Hello there
I am in need for an external usb backup/imaging drive.
What I would prefer is a usb hdd without extra power cable so it would be easy attaching and detaching.
I would like to backup/imaging my work (I have seen someone using ghost9)a few times weekly and if I leave the office for any length of time store the usb drive to a different place for safekeeping.
I was impressed by the way it worked.
Can anyone help me by the choice of drive and so on? What size and brands?

Thanks in advance

Gion

Here are a few. They use laptop hard drives since 3.5 hard drive required its own PSU.

http://www.directron.com/ec2501u.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41911&item=5212839520&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://www.cooldrives.com/usb-2-mini-aluminum-enclosure-with-one-touch-backup.html

No courage and want them already assembled...these guys are the "kings" and yes I have bought from them several times....
http://www.coolerexpress.com/

Rich M
www.kickenhardware.net

I got an Iomega 20 gb external HD a couple of years ago. It has the power transformer cord and the USB cord, but you can unplug the actual HD from these. The piece then is small enough that it will fit in a 5x5 safe deposit box.

I have ghost 2003 that came with something and I use it sometimes. Its not particularly user friendly, but it works oK.

The Maxtor "one touch" series looks promising. Built in software and everything.
click here

Jimi_l

Hi guys
Thanks, I will go through and see , your replies loook very promissing.
Are those drives esaly removed, say if I leave the office unatended for longer periods?
What are you main backup soft?

Gion

I use Acronis True Image....
My drives are all pocket drives with no power supply and fit in your shirt pocket.

Rich M
www.kickenhardware.net

The Iomega just unplugs easily, leaving the power supply and cables. Its bigger than shirtpocket size. I keep it in a locked file cabinet, but it will fit in a 5x5 safe deposit easily for more security if I'd need it. Perhaps obsolescent at the rate technology is progressing, but works good for me. I believe its this one earlier 20GB version http://www.iomega.com/direct/products/detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=11969851&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=58741&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=67&bmUID=1120074975536

Hello
I had a short look at it and will again in the next few days.
What experiences are out there with backing up software? As I still have to decide on that to!
For all your onput, many thanks and lt's see

Gion

Ghost 9.0 which is a rework of Drive Image, that Symantec acquired and are busily at work destroying the programs efficiency, actually might be the best all around product at the moment, except typical of Norton products, it has conflicts with many programs and can cause such things as system refuses to shut down...and other more simple conflicts.
For that reason I think Acronis True Image may be the better program...

Rich M
www.kickenhardware.net

Hi Rich
Certainly your link has a lot of stuff there but for the usb2 slim products they don't say how much storage?!
I read that with Ghost9 you can backup straight out of Windows without restart? Is that a no-no?
Could you explain any avantages of AcronisTrue Image over the Symantec product. Is it totaly different from DriveImage?

Gion

Both True Image and Ghost 9 allow you to create image file in Windows, while working on other things if you like.
This Ghost is really Power Quest's Drive Image with the divers for sata drives DI 7.0 was missing and it is almost the identical interface. The most positive advantage of Ghost is that in restoring back an image file to a new drive Ghost allows you to choose to carry the mbr and Acronis does not.
Ghost does seem to have some program conflicts that are crippling that DI never had i.e. preventing shuttdown of pc with Kaspersky antivirus onboard, and I am certain there are more.
Acronis is faster, and especially the rescue disk you use for cd to restore is much faster.
Acronis is ready to restore from bootable cd in 30 seconds and Ghost is about 4 minutes in.
I also think that Acronis has many more native drivers on their rescue disk.

Rich M
www.kickenhardware.net

Thanks Rich, that was very good advice.
mbr is that master boot record?

Gion

Yes Luregn...master boot record
I also reread your question on Cooler Express and you need to go further into the site. They sell conversion kits that will take any ide hard drive you have and convert it into a usb hard drive so you can choose the size of the drive, and they also sell them assembled where you can pick your storage size.
Be careful of one thing and that is there are many mainboards out there that will not take usb 2.0, and you do not want to use usb 1.1 to do an image file because could be 3 hours on 6 gb image file whereas 2.0 would be about 18 minutes. That is one of the reasons I suggest 1394 where you add a pci card but it will work as fast as 2.0 usb on any system, regardless of OS or age.
Yes you could get a usb 2.0 pci card, but honestly I am not thrilled with performance on those. 1394 or firewire as Apple calls it, has universal drivers in various OS and you never have driver issues (unless you have one of those awful Via chipset usb cards)....
Look in device manager in Conrol Panel system and click open usb on bottom. You need to see "usb enhanced" or "enhanced 2.0 controller" to know you have it. In XP you need to update driver after SP 1 to make that happen for some stupid reason it will not set by default, and I am sure 2000 is similar, but I don't know that as I never use 2000.

Hi Rich
Your comment is one of the best I ever got in any forum; well writen and clear.
I still have not made up my mind as, with some neighbours together, we want to persue the option of satelite fast internet access. Depending on that a bit, the setup may change slightly and I may use a small network with a network backup drive??
So or so your answer was a huge help for me right know and I post you what comes out of it.

Many thanks

Luregn

I used satellite for many years for broadband as DSL and cable were not available to me. It is a pleasant upgrade from 56k though expensive in and more expensive than any of the others to run. The signal is not as steady as Dsl or cable but you should be able to hit 1200-1400 kbps on downloads, but voice over satelliet is challenged because of the fluctuating signal. The only real drawback is uploads making email out a "turtle"...perhaps even slower than 56k in spite of what speed tests quote you. But all in all it saved years of 56k sufferring.

Hi Rich
How come that upload or email are so slow.
I do get here on my poor landline merely 3kb/s and anything above that is just amazing(depending on the cost). I guess the setup cost will be quite high, though the monthly cost from then onwards is then met by the people who share it.
So much for now.
Thanks

Gion

You have to remember satellite only recently acheived upload. For years it relied on a dialup for uploads and only offerred downloads.
It has to do with 2-way signal which plagued some small cable companies for years as well.
Maybe in time this will improve because I could test at 300 kbps for uploads but on a large file, seldom really transferred at more than 3 kbps.