Days (on Average)

    Votes: 3 2.8%

  • Yes & Back-Up Every 4 Days (on Average)

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • Yes & Back-Up Every Week

    Votes: 27 25.5%

  • Yes & Back-Up At Least Monthly

    Votes: 25 23.6%

  • Yes & Rarely or Never Back-Up

    Votes: 24 22.6%

  • No & Don't Back Up Regularly

    Votes: 6 5.7%

  • No & Back Up Anyway

    Votes: 2 1.9%
  • Total voters
    106
I have this whopping great white thing called an 'iMac' for my backups. I just connect my iBook from work over the Internet to the iMac at home, open two Finder windows and drag 'n' drop as I do stuff. Since I take the iBook home every night I think - touch wood (so to speak) - I have my bases covered. Unless someone breaks into my very secure flat and steals both, but that's always a risk unless you have off-site backup. (Talking of which, I wonder when .Mac will reach double-digit Gigs..?) Music, movies and pics go onto DVD as and when.
 
Plymouthbreezer said:
I pointed this thread out to my friend Jimmy (user SuperComp here on the forums - we're sitting here in English class....), and he goes "I bet iGary backs up daily." Low and behold... Just thought it was kind funny. :D

I own a 250GB MyBook FW drive. I usually back up every week or so. Or whenever I feel I need something saved.
Click to expand...

"Lo" and behold.

You should probably pay more attention in English class.
 
300GB Maxtor - entire system back up weekly using SuperDuper - important stuff I back up to a network server after major changes.
 
Having just had my Powerbook G4 logic board go "poof!" on me, I've suddenly converted to the attraction of having external storage (yes, the HDD was fine, getting to the info on the HDD was a little harder). I used to sporadically back up to DVDs, but that was such a time consuming pain in the ass I kind of wrote off the whole idea of backing up generally. I'm amazed at how easy it is with an external firewire drive. What is it, ten minutes to transfer 15 GB on firewire 400? Or I am overestimating? Whatever it is, it's damn convenient. Plug in, set it to go, and then forget about it. No discs to constantly keep loading, that's the biggest plus. And only one very unloseable hard drive to keep track of, which is much more durable than DVDs to boot.

I'm using Backup at the moment, but since paying $139 (CDN) for .mac is no longer worth it to me, I'll be switching to superduper. The external drive is a WD Mybook 250. I'm amazed at how cheap these things are nowadays, which also points out how stingy Apple has been with their base hard drive options, at least until the new iMacs and Mac Pros came out.
 
at the moment i backup (3 or 4 times a week) to a Lacie 120GB d2 drive using FW400 and SuperDuper!; i also have another Lacie Porsche design (but i prefer the d2 better) 160GB drive daisy-chained that i use primarily as a scratch disk and for rendering (and to bring client files with me from time to time on site.)

actually i am considering getting rid of both of these and getting 2 or 3 of the OWC FW800/FW400/USB2 enclosures and getting 2 or 3 250GB drives so everything is consistent and stackable on my desk - all these little cables running around are driving me nuts; plus i want to use the speed of FW800 when i get my new Lapzilla.

still not clear on the whole eSATA thing; i guess to do that when the new machine comes i would need to get an expresscard/34 eSATA card and enclosures that support it. my understanding is that its faster and i can still chain 3 drives together. my biggest concern is that i would be pulling the expresscard in and out of my machine all the time, and i am not sure that is how it is intended to be used ( i previously had PCMCIA problems from pulling the card in and out a lot.) Of course if the new lapzilla has an eSATA port right on it that alleviates some concern.
 
I have two externals and back up my main internal HD to one of them weekly.

The other external is used just for eyetv recordings.
 
MrSmith said:
I have this whopping great white thing called an 'iMac' for my backups. I just connect my iBook from work over the Internet to the iMac at home, open two Finder windows and drag 'n' drop as I do stuff. Since I take the iBook home every night I think - touch wood (so to speak) - I have my bases covered. Unless someone breaks into my very secure flat and steals both, but that's always a risk unless you have off-site backup. (Talking of which
Click to expand...

Hmm when my Macbook arrives I might try that... I haven't thought about Backup yet...

I wonder when .Mac will reach double-digit Gigs..?) Music, movies and pics go onto DVD as and when.
Click to expand...

I'd say possibly around when Windows Vista 2.0 is released, and no I'm not talking about Leopard ;).
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
I have a couple of external drives.

The one I use for backup is a 200 GB LaCie Porsche drive I got very cheap.

I voted that I take weekly backups, but I backup at very irregular intervals, depending on what I do, so I just guesstimated this to average out to about once a week... ;)

Are we going to get lots of these polls today...?
Click to expand...

I've just ordered a 160 GB LaCie Porsche. Are you happy with it?

At the moment I'm using a Maxtor for both external storage and backup, but I wanted a dedicated drive.
 
I have a 250GB WD drive in a generic FW400/USB 2.0 case. I hardly back up anything on there, as I don't currently have a permanent computer setup at the apartment yet.

Then again, I don't use my laptop very much anymore (maybe once a week or so), so I don't necessarily need to back up everything very often.. usually I'll just back up my music library.
 
When I can get a 250GB Firewire Mybook or LaCie Porsche Drive at a Brick and Mortar with no repates for under $100, I'll buy one.

Until then, I'll live on the edge...
 
of course, Macally FW with 250GB Seagate drive, Superduper once a month or so. Also burn my home folder to disk and store off site a couple times a year.
 
I have 4 external drives between 2 macs.

I have a macbook pro with a 120 gig Western digital pasport drive that i store my music on. a 320 gig western digital that I use for backup and movie storage. I back up nightly using superduper.

I have an imac at work that has a 500gb mybook drive which is for backup and is backed up nightly using superduper. I also have a 80 gig drive that is a backup from an old g4 that is used for storage of all the g4 files.
 
A Bunch:

- 80GB: I use this one to backup my Laptop
- 320GB: this is where I store media (movies, music, etc) files
- 250GB: Backup of a section of the 320GB (yes, I'm paranoid.. but I already lost a bunch of info when an external HD failed)
- 40GB: This one is a portable (2.5") HD that I take with me on trips

And I also have 1GB, 2GB and 128MB USB keys.
 
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