Why You Need An External Hard Drive
Most people are seen stressing on the importance of data backup and for good reasons. Many people don’t realize that hard disk can fail leading to a extreme loss of data.
Many people create a backup of their files in a CD or DVD which is a good idea but it’s not efficient or feasible when a user in constantly inputting important data and the cost of DVDs of CDs is bound to grow if you have a lot of data and so I the clutter.
Therefore for backup or for extra space an external harddisk is recommended. However there’s a lot of variety in the market leading to confusion so I will give a brief guide about selecting a reliable and efficient hard disk.
If you need a lot of space to store your media files or large amounts of office data you should buy a hard disk space with a lot more space then your estimated need due to the tendency to underestimate. If you want reliability I will recommend brands such as Seagate, Fujitsu, Western Digital, or Maxtor.
The Western Digital Mybook series and the Maxtor Onetouch series are both greats purchases if you need a lot of space. Before purchasing the harddisk make sure you read about how the harddisk works for it might be two harddisks setup in RAID system and it’s useful to find about all the options you have for backing up when setting up the drive. I will suggest you look for a harddisk with a back up software included. If you are purchasing online then I will suggest Tigerdirect for the best possible pricing.
If you need to get a harddisk with a small physical size there are a lot of options in the markets these days. These are usually powered by your computer USB 2.0 ports thus perfect for laptop users and all those who need portability. In this department Western Digital Passport series is a great choice. It’s available from 60 GB to 160 GB.
Some user need to backup multiple computers or transfer large amounts of files and demand extremely portable harddisks. It might sound a bit weird but I will recommend such users to purchase an iPod. Apple’s newest harddisk based model, the iPod classic has from 80-160 GB of storage and it’s extremely small and portable plus easy to connect. It also allows you at the same time to enjoy your music thus making it quite a fun purchase. However the iPod 80GB model is around $249 and the 160 GB model for $349 which is expensive but then it also the ability to play your music and videos. It connects via a USB 2.0 and works like any other external drive once disk management has been enable in the iTunes’s settings menu. For those not interested in the entertainment feature the Western Digital Passport series is the next best choice.
As a final note I will say that even though it seems expensive to buy a external drive it’s a lot better then losing your data especially for the office user for that is quite expensive if end up paying for a data recovery service when your original drive fails.