I had a bit of a scare with the pc yesterday and I thought it was totally broken.This got me to thinking that I have backed up very little.We have about 35gb of music and loads of photos on it.
Any recommendations for which hardrive to go for.I quite like the Seagate Freeagent 250gb,which I've seen for about £70.

I've had one of these (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-250GB-Essential-External/dp/B000EXZAOY/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-9044082-3087829?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183157730&sr=8-2) since September and it's excellent; it's in more or less constant use and it's not let me down yet.

:)

there is no difference at all go for any.most external HDD's that shops sell don't even put what you get in the box.

we bought one for work and it was branded Novatec but when it arrived it was western digital inside.

only way you will know is to buy a HDD an get a £5 external off ebay box :thumbsup:

It looks ok,One of the things that attracted me to the seagate drive was that I understand that it has got a 5yr warranty.It also looks quite good :-)

It looks ok,One of the things that attracted me to the seagate drive was that I understand that it has got a 5yr warranty.It also looks quite good :-)

thats good as nearly all only carry 3 years

It was actually this one that I had seen.Can't believe how they have fallen in price over the last two years.

http://tinyurl.com/2j8oot

you could always opt for online backup...

this company does a great service.... the risk is theirs and not yours...

http://www.btbroadbandoffice.com/internetapplications/pcbackup?com.bea.event.type=linkclick&oLName=link.searchresults&oLDesc=KB_1009

its an option. and it's 'off-site'

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217653&TabID=1&source=1&doy=30m6

sign up for the newsleter, and use the £3.00 voucher (online or instore).

brings the free agent down to £56.99

thanks for that

coincidentally just got back from pcworld and bought a 400gb freecom external usb hdd for £70. i'll let you know if it's good or crap as i'm just in the process of backing up on to it.

PC World were selling Maxtor 500GB external HDDs for approx £70 last weekend and they are excellent for the money:headbang:

stumpy

I have an older type Seagate 250GB external drive and very happy with it. Whisper quiet and it goes to sleep if not used for a while.

If you have a spare SATA connector on your motherboard consider an external eSATA enclosure and a 3.5 SATA drive. They're much faster than USB and WinXP can 'power manage' them as if they were an internal drive.

coincidentally just got back from pcworld and bought a 400gb freecom external usb hdd for £70. i'll let you know if it's good or crap as i'm just in the process of backing up on to it.

this works fine. has automatic compress and encrypt functioanlity as well.

Thanks.How do I find out if I have a spare sata connector.I have "Belarc" and "SIW" so can check it I knew waht to look for.

In SIW look under Hardware-Devices-IDE ATA/TAPI Controllers, to see if you have a Serial ATA Controller listed.

If only one is listed you likely have two SATA ports, if two are listed you probably have four SATA ports.

Also in the Hardware section look at Motherboard where it should list the model of your board. Google this with 'manual' and you should be able to find a manual to download for your board, - probably a .pdf file. If it's a current model you can probably find the details on line anyway, - either should tell you what SATA ports (if any) you have.

I've had one of these (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-250GB-Essential-External/dp/B000EXZAOY/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-9044082-3087829?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183157730&sr=8-2) since September and it's excellent; it's in more or less constant use and it's not let me down yet.

:)

I can vouch for one of those too - Been brilliant!