Need an external hard drive

[rosijayne]

Hi

I have always backed up individual files/photographs etc to various discs, but I have now reached the stage where I would like to back up my entire laptop to an external hard drive, just in case my laptop gives up on me.  My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5532 with windows 7 operating system, so I wondered if anybody could advise me of a suitable HDD which is easy to use?

Many thanks

Gill

[wyndham]

Have a look at the Seagate official site which shows a number of EHD's that are suitable for laptops.  Then shop around the usual sites to get the best price.  I use Seagate drives and find them very reliable.

[Hampshire Lass]

Also there is the clickfree automatic backup.

If you google it there is info online, including a video and you can buy on the high street or online.

[rosijayne]

Thank you, I have been looking at the Seagate Expansion which would seem to be suitable for me.

Gill

[Ray T]

There are dozens of options for external hard drives nowadays but one thing you need to decide first is whether the you intend to leave the drive at home or cart it around wit the laptop. If the latter, you'll find that a suitable one will cost you more.

Interestingly, over the last 10 years hard drives seem to have increased in capacity exponentially whilst getting progressively cheaper. The same goes for computers. I've just invested in an new Mac desktop, the third since 1999, and each has been cheaper than the previous one.

[km1971]

You should consider buying two drives so that you can always have one 'off-site'. Prices are reducing so quickly that it makes no sense to buy one with many multiples of what you need..

You should go for a USB3 drive even if your current laptop only has USB2. Most drives come with free backup software.

Ken

[mstomasik]

Just bought a replacement external hard drive and really like it.  Western Digital MyCloud.  It is a NAS drive, meaning it can be connected directly to one's router as a standalone device on the network with an ethernet cable (my cable company WiFi router did not have a networkable USB port).  I particularly like it because I can access the files from anywhere as opposed to just on my local network meaning the drive can stay home.  Basically, it like your personal Google Drive.

[rosijayne]

Many thanks for your replies, I have now bought a Seagate Expansion 500gb portable drive, which hopefully, I have now backed my files on to.  Have not had chance to check further, but it did tell me that some files had not backed up successfully, so will need to check this.

Many thanks

Gill

[mumjo]

I have only just managed to see this. I do hope it is more reliable than mine was. Had it on auto back up and left it on while on holiday and when i got back the hard drive was corrupt. Had to get someone to sort PC out as it wouldn't start afterwards.
I now have another external HD although not marketed as Seagate turns out to be made by them.
The difference is i now do a manual back up rather than an auto back up. My new one has a secret section too.
My son has had the same Seagate expansion for a few years without a problem, so maybe it was my bad luck.