data/photo storage

[tinwhistle]

I have a custom made computer with Windows XP. I am a photographer and have hundreds of images on my hard drive. I've been backing up those files by occasionally burning them onto a CD. This is becoming unpractical. I tried one of the better known off site back up companies but it would have taken a month for them to down load all my images. How about an external hard drive?  If I go that route, is a drive that is powered from my PC (from the USB)better than one that is powered from the wall plug? Is portable as reliable as a desk top drive? Lots of questions........ Any one have any suggestions?

[jason2074]

How about an external hard drive?

This is the most commonly used storage for making any kind of backup. Portability and lightweight is the advantage plus bigger capacity drives nowadays. Just make sure the hard drive capacity is supported in your win xp system. The USB powered is sufficient in powering up this external drives and I think the question right know is what brand or features you would need.

[Warren_Digital]

Hi, an External Hard-Drive would do you well. I would recommend a USB Pen Drive, capacities these days go up to 256gb, they are simply plug and play and require no other source of power.
On the other hand you could get the aforementioned External Hard-Drive, these are probably of the same reliability of an Internal Hard-Drive.
Some are powered from the USB port (Portable Hard-Drive)
Some also require Power via a DC Adaptor (Desktop Hard-Drive)
Also a Hard-Drive enclosure so you could buy an Internal Hard-Drive and use it via USB.
There are many options out there for you. Many shops also offer advice to picking something suitable for your needs.

[soybean]

I've been backing up those files by occasionally burning them onto a CD. This is becoming unpractical.

What about DVD or DVD Blu-ray?  DVD holds up to 4.7GB; DVD Blu-ray holds up to 25GB per disc.  Of course, you need a DVD or DVD Blu-ray drive capable of burning discs.

[Salmon Trout]

DVD holds up to 4.7GB

Don't forget dual layer DVDs which hold 8.5 GB. Most if not all recent DVD burners can use DL disks and the price of the media has come down a lot.

[Raptor]

Hi, an External Hard-Drive would do you well. I would recommend a USB Pen Drive, capacities these days go up to 256gb, they are simply plug and play and require no other source of power.

I think these things are way too unsafe to store large amounts of data you consider important.

Hard drives are still the de facto back-up standard because they are reliable, fast and if they are damaged, there are plenty of specialised companies out there that can retrieve data succesfully if they do become damaged.

Is portable as reliable as a desk top drive? Lots of questions........ Any one have any suggestions?

I prefer the 3.5" drives because they are faster and heavier. The reason they are powered by the mains is because they require 12v to operate, which the usb can't deliver.

The 2.5" can be powered by USB ports but you tend to get fewer GB per $.

I'd keep one copy on the computer, one copy on a hard drive in a safe at your home and one copy on cloud storage or another external location if you're going to make a photo-archive. If the data isn't all that important, I guess you could stick to only storing it on two locations.

Invest in diagnostic software such as Hard Disk Sentinel to continuously monitor drives...

[patio]

A 256G flash drive is gonna run him around 500 Bucks....still want to recommend that ? ?