Home | Forums | Cool Case Gallery |Archive | Reviews | Articles | Guides | Links | VH Gear | Contests | Downloads | Contact
 





  Thermalright TRad2 VGA Coolers Review  
 
 
  Cooler Master HAF 932 Case Review  
 
 
  Zotac AMP Graphics Card Round Up  
 
 
  G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-4GPI-B DDR2 Memory Review  
 
 
  OCZ ModXStream-Pro 600w Power Supply Review  
 
 
  NZXT Whisper Case Review  
 
 
  OCZ Gladiator Max CPU Cooler Review  
 
 
  Antec Notebook Cooler 200 Review  
 
 
  Thermaltake Armor+ MX Enclosure Review  
 
 
  Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler Review  
 
 
  Norco Technologies DS-1000 Storage System Review  
 
 

Get prices for...

 
 
Top Products

Motherboards
Intel | Abit
Gigabyte | Asus
Epox | Iwill
MSI | Shuttle
Tyan | Soyo
ECS | ASRock

Processors
AMD | Intel
Compaq

Cases
Antec | Lian-Li
Thermaltake
SilverStone
Coolermaster
ATX | BTX

Graphic Cards
ATI | nVidia

Memory
DDR | DDR2
Corsair | Crucial
OCZ | Patriot

Sound Cards
Creative Labs
Turtle Beach

Hard Drives
Seagate | Hitachi
Western Digital | Maxtor

Monitors
Viewsonic | Dell
Samsung | Apple

CD & DVD Burners
Plextor | Lite On
Sony | LG

 
 

 

Click here to join the VH Forums!

Editorial: Supplemental Storage vs. Backup Devices
Date Published:
11-23-2005
Written By:
The Cheese
Sponsored By:
N/A
Discuss Article:
VH Forum link
Page: 1

 
 
 
 
 



External hard drives: supplemental storage, not backup devices.

   Thanks to the widespread adoption of IEEE1394 and USB2.0 interfaces and the current generation of inexpensive, large-capacity, fast access hard disks, many people are tempted to connect a 200 or 300 gigabyte external drive to their computers, and call it a backup.

   I'm here to tell you, it just isn't so.

   While connecting one of these devices to your computer is a great solution to many problems (like small-capacity or proprietary internal hard drives, a need for portable storage, or even convenience), backing up your data just isn't one of them.

   Now, I'm not saying that they won't backup your data... that's not true. If you copy your data to an external drive, then power it off and keep it in a safe place, you have a reasonable expectation that your data will still be there when you go to look for it again.

   Who would want to stick that huge new disk into a closet? The issue here is the very externality of the device.
 
   External devices are more susceptible to getting jogged and jostled on your work surface, or having their plugs accidentally pulled out. While this shouldn't cause problems with data corruption, it could conceivably do so. The drive inside your computer is much better protected, by comparison, because of the heavier structure of the computer case (in the case of desktops) or in-built shock-absorption (in laptops).

   Keeping this device attached to your computer pretty much nullifies having the duplicate copy, because there are too many things that can still destroy your data while it's attached to your computer. Viruses and trojan horses can infect external devices just as easily as internal ones, so it pays to be protected in that respect. Power surges or failures that might cause problems with the internal hard drive are just as likely to damage external drives as well.

   I think many users are lulled into a false sense of security about external hard disks by ease of connection and apparent reliability; given that the drives are relatively inexpensive and plentiful, most folks wouldn't think twice about copying all their data to that nice, fast, big volume. On lots of home computers, an external hard disk connected via FireWire will seem every bit as fast (or faster) than a four or five year old internal hard disk.


<< Back to VH FrontPage | Page 2 >>

 

Got News? Send 'em in!

.







 

 - Quiet Computer Fans
 - Quiet CPU Cooling
 - Quiet PC Power Supply
 - Quiet Laptop Cooling
 - Silent Computer Fan
 - Noctua Fans
 - Noctua CPU Fans
 - Noctua NH-U12P Quiet CPU Cooler
 - Noctua NH-C12P Quiet CPU Cooler
 - AcoustiPack PC Sound Proofing
 - Laptop Toys - Laptop Cooling
 
Acoustic PC: Quiet Computer Hardware & PC Soundproofing

 - Data Recovery
 - Raid Data Recovery
 - Electronic Components from Made in China
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery Software
 - Raid Recovery
 - Data Recovery Software
 - Data Recovery
 - Computer Forensics
 - RAID Data Recovery
 - Computer forensic
 - Shopbot Canada
 - MjM Data Recovery Ltd
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery Services
 - IPDRA.org
 - Computer Forensics
 - Digital Photo Frame
 - RAID Data Recovery
 
 
 
 

Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Virtual-Hideout LLC.
All other trademarks and copyrights on this site are property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.