I'm planning on buying a new hard drive to use as a backup drive. What are the pros and cons of internal and external drives (assume price is not an issue)
Internal, generally faster. More options, you can use it for backup or a RAID
External, you can completely disconnect the drive from power and system, this potects it from virus/ worms and power surges.
Easier to install for the novice.
In addition to the above.
Internal - cheaper, spins away merrily all the time, computer theft/fire means all drives are gone.
External - Turn off when not in use for longer life - can keep separate from computer.
My personal requirements are a front panel power switch ... which is rare for some dumb reason.
I also avoid any "One Touch" externals ... they've messed up my computer a couple of times.
I would never rely on any hard drive as a back up! Buy a decent DVD burner and burn your files on there and keep them in a secure scratch free environment.
Better yet, buy a tape back-up. I've seen DVDs scratched and the data is ruined. I had a server room flood once and the case of the tapes were ruined. I re-spooled the tape on a new cartridge and HOLY S#!T! I pulled the data off the tape. Just don't store them near any magnets.
Agreed (sort of) ... That's why I have two External enclosures.
This also backs up the external hardware ... which so far ... has seemed to be less reliable than the HDs
One reason why I use the enclosure concept .. and build my own.
I would never rely on any hard drive as a back up! Buy a decent DVD burner and burn your files on there and keep them in a secure scratch free environment.
Better yet, buy a tape back-up. I've seen DVDs scratched and the data is ruined. I had a server room flood once and the case of the tapes were ruined. I re-spooled the tape on a new cartridge and HOLY S#!T! I pulled the data off the tape. Just don't store them near any magnets.
To each his own. Personally, I store my backups on a minimum of two separate hard disks (as well as the original), and I also save them to DVD periodically. If I had to choose one media type, it would be the hard disks, not the DVD's.
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