Brace yourself: I’ve found a product that I really, really like.
Once upon a time I swore by and recommended the Western Digital MyBook drives. Then I began to swear at them.
The main problem with the drives was the annoying pre-installed software that you just couldn’t get rid of. Even today, that still ticks me off!
Months ago I wrote a letter to Western Digital asking for an explanation. I was ignored, which is what I figured the bastards would do.
Just last week, Windows Vista Backup failed on my primary writing computer. There was a drive error. So I did ScanDisk or Check Disk or whatever they’re calling it these days. No problems were reported, but Backup failed again.
Reformatting the drive didn’t help; Backup failed again.
So I went shopping for a new drive.
At the store, it was with much delight that I skipped by the Western Digital MyBook drives, even though they were the lowest priced models. Instead, I picked up a Seagate external drive.
Now I was hesitant about the Seagate drive. As with every other damn external drive, it came with pre-installed software. Even so I bought it, brought it home, and was happy to discover that, unlike a MyBook drive, the pre-installed software wasn’t on the Seagate hard drive’s firmware. That meant that I could avoid using it or just delete it outright.
Upon stetting up the drive, I discovered that Windows Vista Backup still produced the same error.
What. The. Fudge?
Perhaps the MyBook drive wasn’t bad after all?
Anyway, I had a new external drive and I was in need of a new backup program, so I tried the one included on the Seagate drive. It’s called Seagate Replica and I’m seriously impressed.
If I were looking for a backup program, I’d get something like the rsync utility in Unix. That’s the utility on which the Mac’s Time Machine backup is based. rsync basically synchronizes your files between two storage devices. It’s pretty cool — well, once you figure out the options and set it up.
Anyway, Seagate Replica is basically an rsync for Windows. It’s backup is a mirror copy of your hard drive. Restoring files and folders is done by right clicking and choosing the Replica command. Nothing could be simpler. There is even a system recovery CD you can use to boot your PC and recover the entire hard drive after a disaster.
Yes, for once, I’m not only satisfied with my external hard drive purchase, I’m delighted. Mark your calendars. This type of thing doesn’t happy often.
I’ve got a generic external HD and there was no crap ware on that one, I wonder if it’s the big names that tend to chuck stuff on there like that, even with good old USB sticks it’s the same story, I got a Scan disk 4GB usb stick and it had some weird software on it, it would load a stupid program every time I plugged it in, I had to use wipe that off there but it now has no icon for the stick just the windows unknown file format symbol, of well it got rid of it. Again the cheapo brand USB sticks never have any of the crap on there. Interested in the Seagate backup program though I’ve been looking for a replacement for Acronis which is OK but could be better.
Comment by chiefnoobie — July 19, 2011 @ 2:08 pm
I’m wondering if it’s possible just to build my own external hard drive. You know: Buy a drive and a kit?
Comment by admin — July 19, 2011 @ 2:24 pm
well you could use a hard drive enclosure so get an old one from a PC that won’t have anything on it after a format and you can use any 3.5 inch hard drives you want. I have seen some that look a bit like a toaster where you just clip them into it can also read 2.5 inch ones, so if you have any old ones from broken PC’s you can re use them as External drives now that is a good idea, as I have several old HD’s in a box somewhere.
Comment by chiefnoobie — July 19, 2011 @ 2:49 pm
I’m going to look into this topic for specifics to see if I can find anything, and to see whether the price makes it worth it to “roll your own” external hard drive.
Comment by admin — July 19, 2011 @ 2:52 pm
Is it true that internal HDs last longer than external ones? It sure seems like they do.
Comment by gamerguy473 — July 19, 2011 @ 5:55 pm
I don’t know of any solid evidence, gamerguy, but my personal experience has shown that external hard drives fall like trees in a wind storm. I’ve had only two internal hard drives fail that I remember, and that was way back in the early days of computing. One died because of an earthquake. The other died after making very loud noises for months.
Comment by admin — July 19, 2011 @ 7:14 pm