I am asking the 'collective' here about what you are using to back up your personal stuff on your computer before I waste my cash on a useless memory stick..

I am seeing a lot of 40+ gig devises but most posts about them are complaining they don't come with a program to run the devise.

I see many sites offering Back Up utilities/tool but which one ? Like: http://www.backuputilities.net/

..... and this freeware site listing several:
http://www.freeware-guide.com/dir/util/backup.html

So...what have you found to work to back up your pictures, PDF, email...etc? I'm looking forward to the avalanche of information only available at mercedesshop.com

This:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEAQ7S1TB32M/
I keep it plugged in all the time.

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83 SD

84 CD

Thanks...but as I understand it, the back up needs to be connected, back up performed and then disconnected. Keeping it connected would surely cause it to be attacked by a Trojan, Worm or other malware/roguewar at some point just like my HD was last week.etc...no?

Please explain.

I found this comment amongst others of a similar fain.

"....This review is from: 500GB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Quad Interface 7200RPM eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2 Storage Solution
Hi, I have a photography studio in Michigan. We have purchased 3 of this brand of drive. 2 have crashed. Otherwordcomputing quickly honors their 5 year parts warranty but they have been able to do nothing about my data loss. The drives are quite noisy and vibrate a lot. Compared to the other drives we have these are highly unreliable. If you buy them, just like any other drive, be sure they are backed up. ............."

I once worked for a place that kept the back up tapes next to the servers...

This might seem handy but really it is pretty daft when you think of what might happen in the event of a fire / theft - keep a copy of a back up in a different place. If you ever have something that you really don't want to loose ask someone who lives in a different place from you to look after a copy of your most valuable data.

If you must you could entrust it to an internet service.

As for a device? I'd look at external hard disk drives.

Unless you have serious amounts of data that you regularly back up I wouldn't even bother using a program to compress it and keep track of it all - space is cheap - why bother with the hassle of a program (particularly on Windows) => just copy and paste.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I have many schematics and PDF's I couldn't even begin to find again and lots of photographs of my family etc.

I just need a back up storage devise to set aside in case my HDD craps out.
I lost my HDD two years ago and had to have the info' extracted with a ghost drive but fortunately a friend who is an IT professional, did it for me.

I am seeing a lot of negative comments about these storage devises, as you can see in my above post.

I understand if you sell enough of something, one or two will go belly up.
I am trying to find reliable equipment that will be supported for a while and can do a simple back up without engaging an IT guy to do it for me .

I'm trying to buy with this research from you all to reduce future problems.

Hard drives with motors turning multiple spinning platters and read/write heads are so 20th Century.

Oh yeah but they are cheap!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

True. A fully stocked DROBO or other RAID compliant NAS box, filled with multi terabyte drives is a fraction of the cost they were a mere five years ago.

I've got a 500GB external for backup/portable stuff. Hook it up every week or two, drag and drop files and you're done. Its not automatic but its certainly not difficult.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

I can only refer to the one I have, it's been fine for the few months I've owned it, noisy? Not mine, doesn't vibrate either. I have the 1 TB unit, but a 250 GB 2.0 USB is $88.00.

In your case, do as mentioned, sweep the commuter of problems, plug it in, back up your computer, unplug it.

You may be able to down load an anti virus software onto it. If so, use something different than the one on your computer.

A mac is a wonderful thing.

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83 SD

84 CD

I can only concur.

So...besides buying a Mac, the consensus is.........

You have a digital/chip solution ?

Get 2 cheap externals and use time machine.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Backing up long term storage items like photos, video and documents that aren't frequently edited should do well on optical disc (CD, DVD, BluRay) or solid state devices (thumb drive, SD cards, SSD external drive) for as long as the hardware is there to support it.

Backing up the more frequently updated items, like e-mail, system registry, desktop settings, business ledgers, are probably better suited to be backed up by an automated system on a scheduled basis, and preferably on a system that can take that backup image and dailies and install a complete backup onto a new hard drive.

If there's critical data anywhere on your machine, having it offsite on a usb thumb drive can be very smart. Critical data can also be great to have on a "cloud" server.

Currently I use all three systems. I have long time archived files on DVD and USB copes of the DVDs are in a safe deposti box; I use Time Capsule onto an Apple Time Machine to do the daily backups of all the home network computers and finally; Apple's Mobile Me provides "cloud" storage for e-mail and important files.

I send most important stuff to myself. I have an email address specifically for offsite records, gmail, yahoo, msn, all provide excellent storage in the "cloud". I've been using this for years. I have an email address for receipts, one for auto, one for home stuff, one for pictures. I never give those addresses out.

If you are not comfortable with that, I would suggest another cloud back up such as carbonite.

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DS
2010 CL550 - Heaven help me but it's beautiful
87 300D a labor of love
11 GLK 350 So far, so good
08 E350 4matic, Love it.
99 E320 too rusted, sold
87 260E Donated to Newgate School
www.Newgateschool.org - check it out.
12 Ford Escape, sold, forgotten
87 300D, sold, what a mistake
06 Passat 2.0T, PITA, sold

Las Vegas NV