What is the difference between an external hard drive and a portable hard drive? In short, an external hard drive requires an external power source, while a portable hard disk can be powered only by your computer. So if the unit needs to be connected to an AC outlet for use, it’s an external hard drive. If not, it is a laptop. Although the requirement that the external power source may seem a burden, the frequency unit contains a fan, which will help keep it cool and thus help keep your data safe by data recovery pro. The disadvantage, of course, is that you need an outlet to access the data.
Tip No. 1: Calculate the amount you need and hit it to the next level of storage. Yes, portable and external hard drives can be expensive, especially extra-large capacity ones. But you will spend less than graduate to the next level of ability now than you will buy a new car after.
Let’s say you are not a heavy media consumer. Do not download movies, and you do not even listen to music online. (Yes, I know you’re there.) You have a team full of Word and Excel files, however, and you wisely realize that you need a backup location for them. In your case, you may be eyeing the 80GB or 120GB portable hard drives due to its low price points. Step up to the 250 GB and be sure that you will not have to do this type of shopping again for a long time.
Okay, now let’s suppose that you are a heavy media consumer. Only own digital music (CD what is that?), and is already working on the construction of its own library of high definition movies. If this is the case, you are clearly in terabyte territory, and you have to go as big as possible. Stepping up now will save you money in the long run, and you’ll delay having to get that second unit (or third, or fourth), since you’ve filled it up.
Do I need to back up several computers at the same time? A storage device connected to a network (NAS) or RAID can better meet your needs. Simply speaking, a NAS and RAID are devices that are designed to hold large amounts of data. A NAS is basically a computer that is only work is the storage of data (file server), while a RAID several external hard drives or portable and multimedia discs that work together in a single unit. So if you backup several computers with large amounts of data, it is possible that with the step of up to 12 TB or 16 TB, and you cannot get an external hard drive of that capacity.
Tip No. 2 “Get USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB 3.0) .It does not matter if the computer is not in USB 3.0 with capacity. Finally you will have to replace your computer (which I know you will), and USB 3.0 ports Now they are emerging in the new models, and will only continue to increase in popularity. The portable and external hard drives with USB 3.0 are almost all compatible with USB 2.0, so you can continue with 2.0 until the jump is made.
The only reason USB 3.0 would jump is if you are really truncated cash and only deal with word processing documents. Otherwise, get on the car and enjoy the SuperSpeed trip.
Council No. 3 Get some type of automatic backup. Buying an external or portable hard drive to a data backup is a great first step, but will have no value if you do not remember that they are actually used. Having automatic backup software will take the load from you and make sure it is done. I suggest checking regularly to ensure that the automatic backup is working, especially at the beginning.
The only disadvantage of automatic backup is that it can decrease the performance of your computer. If you have it configured to activate when the computer starts up, for example, the computer may be slow until the backup is complete. If you have a large amount of backup files, this could easily take 30 minutes or more. One way to avoid this is to configure the external hard drive for backup copies at the end of the day, or at another time you know you will not use the computer.