Re: [libreoffice-users] External Hard Drives - to save my LO and other content

Automatic backups are nice, but I found out the hard way that files backed up from one computer can 
not always be restored to another computer, or even to an updated drive or operating system on the 
same computer.

And since I know that any electronic device will fail at some point, I usually just buy whichever 
one is on sale. Drives are cheap enough that it’s not a big deal if I have to replace one, although 
if I think the drive didn’t last long enough, or didn’t perform very well, I will definitely choose 
a different brand/model for the replacement.

I do not have a huge amount of pictures or videos to back up, so my method is a little easier than 
some:

I have a folder on my computer called “All”. Any data I create is saved to “All” or one of it’s 
subfolders.

I have a 3TB external drive attached to my MacBook, which uses it to store the Time Machine backup 
data. 
Time Machine makes hourly backups of any files that have been changed. 

In addition, on a regular basis, I copy “All” to the external drive, renaming it to reflect the 
date/version.
Also, on a regular basis, I copy “All” to an external flash drive or memory card, and then rotate 
through the drives so I always have several previous copies available. 

If my “All” folder gets too large to fit on the flash drive, it’s easy enough to split it into two 
folders…..
The more changes I make to my files, the more often I back them up.
Works well for me.



> On Oct 16, 2017, at 8:19 PM, Tim-L <webmaster@krackedpress.com> wrote:
>
>
> If you cannot find a good article that you can trust, then you must take opinions of others.
>
> So, this is my opinion about best drives to buy.
>
> Even 1 month old Military specs 2-TB USB Drive can go bad.  Mine did.  At least most of it was 
> backed up on a different drive/system.  It only cost me $100 plus shipping for the original drive 
> - from Walmart of all places.
>
> I always buy the best extended warranty I can get, for all my electronics.  At least this 
> replaces the device that died.
>
> First, I personally would not go larger than 2-TB for a drive as your MOST needed data, unless 
> you have drives that are designed for NAS or file server equipment.  That is my opinion for the 
> drives I can afford to buy, for the money I had when I need them. I use a desktop, and its drives 
> as the backup for my laptop data. It will end up as a file server - one day.  I believe in a many 
> device backup system - as follows;
>
>   I backup the laptop[s] data to my "Silicon Power 2TB Rugged Armor
>   A30 Shockproof Standard 2.5" USB 3.0 Military-Grade Portable
>   External Hard Drive".  Then take that drive and copy the files to my
>   file "server" desktop's 3 different 2-TB internal drives. The are WD
>   brand.  Then I use a syncing backup script to the 3 external drives
>   - again WD drives - 6-TB internal and 6-TB external.  So, I have at
>   least 2 different drives hold the "backups" of the data, if the
>   laptop drive goes bad.  It could be easier if I had more money.
>
> I looked at a few places and the "best" drive type I found so far may be the WD Red Pro drives 
> for NAS storage.  They cost more than the WS "Black" type, or other brands of drives.  They are 
> designed for long life in demanding needs.  I have seen the "red" drives as large as 8-TB for 
> $400 USD.  The 4-TB run about $150.  If I have the money, I would replace my current drives with 
> these drives.
>
> I currently do not have a NAS storage device - due to the fact I could not figure out how to get 
> my Linux systems to work with the current router/NAS device I have, or any NAS storage outside of 
> a desktop setup.  That is why I hope to get one of my desktops to be a true Ubuntu file server.
>
>
>
> On 10/16/2017 06:04 PM, Steve Edmonds wrote:
> > Hi Charles.
> > I have just had a new WD Black (supposed to be high(er) reliability) die within a few weeks. 
> > Replaced under warranty.
> > The probability of that is low, but it does happen. If the backup is only a copy of what is on 
> > your PC/laptop then you are not needing such high reliability as you always have at least one 
> > copy on a failure.
> >
> > I archive (backup and delete original from PC) so use a little DS216 NAS storage unit  with 2 
> > drives configured raid. Less frequently I backup that to a single 4TB HD for off site safety 
> > (house burns down).
> >
> > I also bought a drive on Amazon recently and noticed that there was an option for $10 extra to 
> > cover data recovery in a failure.
> >
> > I think your best solution will depend upon how much data you need to back up and how often, an 
> > on-line solution may even work for you.
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > On 17/10/17 07:53, charles meyer wrote:
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > I have a SONY external hard drive that just died one day within it's
> > > warranty period.
> > >
> > > SONY won't recover my drive contents so the next time I've got an extra
> > > $500 I'll have to find a data recovery firm.
> > >
> > > I need to back up my contents - music, videos, data but I can't seem to
> > > find an objective, independent evaluation of which external hard drives are
> > > most reliable.
> > >
> > > Have you found any such article?
> > >
> > > Or have you found through experience certain brands more reliable than
> > > others?
> > >
> > > Thanks so much!
> > >
> > > Charles.
>
>
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