Utahgraphers: Is anyone using an external hard drive to backup their photo collection? I'm looking for recommendations in the 100 Gig range that runs from the USB port. It doesn't have to be super fast because I process on my main drive and just need a place for backup copies of things I want to keep. I'd like to just drag and drop files and or folders between two sessions of windows explorer and then go make a snack while it does it's thing. I'm wondering if they draw too much current to be really powered through the USB port as some advertise and is an external power source model a better idea. Also nice to have would be either hot swapable where you just plug it in when you use it but don't have to reboot to do so. That or a leave-it-hooked-up-unit that was smart enough to power itself down when not in use or when the computer is turned off. It's for a desk top machine so it doesn't need to be ultra portable. DT ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/
I really like my LaCie 250 GB USB2 external drives, plug and play, also Firewire too aloha Rob
On 28 Sep 2007, at 14:52, Rob Ratkowski Photography wrote:
I really like my LaCie 250 GB USB2 external drives, plug and play, also Firewire too
This thread has me thinking of an article in the July issue of S&T mentioned in a Letter to the Editor in the current issue about archiving observing logs. I'm reminded of a story I read about NASA not being able to access much of its early data because they were stored on media that no machine today can read. The Planetary Society is having a similar problem with early Pioneer 10 and 11 data as they investigate the Pioneer Anomaly. So I wonder about the wisdom of archiving anything only in a digital format. For years I kept all of my observing logs on paper but after getting my first Mac in 1984 I started doing both paper and digital. Macs have been great with reading old files. In fact as recently as 2 years ago I was able to use my then new G4 to run all the stuff going back 20+ years. But then I bought one of the new I Macs running Tiger and was a bit disappointed to see that it could not read old word processing files (fortunately it still reads some other old things) so I spent a lot of time with the G4 converting 20+ years of word processing files to basic text files that even Windows machines can read. But I'm still concerned that no matter what digital form I archive in today they will one day be unreadable. So I'm still keeping both paper and digital logs. How are others handling this problem? patrick
Patrick, this is a profound question. What's especially irritating to me is that Mirosoft Word itself, in one of the modern versions, seems unable to do a good job reading docments that I wrote on a Microsoft Word program dating to 1984. It can't seem to handle special features I might have used then such as Italic. Even most of the basic formatting is gone. I've saved my ancient floppy-disk program and can use it, but to keep my journal up-to-date and accessible I will need to look at the writing with one program and put in paragraphing, etc., on a copy using a new version. Also, many of my past writings are in an early version of WordPerfect. Converting things to text files works and makes them readable by a Windows search engine. But this is worthless in terms of formatting, bold face, etc. Best, Joe
I have been using pdf files to keep archives of the OAS newsletters. This has worked well so far. Does anyone know if there are issues with new Acrobat releases reading old files? This only works if you don't need to edit or if you own the very expensive pdf writing software. The whole dilemma was a discussion in some of my classes at Weber State 20 years ago. I have seen large computers that were kept around just so that the data that was saved to a tape or disk could still be viewed. I also remember discussion with Brent Watson about media that we use to save our data deteriorating and losing data that way. I think that Patrick is right, we need to save things both on Paper and digital. We also need to regularly update our digital archives so that they are up to date. Dave -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 10:40 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Archiving up old files (Was: backing up digitalphotos) Patrick, this is a profound question. What's especially irritating to me is that Mirosoft Word itself, in one of the modern versions, seems unable to do a good job reading docments that I wrote on a Microsoft Word program dating to 1984. It can't seem to handle special features I might have used then such as Italic. Even most of the basic formatting is gone. I've saved my ancient floppy-disk program and can use it, but to keep my journal up-to-date and accessible I will need to look at the writing with one program and put in paragraphing, etc., on a copy using a new version. Also, many of my past writings are in an early version of WordPerfect. Converting things to text files works and makes them readable by a Windows search engine. But this is worthless in terms of formatting, bold face, etc. Best, Joe _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
On 01 Oct 2007, at 07:33, Dunn, David wrote:
The whole dilemma was a discussion in some of my classes at Weber State 20 years ago. I have seen large computers that were kept around just so that the data that was saved to a tape or disk could still be viewed.
That's the route I've taken. I've still got the old 1984 MacPlus (still works great, if slowly, and even gets on the net which is kind of fun) as well as my G3 and G4. Fortunately the G4 runs virtually everything the older machines ran so I guess I'll be ok as long as it keeps running. BTW, I'm still a bit miffed at Apple for not allowing the new machines the option to boot up in OS9. The original version of OSX did allow that (which would run those 20+ year old files) but the new OSX will not. patrick
All 3.5" external hard drives have to have a secondary power source. Some 2.5" external hard drives must have one as well, only the slower spinning drives, 4500rpm or less, can be powered solely from the USB port. Rich Allen daniel turner wrote:
Utahgraphers:
Is anyone using an external hard drive to backup their photo collection?
I'm looking for recommendations in the 100 Gig range that runs from the USB port. It doesn't have to be super fast because I process on my main drive and just need a place for backup copies of things I want to keep.
I'd like to just drag and drop files and or folders between two sessions of windows explorer and then go make a snack while it does it's thing.
I'm wondering if they draw too much current to be really powered through the USB port as some advertise and is an external power source model a better idea.
Also nice to have would be either hot swapable where you just plug it in when you use it but don't have to reboot to do so. That or a leave-it-hooked-up-unit that was smart enough to power itself down when not in use or when the computer is turned off.
It's for a desk top machine so it doesn't need to be ultra portable.
DT
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Daniel, Lacie is always a good way to go for external desktop drives: http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10033 or for more mobile options: http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10036 and for my favorite, the clearance option: http://www.lacie.com/us/products/clearance/products/?id=10007 I prefer externals with an independent power supply like their Brick but that's only a personal preference. USB powered should be just fine for what you want it for. Dave On Sep 28, 2007, at 2:32 PM, daniel turner wrote:
Utahgraphers:
Is anyone using an external hard drive to backup their photo collection?
I'm looking for recommendations in the 100 Gig range that runs from the USB port. It doesn't have to be super fast because I process on my main drive and just need a place for backup copies of things I want to keep.
I'd like to just drag and drop files and or folders between two sessions of windows explorer and then go make a snack while it does it's thing.
I'm wondering if they draw too much current to be really powered through the USB port as some advertise and is an external power source model a better idea.
Also nice to have would be either hot swapable where you just plug it in when you use it but don't have to reboot to do so. That or a leave-it-hooked-up-unit that was smart enough to power itself down when not in use or when the computer is turned off.
It's for a desk top machine so it doesn't need to be ultra portable.
DT
One less expensive route is to buy an external drive "shell" (drive adapter kit) that you can put any old hard drive into. I bought one a couple of years ago from EBC Computers and it works just fine. I think I only paid about $30 for it, and if you have an old internal IDE drive laying around you can just place it inside just as you would install it in your PC. The shell has its own power and USB interface. A quick check on their website shows it's still about $30: http://www.ebccomputers.com/index.php?op=pub_display_parts&id=5 They have several locations in Utah. --- daniel turner <outwest112@yahoo.com> wrote:
Utahgraphers:
Is anyone using an external hard drive to backup their photo collection?
I'm looking for recommendations in the 100 Gig range that runs from the USB port. It doesn't have to be super fast because I process on my main drive and just need a place for backup copies of things I want to keep.
I'd like to just drag and drop files and or folders between two sessions of windows explorer and then go make a snack while it does it's thing.
I'm wondering if they draw too much current to be really powered through the USB port as some advertise and is an external power source model a better idea.
Also nice to have would be either hot swapable where you just plug it in when you use it but don't have to reboot to do so. That or a leave-it-hooked-up-unit that was smart enough to power itself down when not in use or when the computer is turned off.
It's for a desk top machine so it doesn't need to be ultra portable.
DT
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Of course one other obvious backup method is to replace your CD-rom with a DVD burner. Disks (that will hold 3 or 4 GB each) are dirt cheap and last for years. EBC sells an 18x Pioneer DVD RW drive for only $33. --- daniel turner <outwest112@yahoo.com> wrote:
Utahgraphers:
Is anyone using an external hard drive to backup their photo collection?
I'm looking for recommendations in the 100 Gig range that runs from the USB port. It doesn't have to be super fast because I process on my main drive and just need a place for backup copies of things I want to keep.
I'd like to just drag and drop files and or folders between two sessions of windows explorer and then go make a snack while it does it's thing.
I'm wondering if they draw too much current to be really powered through the USB port as some advertise and is an external power source model a better idea.
Also nice to have would be either hot swapable where you just plug it in when you use it but don't have to reboot to do so. That or a leave-it-hooked-up-unit that was smart enough to power itself down when not in use or when the computer is turned off.
It's for a desk top machine so it doesn't need to be ultra portable.
DT
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Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/
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Daniel, In case you are still interested, I just read an email from buy.com (where I have purchased on-line a few times). They are currently advertising a LaCie 500GB USB 2.0 7200rpm Desktop Hard Disk for $110. Not bad at all... /R ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/
Daniel/Rich, I received the same email and thought the same thing if you haven't already bought something: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp? sku=205728911&adid=17070&dcaid=17070 db On Oct 15, 2007, at 12:04 PM, Richard Tenney wrote:
Daniel,
In case you are still interested, I just read an email from buy.com (where I have purchased on-line a few times). They are currently advertising a LaCie 500GB USB 2.0 7200rpm Desktop Hard Disk for $110. Not bad at all...
/R
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participants (9)
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daniel turner -
Dave Bennett -
David L. Bennett
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Dunn, David -
Joe Bauman -
Patrick Wiggins -
Rich Allen -
Richard Tenney -
Rob Ratkowski Photography