I want to get an external hard drive to backup files on. I am doing this in case my hard drive fails and I can’t save the files - I’m not as concerned about accidentally deleting something.
I’d like advice.
Kinds of hard drives, advice on backing it up, whatever. I don’t have tons of super crucial stuff. Some writing stuff. I suppose my music and other downloads, right?
And then my girlfriend Cat’s computer needs to be backed up too. Same sort of stuff needs to be backed up for her.
Software isn’t crucial I’d think, cause I can reinstall it or if I’ve lost the discs, I can get it from kind friends.
Should I get two external hard drives? Or can both computers be backed up on the same hard-drive?
Is it better to just back everything up?
Is there a better way to back up stuff? (not external hard drive)?
Anything else I need to know?
Please give me any and all advice.
Her computer is -> Macbook Version 10.5.8
My computer is -> IMac Version 10.4.11
Loading ...
3 Comments
You can just use any external HD to backup your files with time machine. Or you can buy apple’s time capsule. To backup both macs, just partition the external HD with disk utility.
I went to TekServe, told them what I had and what I wanted to do with it, and they recommended a specific Lacie drive, which I bought.
If you both have Macs, then the built in Time Machine is good for backups, though you’ll want to upgrade your iMac to at least 10.5. For external hard drives, LaCie, Western Digital, and Seagate are all good choices. You’ll find people that swear by one brand or another but in the end all hard drives will die a horrible death. It’s a question of when, not if.
I recently purchased a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. This is a network enabled external hard drive so I can plug it into my home network and access it over wireless from multiple computers. It also has two hard drives so if one fails you don’t lose your data. It’s more expensive than a single external hard drive, but I already had two drives to put in it to help keep costs down.