Can you simply attach a new out of box hdd to your computer via a sata to usb cable or docking station and use it as a drag and drop backup drive or would the drive have to be configured first. Yes, I'm new to this stuff😊
You can do what you describe, but it relies on you remembering to do it, and knowing what all should be backed up. I recommend image backups using a backup program to automate it, and back up absolutely everything.
It's even cheaper when upgrading a PC from mechanical to solid state drive - the old drive can be re-purposed to an external backup drive. All it needs is an empty USB caddy or enclosure.
My PS4 came with a 1TB HDD. After a couple months I swapped in a 2TB Samsung SSD. I transferred my game/save data, format the hard drive, and use it as a backup HDD for all my other (non gaming) data. It works great, although the SATA/USB adapter sometimes sucks to use because the computer recognizes the cable itself and not the actual hard drive (which blows my mind)
Leo, at our office we worry about a fire / theft / other computer problem. If the external backup is lost in a fire we are still in trouble. So would you recommend a second hard drive switched out every other day or is there a way to use a flash drive to back up your computer?
I've done the external USB hard drive switching thing, and as long as you remember to switch out drives, it works great. Do not recommend flash drives - typically to small, and too cheap (they may fail quickly). Finally: this also sounds like a great opportunity to use OneDrive, Dropbox or others to save your important data offsite automatically.
hi! i had a bad history with my old maxtor it just suddenly didnt work. what is better external ssd or a make ur own. like a nvme samsung pro and put it inside an emclosure would that be better? since those have longer tbw.
They are economically and securely your only best option out there rather than relying on cloud storage. I ordered a Seagate 1TB external hdd expansion drive today with 3 year free data recovery offer in deal of the day for prime users couldn't be more happier. 3-2-1 backup rule should be the home standard for data backups
If yu ever need to restore or make a copy of backups hard disks are much simpler than dozens of optical discs. My first eternal hard disk was 250 GB in 2006. Then if felt very large. Now it is unable small.
Hey Leo. I agree with all of that, and have used external hard disks for many years for that reason, and just overflow storage. Having said that, I winced a bit when you mentioned that they "always just work." That's been true for the vast majority of my time with them, but not very long ago one just stopped working, and the error message I was getting was cryptic and baffling; not average-user-friendly. Another one _never_ worked, out of the box. For those reasons I'd love to see a video (and maybe you've already made one) about diagnosing and repairing an external hard drive. My current operating system is Linux Mint (though I don't suspect a connection to either failure), so I'm glad your videos often address the needs of Linux users.
Good take, Leo. I have five spinners plugged into usb slots for backups in rotation. Their power supplies are all plugged into a switched multi plug adapter and I just switch the power on to the next disc as required. I figure that the possible extra wear due to the occasional start/stopcycle is probably less than keeping a disc powered up continuously.
you don’t need all that, there are tools that can maintain a history of files/changes in a single disk (look for apple’s “timemachine” like functionality) keeping that many disks also means verifying and testing them, which is a lot of work besides, if you want to keep doing it like that (many disks rotations), you should take at least one (the most recent, probably) to another place, after updating it, or backing up also to a cloud provider, otherwise in case of fire or such an accident you risk losing all your backups at once
Leo. I have portable hard drives and other internal drives that I use for backup. I always worry when I go out of town that someone can enter my house and take my desktop and laptops and remove the drives and get the backups off these drives. Is encrypting the best solution, or password protection of each/all drives the best alternative.
unless you have a small amount of data to backup, thus can use a small disk, I disagree about not using an external SSD instead a backup needs to be verified and reliable, updating a backup may be fast enough, but running a checksum verification, and self disk (SMART) verification on a 2Tb disk takes many hours, it’s much more worth it to use an external SSD
I agree, external SSD's make no sense for backup. So external HD's are best for most purposes. If money doesn't matter, external LTO tape drives are even better.
The issue with tape drives like that, or any, for the average consumer is being able to access those tapes some years down the road. USB drives will probably work anywhere. Will you still have the tape drive? Will anyone? Who's to know?
@@askleonotenboom I mostly agree, but we have to distinguish between "backup" and "archival". For backup tape is king. Highest writing and reading speed and lowest price per TB. When it comes to archival, tape is still king, but it needs some additional thoughts, like buying a 2nd tape drive. Tape as storage media is king again, because proof is made, that it still can be read back after more than 30 years. You just can't say that about any other media. And LTFS makes the tape drive as easy to use, as a (giant) flash drive. It's not the best option for anyone, but sure worth a thought for many applications.
unless you have a small amount of data to backup, thus can use a small disk, I disagree, a backup needs to be verified and reliable, updating a backup may be fast enough, but running a checksum verification, and self disk (SMART) verification on a 2Tb disk takes many hours, it’s much more worth it to use an external SSD
How to choose an external hard drive: I suggest that it be based on (in no particular order) 1) price, 2) performance, 3) features), 4) reliability, 5) warranty, and 6) Miscellaneous. 1) Price: As to the price, shop around. Each of us can judge for ourselves if the price is fair. 2) Performance: For portable drives (which are available up to 5TB, as of May of 2024), they all perform about the same. A portable drive requires no power brick. It gets its power from the USB connection. For non portable drives (usually larger in size and capacity), they, too, usually all perform about the same. Non portable drives come with a power brick that needs a wall outlet. 3) Features: Some drives have a LED (light emitting diode) that glows when the drive has power, and blinks when the drive is active. Some drives have no LED. I prefer to have a LED. I can see when a backup is done (the light stops blinking), without waking up the monitor. Also, if the drive has a problem, that light will give you some insight into whether or not the drive has power. Also, many drives come with software. I recommend never using the included software. 4) Reliability: They are all somewhat similar. 5) Warranty: This is where the manufacturers part ways. If everything above is about equal, then it would seem to make sense to get the one with the longest warranty. Well, normally that would be correct. But a warranty is only as good as the company that honors their warranty. Western Digital makes their warranty process a nightmare. They have a system in place to deny claims for any technicality they can dream up. And even if you have everything perfectly organized and you did everything right, Western Digital will delay, delay, and delay getting you your replacement drive. If you do not call them during the time you are waiting, you might wait months, or possibly never get your replacement drive. They will also hit you up for a "Convenience Fee", claiming that paying that fee will get you faster service. Western Digital knows that you need your drive replaced. Western Digital knows that you are now vulnerable. So they squeeze you for a fee to get them to honor their warranty. Their number one competitor, Seagate, is 100% the opposite of Western Digital, when it comes to honoring their warranty. Seagate does everything to make the customer's experience a good one. In fact, they go so far as to off free data recovery for some (perhaps all?) drives that fail under their warranty. So if you are deciding between a Western Digital drive and a Seagate drive, the choice is simple. There are other brands, which I do not have experience with their warranty process. Note that Western Digital has other brands that fall under their umbrella. Sandisk, HGST, and G-Technology are all Western Digital brands, and will all fall under the same miserable warranty headache. 6) Miscellaneous: Most drives (especially portable drives) come with very short USB cables. Perhaps 6". If you need a longer cable, it will be difficult to know what length cable the manufacturer includes. It is neither listed on the box, nor on the manufacturer's web site. Your best bet is to look for a video review, and hopefully see the cable in the video. Or ask in the comments, and cross your fingers that someone replies. So if a short cable is going to be a problem, then when you order the drive, also purchase a longer cable. Ordering an additional, longer cable, at the time of your drive purchase, might save you additional shipping costs. Choosing a cable is yet another potential snag. Depending on the drive, it might use a different USB connector. Most portable drives use a Micro-B connection to the drive. Some non portable drives use a Type-B connection to the drive. Check, as best you can, if you need a longer cable. And keep it under 10'. USB will not travel long cable distances, reliably. And check reviews, because some after-market cables are garbage.
@@askleonotenboom Thank you for getting back to me. I actually found a little program called "free file sync" It did the trick. it's very easy to use and it gives you multiple options. So now whatever I put on One external hard drive, it automatically mirrors it to the other 👍
@@askleonotenboom sorry for not being more clear, yes I meant if connected my phone directly to an external hard drive, will this harm the phone's battery? Since the external hard drive needs extra power supply?
I hope I'm not in the wrong topic? My 10 yo Dell desktop stopped working so I couldn't delete the hard drive myself. I’m donating it to Dell. So nice of them to send me packing and prepaid label but I'm afraid someone there may get my data? Most grateful for any opinion. :) P.S. Great comments here on using old HD for external backups...Even a 10 yo???
Depends on how badly it died. If it can boot from CD or USB you could boot from a linux live CD or other utility disk and reformat the hard disk. I think even a Windows Setup disk will do. If the machine's NOT working at all, then remove the hard disk, put it in a USB enclosure, take it to a different machine to erase it.
If it’s unrecoverable I drill a few holes through the disc. The NSA could possibly get some of the data given a few hundred man-hours but no-one who just comes across it in the garbage is going to bother.
They don’t even have to be expensive.
I'm so glad I suscribed to this channel, always something new. Thanks Leo
Wd Elements or Wd Easystore from Best Buy is my choice when I buy an external hdd. For backup and file backup I use Macrium Reflect 7 the paid version
Can you simply attach a new out of box hdd to your computer via a sata to usb cable or docking station and use it as a drag and drop backup drive or would the drive have to be configured first. Yes, I'm new to this stuff😊
You can do what you describe, but it relies on you remembering to do it, and knowing what all should be backed up. I recommend image backups using a backup program to automate it, and back up absolutely everything.
It's even cheaper when upgrading a PC from mechanical to solid state drive - the old drive can be re-purposed to an external backup drive. All it needs is an empty USB caddy or enclosure.
My PS4 came with a 1TB HDD. After a couple months I swapped in a 2TB Samsung SSD.
I transferred my game/save data, format the hard drive, and use it as a backup HDD for all my other (non gaming) data.
It works great, although the SATA/USB adapter sometimes sucks to use because the computer recognizes the cable itself and not the actual hard drive (which blows my mind)
Leo, at our office we worry about a fire / theft / other computer problem. If the external backup is lost in a fire we are still in trouble. So would you recommend a second hard drive switched out every other day or is there a way to use a flash drive to back up your computer?
I've done the external USB hard drive switching thing, and as long as you remember to switch out drives, it works great. Do not recommend flash drives - typically to small, and too cheap (they may fail quickly). Finally: this also sounds like a great opportunity to use OneDrive, Dropbox or others to save your important data offsite automatically.
hi! i had a bad history with my old maxtor it just suddenly didnt work. what is better external ssd or a make ur own. like a nvme samsung pro and put it inside an emclosure would that be better? since those have longer tbw.
Thank you.
They are economically and securely your only best option out there rather than relying on cloud storage.
I ordered a Seagate 1TB external hdd expansion drive today with 3 year free data recovery offer in deal of the day for prime users couldn't be more happier.
3-2-1 backup rule should be the home standard for data backups
hows the seagate going? im considering it too. what exact one u got if you dont mind.
If yu ever need to restore or make a copy of backups hard disks are much simpler than dozens of optical discs. My first eternal hard disk was 250 GB in 2006. Then if felt very large. Now it is unable small.
Hey Leo. I agree with all of that, and have used external hard disks for many years for that reason, and just overflow storage. Having said that, I winced a bit when you mentioned that they "always just work." That's been true for the vast majority of my time with them, but not very long ago one just stopped working, and the error message I was getting was cryptic and baffling; not average-user-friendly. Another one _never_ worked, out of the box. For those reasons I'd love to see a video (and maybe you've already made one) about diagnosing and repairing an external hard drive. My current operating system is Linux Mint (though I don't suspect a connection to either failure), so I'm glad your videos often address the needs of Linux users.
Good take, Leo.
I have five spinners plugged into usb slots for backups in rotation. Their power supplies are all plugged into a switched multi plug adapter and I just switch the power on to the next disc as required. I figure that the possible extra wear due to the occasional start/stopcycle is probably less than keeping a disc powered up continuously.
you don’t need all that, there are tools that can maintain a history of files/changes in a single disk (look for apple’s “timemachine” like functionality)
keeping that many disks also means verifying and testing them, which is a lot of work
besides, if you want to keep doing it like that (many disks rotations), you should take at least one (the most recent, probably) to another place, after updating it, or backing up also to a cloud provider, otherwise in case of fire or such an accident you risk losing all your backups at once
Leo. I have portable hard drives and other internal drives that I use for backup. I always worry when I go out of town that someone can enter my house and take my desktop and laptops and remove the drives and get the backups off these drives. Is encrypting the best solution, or password protection of each/all drives the best alternative.
Encryption is the answer.
theyre also built with cheap drive tho you cant pick the drive like buying an internal and putting in an enclosure
unless you have a small amount of data to backup, thus can use a small disk, I disagree about not using an external SSD instead
a backup needs to be verified and reliable, updating a backup may be fast enough, but running a checksum verification, and self disk (SMART) verification on a 2Tb disk takes many hours, it’s much more worth it to use an external SSD
I agree, external SSD's make no sense for backup. So external HD's are best for most purposes. If money doesn't matter, external LTO tape drives are even better.
The issue with tape drives like that, or any, for the average consumer is being able to access those tapes some years down the road. USB drives will probably work anywhere. Will you still have the tape drive? Will anyone? Who's to know?
@@askleonotenboom I mostly agree, but we have to distinguish between "backup" and "archival". For backup tape is king. Highest writing and reading speed and lowest price per TB. When it comes to archival, tape is still king, but it needs some additional thoughts, like buying a 2nd tape drive. Tape as storage media is king again, because proof is made, that it still can be read back after more than 30 years. You just can't say that about any other media. And LTFS makes the tape drive as easy to use, as a (giant) flash drive. It's not the best option for anyone, but sure worth a thought for many applications.
unless you have a small amount of data to backup, thus can use a small disk, I disagree, a backup needs to be verified and reliable, updating a backup may be fast enough, but running a checksum verification, and self disk (SMART) verification on a 2Tb disk takes many hours, it’s much more worth it to use an external SSD
I've been doing it since 1976!
How to choose an external hard drive:
I suggest that it be based on (in no particular order) 1) price, 2) performance, 3) features), 4) reliability, 5) warranty, and 6) Miscellaneous.
1) Price:
As to the price, shop around. Each of us can judge for ourselves if the price is fair.
2) Performance:
For portable drives (which are available up to 5TB, as of May of 2024), they all perform about the same.
A portable drive requires no power brick. It gets its power from the USB connection.
For non portable drives (usually larger in size and capacity), they, too, usually all perform about the same.
Non portable drives come with a power brick that needs a wall outlet.
3) Features:
Some drives have a LED (light emitting diode) that glows when the drive has power, and blinks when the drive is active.
Some drives have no LED.
I prefer to have a LED. I can see when a backup is done (the light stops blinking), without waking up the monitor.
Also, if the drive has a problem, that light will give you some insight into whether or not the drive has power.
Also, many drives come with software. I recommend never using the included software.
4) Reliability:
They are all somewhat similar.
5) Warranty:
This is where the manufacturers part ways.
If everything above is about equal, then it would seem to make sense to get the one with the longest warranty. Well, normally that would be correct.
But a warranty is only as good as the company that honors their warranty.
Western Digital makes their warranty process a nightmare.
They have a system in place to deny claims for any technicality they can dream up. And even if you have everything perfectly organized and you did everything right, Western Digital will delay, delay, and delay getting you your replacement drive. If you do not call them during the time you are waiting, you might wait months, or possibly never get your replacement drive.
They will also hit you up for a "Convenience Fee", claiming that paying that fee will get you faster service.
Western Digital knows that you need your drive replaced. Western Digital knows that you are now vulnerable. So they squeeze you for a fee to get them to honor their warranty.
Their number one competitor, Seagate, is 100% the opposite of Western Digital, when it comes to honoring their warranty.
Seagate does everything to make the customer's experience a good one. In fact, they go so far as to off free data recovery for some (perhaps all?) drives that fail under their warranty.
So if you are deciding between a Western Digital drive and a Seagate drive, the choice is simple.
There are other brands, which I do not have experience with their warranty process.
Note that Western Digital has other brands that fall under their umbrella.
Sandisk, HGST, and G-Technology are all Western Digital brands, and will all fall under the same miserable warranty headache.
6) Miscellaneous:
Most drives (especially portable drives) come with very short USB cables. Perhaps 6".
If you need a longer cable, it will be difficult to know what length cable the manufacturer includes.
It is neither listed on the box, nor on the manufacturer's web site.
Your best bet is to look for a video review, and hopefully see the cable in the video. Or ask in the comments, and cross your fingers that someone replies.
So if a short cable is going to be a problem, then when you order the drive, also purchase a longer cable. Ordering an additional, longer cable, at the time of your drive purchase, might save you additional shipping costs.
Choosing a cable is yet another potential snag. Depending on the drive, it might use a different USB connector.
Most portable drives use a Micro-B connection to the drive.
Some non portable drives use a Type-B connection to the drive.
Check, as best you can, if you need a longer cable. And keep it under 10'. USB will not travel long cable distances, reliably. And check reviews, because some after-market cables are garbage.
Leo is there a way to mirror two external backups
I'd have to understand exactly what that means in your context. I mean, sure, the answer is "yes", but I suspect you want more.
@@askleonotenboom Thank you for getting back to me. I actually found a little program called "free file sync" It did the trick. it's very easy to use and it gives you multiple options. So now whatever I put on One external hard drive, it automatically mirrors it to the other 👍
I have a question if I connected my android phone (samsung galaxy note 10 plus) won't this harm the phone or the battery?!!!
I don't understand what you're connecting it TO. A computer? Not a problem. An external hard drive? Not sure there's a point.
@@askleonotenboom sorry for not being more clear, yes I meant if connected my phone directly to an external hard drive, will this harm the phone's battery? Since the external hard drive needs extra power supply?
@@gem2148I would not expect harm, but I would expect the external drive not to work. 🙂
I have it but how do I use it?
Which "it" do you have? There are many possibilities in this context.
I hope I'm not in the wrong topic? My 10 yo Dell desktop stopped working so I couldn't delete the hard drive myself. I’m donating it to Dell. So nice of them to send me packing and prepaid label but I'm afraid someone there may get my data? Most grateful for any opinion. :)
P.S. Great comments here on using old HD for external backups...Even a 10 yo???
Depends on how badly it died. If it can boot from CD or USB you could boot from a linux live CD or other utility disk and reformat the hard disk. I think even a Windows Setup disk will do. If the machine's NOT working at all, then remove the hard disk, put it in a USB enclosure, take it to a different machine to erase it.
If it’s unrecoverable I drill a few holes through the disc. The NSA could possibly get some of the data given a few hundred man-hours but no-one who just comes across it in the garbage is going to bother.
This is what I only use them for 👍
It takes me 3.5 hours to do a full image backup for my Vista.....
Nas + external hard drive + cloud neverlose data
👍🖖