buy external HD recommendation and software Super Duper

[jean nichols]

<p>I will like to buy one external HD for backup. Do you have recommendation on 500GB to 1 TB HD? I'm using TimeMachine in Mac OS and I heard about Super Duper software. Is there any Super Duper user on this forum?</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>BigBlaze<br /> http://jeannichols.com/</p>

[g dan mitchell]

<p>I use SuperDuper <em>and</em> Time Machine! Both are fine and easy-to use backup solutions, but they work in different ways.</p>

<p>Time machine is great at regularly (say once per hour) backing up changes to your files, and it keeps earlier versions as well. If you want the version of the file you had last Tuesday you can retrieve it in Time Machine. And after you retrieve it, if you decide that you prefer the Monday version you can get that too.</p>

<p>SuperDuper! (Yes, the "!" is part of the name...) is better at producing a completely bootable mirror of your drive onto the backup volume. You would probably set it to automatically backup at intervals of perhaps once per day or once per week. It does not keep older versions of files, but if your internal drive fails you can boot directly from the backup, fix your internal drive, and then let SD restore your drive to the state it was in at the last backup.</p>

<p>I'm paranoid. I actually make two or three separate backups of my important drives. To be honest I actually use <em>three</em> backup programs! In addition to the two described above I make periodic backups using another wonderful Mac backup application called Carbon Copy Cloner, and I store these backups off-site.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

[howard_m]

<p>Like Dan, I do Time Machine & SuperDuper! although I have it set for TM once a day and SD! every week. Photos themselves are on an external disk array w/ RAID5 and another disk to back that up.</p>

[andylynn]

<p>SuperDuper! is what I used to image my hard drive when I upgraded to 10.5. (I duplicated the drive then reformatted the drive, installed OSX then did a migrate from the copy.) It's very good at copying drives.</p>

<p>Time machine is great at maintaining a backup.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>Any good external HD should do, i like the LACIE one even if they are not making the drive itself but the enclosure only.<br>

I use time machine to backup my system on another internal HD (i have a mac pro) AND use Intego Personal BackUp to create a bootable system once a month on to another internal HD.</p>

<p>Im paranoid, but do you ever heard me complaining about losing something? ; )</p>

[john_reynolds10]

<p>External hard drives are touchy devices. I would reccommed that you look at reviews on Amazon.com where there's lots of horror stories about drives that fail in weeks or months including some well known brands. I bought a highly rated Iomega last August and have had no problems so far. The included software is easy to use as well. </p>

[robert_brake1]

<p>Another Super Duper user here. I use it to back up my main hard drive to two redundant bootable drives. Images not currently being worked on are kept on a pair of separate redundant drives. Very easy to use.</p>

[jephotog]

<p>While no longer a mac user but, I know a little bit about HDs. My recomendation on the external HD is to buy an enclosure instead. When you buy an external HD you are buying an HD and an enclosure all in one, but with a protective seal to prevent your from opening or tampering with it, also some have put the hardware driver on the HD in the external to prevent you from swapping out HDs. If you buy an enclosure and 2 HDs you can easily swap out the HDs in the enclosure. So you can backup your HD once in a while to the External enclosure and then once a month swap out the HDs in the enclosure and keep the other HD at another location, like work or a friends house. That way your portfolio is protected from theft, fire or HD crashes. Also when HD sizes grow you can easily upgrade the size of your backup HD. <br>

Not sure if this is applicable to Macs but research your plugin options. PCs are using ESATA as an option to plug in to externals. USB 2 will give you 480KBS you can get 3-6 times that with your external hooked up with an ESATA connector.</p>

[steve_wagner1]

<p>Listen to Jordan. Whatever you do don't get a USB model. Get a 1.5tb Seagate or Western Digital internal drive and a $40 housing with ESATA or Firewire 800 from Newegg</p>

[reginapagles]

<p>I am very satisfied with my Other World Computing 1 Terabyte Ministack v3 external HD. It seems to have great ventilation (fan) which keeps it very cool, unlike some other externals I own, as well as an on/off switch, which I like having. The specs are: 7200RPM 32MB Performance FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA. The drive used is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11. The 16MB Cache version uses a Hitachi Drive, which I don't prefer.<br />I also have the Seagate Desk 500MB External, but it has no ventilation and a VERY poorly designed on/off switch. It gets very hot, as well.<br />I use Time Machine to back up to one of my internal drives in my Mac Pro and SuperDuper! to back up to my Ministack v3.<br />Good luck in your endeavors,<br />Regina<br />Link to Other World Computing:<br /><a href="http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministackv3">http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministackv3</a></p>

[john_oconnell14]

<p>I strongly second Jordan's comment about buying a disk enclosure - if I were in the market for one now, I'd go for this (<a href="http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=25&pid=3&set_language=english">http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=25&pid=3&set_language=english</a>) and would buy a couple of internal drives (such as a pair of Samsung 1TB 3.5" SATA drives) configured as RAID 1.<br>

As it is I'm stuck with a Western Digital MyBook Pro which although offering RAID 1, doesn't have a reliable USB interface so I can only use it with Fireware 400 - I don't recommend WD MyBook external drives.<br>

Thecus make high quality kit. Ignore the 1TB total capacity as it's based on disk power requirements and the Thecus shop (<a href="http://www.thecusstore.com">www.thecusstore.com</a>) were selling complete kits using a pair of 1.5TB disks.</p>

[jephotog]

<p>Just an update on my previous recommendation:<br>

I have been trying to do what I had suggested to you but have run into some problems with it. The last external HD I bought was a Rosewill and it had USB and E-sata external options for plugging it into the laptop it also has a receptacle that you install into an external bay like one that will hold a DVD drive. It allows me to plug the external HD directly into the computer and run it as though it is an internal HD. It is a great setup. I had just ordered a new 2.5" 500GB WD HD to plug in to this setup but have run into a problem. The new HD I got is a SATA the old external disk has only an IDE connector. This probably means the e-sata external hook up does not work at E-sata speeds, but means the two are not compatible. <br>

As I look around for options I am finding a lot of the external have limitations of the size of HD they will work with many between 160-320GB. I have found some coolmax ones that claim to support all sized HDs up to 750GB.<br>

Just a word of warning so you buy the right components to make it work. Do some research on components to make sure you get two that work together.</p>