By Gene Barlow
User Group Relations
Copyrighted May 2003
Revised July 2007
Backing up your hard drive: This article is a sequel to one that I wrote last year titled, “Backing Up Your Hard Drive”. I would suggest that you read that article before continuing with this one. This article will cover a new area in backing up hard drives that has opened up in the past year with the introduction of many external hard drive models. Together, these two articles should give you a thorough examination of the important area of backing up your hard drive.
External hard drives are the ideal backup media: While external hard drives have been around for many years, it has not been until the past few months that these devices have become popular and low enough in price that everyone can afford them. The variety of models available today is wide and the choices are many. Hopefully, this article will help you to decide which external hard drive will best fit your needs as a backup device.
There are several ways you can attach an external hard drive to your computer. The two most common ways are USB2 and Firewire. Most computers today are built with USB2 ports. So, if your computer already has a USB2 port that will probably be the best type of external hard drive to buy. Just be careful that the port you have is not one of the older USB1 ports, as these can be very slow. If your desktop computer does not have a USB2 port on it, you can add one for $20 or so. You can also add a USB2 port to your laptop computer for about $40 using a PC Card type of device.
If you have a digital video camera and edit your videos on your PC, then you may already have a Firewire port on your computer. This port can also be used to attach an external hard drive to your computer and the performance will be about the same as the USB2 port. You can also add a Firewire port to your desktop or laptop computer for a few dollars more than similar USB2 port additions. Since the performance of these two ports are about the same, the decision comes down to whether you currently use or plan to use a digital video camera with your computer. If yes, use a Firewire port. If no, then a USB2 port will probably be less expensive to purchase and you will have a few more devices to choose from.
Once you have an attachment to your computer, then you need to shop for an external hard drive. These also come in either a USB2 or Firewire version. Get one to match your attachment port on your computer. You can find 80GB and 120GB external hard drives for $50 to $100. Watch the ads and you may find a real good deal on one of these drives. You can purchase external hard drives that are 300GB or larger for a higher price. Again, external Firewire drives will cost you a few dollars more than a USB2 drive of the same size. I would suggest that you get an external hard drive that is about the same size as your largest hard drive in your computer. That would leave you with plenty of room to backup your main drives to the external hard drive.
You can also find empty external hard drive cases that you can purchase and then mount a standard internal hard drive inside the case. This gives you a couple of advantages. First, you can pick and choose which brand and model hard drive you want to use. A second advantage of getting an external hard drive case is that you can remove the hard drive from the case if anything happens to your main hard drive. Then you can mount it inside your computer and be able to use it like any internal hard drive. It is possible to boot from external hard drives, but this may only work on more recent computer systems. These external hard drive cases also come in both USB2 and Firewire versions and cost about $40 or so. Since a 80GB internal hard drive will cost less than $50, the total cost would be about the same or slightly less than buying the combined external hard drives. This way you have a few more options to choose from.
For more information on the differences between USB and Firewire devices, I would suggest you read the February 24, 2003 issue of PC Magazine, which has an excellent article comparing these two attachments.
The problem with external hard drives: While it appears at first glance that an external hard drive is the ideal backup media for your main hard drive, there is one very big problem that you need to be aware of. External hard drives were developed very recently and the manufacturers of these drives have only provided Windows device drivers for them. They felt that DOS device drivers would not be needed. So, as long as you stay in Windows, you can access your external hard drive. But, if you should ever need to access your external hard drive while running DOS, you would not be able to see the drive or retrieve files from it. This is a serious problem, especially if your main hard drive with Windows on it should crash on you. This may leave you with an external hard drive and the only way to get to it is through DOS.
Using Acronis True Image with external hard drives: Fortunately, True Image does not need to boot into DOS to run, but completes its backup in Windows. If your main hard drive containing your Windows operating system should fail on you, True Image provides a way to boot that will still recognize your external hard drive and be able to restore your image files from these devices. To do this, you would boot from a rescue CD or diskettes that you have created using True Image. This makes rebuilding your main hard drive on an empty drive quick and easy to do.
True Image and external hard drives make an ideal combination: If you follow the steps outlined in this article, you will find that using Acronis True Image and an external hard drive is the ideal combination to do backups. Shop for a good price on external hard drives and order a copy of True Image at the user group discount price of only $33 on a CD ($29 as a download). To get your copy of True Image, access our secure web order form at www.ugr7.com. Click on the yellow "Buy Now" button next to the product you wish to purchase. Complete the form including the special price code of UGNL0503. Submit it and your products will be shipped the following morning via US Priority Mail (Global Priority Mail to Canada). You should have your copy of True Image in 2-3 days (slightly more to Canada). I know you will enjoying using Acronis True Image with your external hard drive and you will be able to sleep well knowing that your hard drive is adequately backed up and protected.
User Group Relations
Copyrighted May 2003
Revised July 2007
Backing up your hard drive: This article is a sequel to one that I wrote last year titled, “Backing Up Your Hard Drive”. I would suggest that you read that article before continuing with this one. This article will cover a new area in backing up hard drives that has opened up in the past year with the introduction of many external hard drive models. Together, these two articles should give you a thorough examination of the important area of backing up your hard drive.
External hard drives are the ideal backup media: While external hard drives have been around for many years, it has not been until the past few months that these devices have become popular and low enough in price that everyone can afford them. The variety of models available today is wide and the choices are many. Hopefully, this article will help you to decide which external hard drive will best fit your needs as a backup device.
There are several ways you can attach an external hard drive to your computer. The two most common ways are USB2 and Firewire. Most computers today are built with USB2 ports. So, if your computer already has a USB2 port that will probably be the best type of external hard drive to buy. Just be careful that the port you have is not one of the older USB1 ports, as these can be very slow. If your desktop computer does not have a USB2 port on it, you can add one for $20 or so. You can also add a USB2 port to your laptop computer for about $40 using a PC Card type of device.
If you have a digital video camera and edit your videos on your PC, then you may already have a Firewire port on your computer. This port can also be used to attach an external hard drive to your computer and the performance will be about the same as the USB2 port. You can also add a Firewire port to your desktop or laptop computer for a few dollars more than similar USB2 port additions. Since the performance of these two ports are about the same, the decision comes down to whether you currently use or plan to use a digital video camera with your computer. If yes, use a Firewire port. If no, then a USB2 port will probably be less expensive to purchase and you will have a few more devices to choose from.
Once you have an attachment to your computer, then you need to shop for an external hard drive. These also come in either a USB2 or Firewire version. Get one to match your attachment port on your computer. You can find 80GB and 120GB external hard drives for $50 to $100. Watch the ads and you may find a real good deal on one of these drives. You can purchase external hard drives that are 300GB or larger for a higher price. Again, external Firewire drives will cost you a few dollars more than a USB2 drive of the same size. I would suggest that you get an external hard drive that is about the same size as your largest hard drive in your computer. That would leave you with plenty of room to backup your main drives to the external hard drive.
You can also find empty external hard drive cases that you can purchase and then mount a standard internal hard drive inside the case. This gives you a couple of advantages. First, you can pick and choose which brand and model hard drive you want to use. A second advantage of getting an external hard drive case is that you can remove the hard drive from the case if anything happens to your main hard drive. Then you can mount it inside your computer and be able to use it like any internal hard drive. It is possible to boot from external hard drives, but this may only work on more recent computer systems. These external hard drive cases also come in both USB2 and Firewire versions and cost about $40 or so. Since a 80GB internal hard drive will cost less than $50, the total cost would be about the same or slightly less than buying the combined external hard drives. This way you have a few more options to choose from.
For more information on the differences between USB and Firewire devices, I would suggest you read the February 24, 2003 issue of PC Magazine, which has an excellent article comparing these two attachments.
The problem with external hard drives: While it appears at first glance that an external hard drive is the ideal backup media for your main hard drive, there is one very big problem that you need to be aware of. External hard drives were developed very recently and the manufacturers of these drives have only provided Windows device drivers for them. They felt that DOS device drivers would not be needed. So, as long as you stay in Windows, you can access your external hard drive. But, if you should ever need to access your external hard drive while running DOS, you would not be able to see the drive or retrieve files from it. This is a serious problem, especially if your main hard drive with Windows on it should crash on you. This may leave you with an external hard drive and the only way to get to it is through DOS.
Using Acronis True Image with external hard drives: Fortunately, True Image does not need to boot into DOS to run, but completes its backup in Windows. If your main hard drive containing your Windows operating system should fail on you, True Image provides a way to boot that will still recognize your external hard drive and be able to restore your image files from these devices. To do this, you would boot from a rescue CD or diskettes that you have created using True Image. This makes rebuilding your main hard drive on an empty drive quick and easy to do.
True Image and external hard drives make an ideal combination: If you follow the steps outlined in this article, you will find that using Acronis True Image and an external hard drive is the ideal combination to do backups. Shop for a good price on external hard drives and order a copy of True Image at the user group discount price of only $33 on a CD ($29 as a download). To get your copy of True Image, access our secure web order form at www.ugr7.com. Click on the yellow "Buy Now" button next to the product you wish to purchase. Complete the form including the special price code of UGNL0503. Submit it and your products will be shipped the following morning via US Priority Mail (Global Priority Mail to Canada). You should have your copy of True Image in 2-3 days (slightly more to Canada). I know you will enjoying using Acronis True Image with your external hard drive and you will be able to sleep well knowing that your hard drive is adequately backed up and protected.