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External USB Backup Solution: HD or DVD?
I am a computer technician who is looking for a means by which I can
backup data from some of my clients' older PCs that lack any kind of mass removable storage. I'm wondering if I should go with a USB hard drive or DVD-RW. Which is more reliable? I've read some things in this newsgroup about overheating USB HD's that concern me. Are recordable DVD's "dangerous" in the sense that when the dust settles after the stadards wars I may be left with obsolete media? Is a viable alternative to DVD's to backup my clients' data to an external hard drive, then use my own system to permanently burn the data to CD-Rs? Or should I just save a step and use DVD's, which would also be higher capacity? (Also, less crucial point: Can movie DVD's be satisfactorily played on USB 1.1 or 2.0 DVD burners?) And whichever strategy I adopt, will a USB 2.0 card enhance performance, even if the system's motherboard only supports 1.1? Thanks ahead... -- Dave |
#2
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"Dave Hardenbrook" wrote in message k.net... I am a computer technician who is looking for a means by which I can backup data from some of my clients' older PCs that lack any kind of mass removable storage. I'm wondering if I should go with a USB hard drive or DVD-RW. Which is more reliable? I've read some things in this newsgroup about overheating USB HD's that concern me. Use a 3.5" drive in a 5.25" USB case with a fan. Easy to assemble yourself and no overheating problem. Are recordable DVD's "dangerous" in the sense that when the dust settles after the stadards wars I may be left with obsolete media? Possibly, but even hard drive filing systems change with time. I would do both. Is a viable alternative to DVD's to backup my clients' data to an external hard drive, then use my own system to permanently burn the data to CD-Rs? Yes but how many CDR would that be? Best use DVD+/-R if you have a lot of data. And whichever strategy I adopt, will a USB 2.0 card enhance performance, even if the system's motherboard only supports 1.1? No. It will drop back to USB 1.1 speeds (=slow). Also support for USB 2.0 was only added to Windows at XP SP1. Have these PC got LAN cards? Consider setting up a temporary network. Colin |
#3
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Dave Hardenbrook wrote
I am a computer technician who is looking for a means by which I can backup data from some of my clients' older PCs that lack any kind of mass removable storage. I'm wondering if I should go with a USB hard drive or DVD-RW. The most obvious difference is the speed, dramatically faster with a hard drive. Which is more reliable? The hard drive as long as you dont drop things much. I've read some things in this newsgroup about overheating USB HD's that concern me. Thats easily avoided by choosing one that does cool the drive properly. Are recordable DVD's "dangerous" in the sense that when the dust settles after the stadards wars I may be left with obsolete media? Nope. Is a viable alternative to DVD's to backup my clients' data to an external hard drive, then use my own system to permanently burn the data to CD-Rs? Better to use DVDs. Use two different media formats and then you cant get bitten by one format becoming obsolete. You need more than one copy anyway. Or should I just save a step and use DVD's, which would also be higher capacity? Yes. (Also, less crucial point: Can movie DVD's be satisfactorily played on USB 1.1 or 2.0 DVD burners?) Yes. And whichever strategy I adopt, will a USB 2.0 card enhance performance, even if the system's motherboard only supports 1.1? Yes, and very dramatically faster with a hard drive. Thanks ahead... Is that anything like a head job ? |
#4
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"CWatters" wrote in message ... And whichever strategy I adopt, will a USB 2.0 card enhance performance, even if the system's motherboard only supports 1.1? No. It will drop back to USB 1.1 speeds (=slow). Also support for USB 2.0 was only added to Windows at XP SP1. Now that I've seen Rods reply I've see what you were asking. Scratch my reply above... Yes you can install a USB 2.0 PCI card in a PC that only supports USB 1.1 on the mobo. The PCI card will work at USB 2.0 speed. That's actually what I have here. |
#5
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Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
I am a computer technician who is looking for a means by which I can backup data from some of my clients' older PCs that lack any kind of mass removable storage. I'm wondering if I should go with a USB hard drive or DVD-RW. Which is more reliable? I've read some things in this newsgroup about overheating USB HD's that concern me. Are recordable DVD's "dangerous" in the sense that when the dust settles after the stadards wars I may be left with obsolete media? Is a viable alternative to DVD's to backup my clients' data to an external hard drive, then use my own system to permanently burn the data to CD-Rs? Or should I just save a step and use DVD's, which would also be higher capacity? (Also, less crucial point: Can movie DVD's be satisfactorily played on USB 1.1 or 2.0 DVD burners?) And whichever strategy I adopt, will a USB 2.0 card enhance performance, even if the system's motherboard only supports 1.1? How much data are you talking about? If there's a lot of it you might want to consider tape. You can get DAT and AIT drives with USB and Exabyte's VXA drives are available with Firewire. If adding a board to the client's machine is acceptable then you could also go SCSI, which makes DLT or LTO an option. You'll find that if you're doing a lot of volume on this tape becomes very attractive. As for the rest, if you're just running the external drive for backups then heat shouldn't be an issue--if it seems to be running hot then you might want to mark the drive with tempilaq http://www.probuy.net/products/TEMPILAQ.html or Tempistik http://www.weldingdepot.com (http://www.tempil.com gets you data sheets and temperature charts on both) so you can tell if it's running above spec. The DVD standards continue to evolve, but the evolution is in the higher capacity drives and media. The dust is pretty much settled on the +/- issue and the solution was multiformat drives--any drive sold new on the market today can read and write both formats. Many of the LG drives also handle DVD-RAM, which, while the media costs more, is considered to be a better solution for data than + or - as it was designed for the purpose. The trouble with DVD is limited capacity. Thanks ahead... -- Dave -- --John to email, dial "usenet" and validate (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net) |
#6
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If you need some good software the backups incrementally and has a
great user interface, see http://www.backup4all.com It's by far the best I've used |
#7
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"Dave Hardenbrook" wrote in message
k.net... I am a computer technician who is looking for a means by which I can backup data from some of my clients' older PCs that lack any kind of mass removable storage. I'm wondering if I should go with a USB hard drive or DVD-RW. Which is more reliable? I've read some things in this newsgroup about overheating USB HD's that concern me. Are recordable DVD's "dangerous" in the sense that when the dust settles after the stadards wars I may be left with obsolete media? Is a viable alternative to DVD's to backup my clients' data to an external hard drive, then use my own system to permanently burn the data to CD-Rs? I would copy to 2.5" USB HD, and burn to DVD-R on your system. There are too many problems with USB and burning in general on Win 98/ME. Or should I just save a step and use DVD's, which would also be higher capacity? (Also, less crucial point: Can movie DVD's be satisfactorily played on USB 1.1 or 2.0 DVD burners?) USB 1.1 is 1MB/s at best, which won't burn DVD at 1X. It may play most DVD Video. And whichever strategy I adopt, will a USB 2.0 card enhance performance, even if the system's motherboard only supports 1.1? As long as the USB2 drivers work under Win98/ME. |
#8
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On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 06:51:40 GMT, Dave Hardenbrook
wrote: I am a computer technician who is looking for a means by which I can backup data from some of my clients' older PCs that lack any kind of mass removable storage. I'm wondering if I should go with a USB hard drive or DVD-RW. Which is more reliable? Each has different failure mechanisms. Hard drives generally die suddenly and relatively unrecoverably, while DVDRs die slowly, with more options for recovery if discovered in time. I keep my data on both HD and DVDR as a basic risk management strategy. -- Neil Maxwell - I don't speak for my employer |
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