CALLING COMPUTER NERDS -- advice needed

I'm trying to think long-term about my storage needs, and I think I'll need about 300gb of HD space, and something to back all of that up with.

I already have a ~150 GB HD in my dell, so I'm looking to buy a 200 GB internal HD to expand my storage …

Are DVD-+RWs the best/most cost-effective way to backup 200-300 GB? I'm guessing I'd need about 40-60 DVDRWs to back all of that up, so I could just throw them all in a CD book or something and put it in my closet.

Any other backup ideas?

what i'm looking at buying right now:

NEC Model ND-3520A

Western Digital / Caviar SE / 200GB / 7200

much thanks for any advice….

It would be a lot more convenient to get an external HD to use as backup. HD's are pretty cheap, burning 60 DVDs is pretty boring.

Why not get a 300gb hard drive and use the 150 for back ups of essential files only?

Oh and stop wearing Virginia sweatshirts.

I'll second Markie, the hard drive is the way to go. i got a 120GB for about $120.

plus, its a lot easier to scratch, lose or otherwise ruin DVDs than a hard drive.

or course, the odds of scratching all 50 at once is not as great :)

if you wanna be real safe, do both. you cant put a price on losing all your files!

what is this storage for? if you are looking longterm, why not get an external so you can move it with you easily as you upgrade your computer

Originally posted by ratioci nation:
what is this storage for?

Gay porn.

can you really get a 300gb hard drive? i have never seen one (maybe i have never looked)

did it really take 18 minutes until the first gay porn joke? i'm a bit surprised, i must say.

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
maybe i need adult diapers)

Do not wet yourself

Originally posted by BookerT:
did it really take 18 minutes until the first gay porn joke? i'm a bit surprised, i must say.

Archiving all that gay porn is no joke for me.

Are you feeling inadequate about the size of your hard drive?

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
can you really get a 300gb hard drive? i have never seen one (maybe i have never looked)

although i have a very robust gay porn collection, the storage space i need is for music … i have about 60gb right now, and i'm going to copy a couple of friends' collections who have about 75gb each

so i wanted to back all of these files up, but i was concerned about using another HD for that … i mean, the main reason i want to back it up in the first place is because it's on a HD, which can crash, etc

do most people just use external HDs now as backup for their HDs?

i dont really back my music up, but if it is for music, i would suggest external just because it is so convenient, you could move it to any computer easily, I keep my music on a 160gb external

thanks for the advice … on second glance, it looks like there's some good deals in external HDs on newegg.com … anyone know anything about SimpleTech?
Simpletech 250GB 7200RPM USB2.0 External Hard Drive, Model STI-USB235/250

$145 after rebate…

I would really recommend backing them up on rewritable DVD (as well as a hard drive). Hard drives fail all the time, but if you take some basic precautions DVDs will not just spontaneously fail (at least in the next 10-15 years).

These Faststor DLT Autoloaders are nice. They should have plenty of space for ya.

It depends on why you're backing up your data.

The cheapest and probably most reliable solution is to mirror two hard drives. They run concurrently, but your system only uses one. Everything you put on one is mirrored on the other automatically. If the master fails, you put the other one as the master and replace the mirror. If the mirror fails, you replace the mirror. The chances of 2 hard drives failing at the same time is very slim, except in the case of fire, flood or being stolen. Of course if you have a fire, flood or some other terrible act, your external HD probably got destroyed/taken too, and so did the 60 DVD's you just burned. With the plummeting price of hard-drives, you could replace 2 hard drives for the same price of an external HD.

Add up the total cost of a DVD burner and 40-60 DVD-RW's and see how many hard drives you could buy for that (or better yet, how many of the actual CD's you could have purchased to have a permanent and legal back-up of your data).

In my experience, the failure rate for external HD's is much higher than the failure rate for internal HDs. There are a lot of factors for this, but most often it's their portability that leads to their downfall.

The other nice thing about mirroring is that it's automatic. You don't have to do a weekly back-up - every time create a file, you have a spare copy on the mirror. With the external and DVD solutions, you have to follow a regimen to make sure that your back up is current, and be certain that you got everything. Not a problem with mirroring.

If you do decide to use the External HD or DVD option, for god's sake, please don't store them in the same location as your data. 70% of the time you lose them both at the same time.

For the record, I now mirror 2 150 GB hard drives after going through 3 external hard drives, 2 of which I never took with me anywhere. It's been a year now and haven't had to replace either internal hard disks (knocks on wood).

interesting … thanks a lot smackie for your input …

in response to your DVD $$ question, I can get a good DVD writer (good speed, dual-layer, +-, RW, etc) for about $60, and DVD+RWs for about $1 a piece …. so about $110 for the DVD+RW drive and 50 DVD+RWs, about the same price as a 200gb internal HD

only problem is that I only have 1 extra slot in my mini-tower for a new HD … I'm no computer expert and I wouldn't feel comfortable replacing my main HD, I'd rather just add one on

I also eventually want a DVD-RW for other reasons than just backing up my music, so I think it's worth it for me … I assume there are programs that simplify the backup process (recognize which files have changed, remind you to backup), like they used to have with tape-backup stuff …

and, yes, I'll definitely keep the DVDs somewhere else

thanks again for your help …much appreciated …

Originally posted by ratioci nation:
i dont really back my music up, but if it is for music, i would suggest external just because it is so convenient, you could move it to any computer easily, I keep my music on a 160gb external

usb 2.0 or firewire? hows the transfer rate? is there a noticeable lag when you're playing music?

the external drive is intriguing, but i've heard a lot of horror stories with them getting fucked up, like smackie was saying … if i'm planning on keeping this PC for a while, i'm thinking internal may be the way to go…

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
usb 2.0 or firewire? hows the transfer rate? is there a noticeable lag when you're playing music?

the external drive is intriguing, but i've heard a lot of horror stories with them getting fucked up, like smackie was saying … if i'm planning on keeping this PC for a while, i'm thinking internal may be the way to go…

it is a firewire drive hooked up to a 2nd generation imac, and the only hard drive failure I have had was the internal drive on the imac, I think I had a small problem with the firewire drive but I fixed it with disk utility software, I think the problem was exacerbated by the internal drive problems, I have had the drive for over 2 years and i know other people who have had an external drive for a couple of years with no problems

I have had no lag problems