Portable data backup reliability
Hi.
I have a 16gb USB Flash drive that I use constantly. It holds about 9.5gb of eBooks and video tutorials. I read recently that external drives can be unreliable. Given that my 9.5gb of data is obviously too big to shoe horn onto a writeable DVD, can someone make a suggestion, is there a better way to store my portable stuff?
Thanks.
I have a 16gb USB Flash drive that I use constantly. It holds about 9.5gb of eBooks and video tutorials. I read recently that external drives can be unreliable. Given that my 9.5gb of data is obviously too big to shoe horn onto a writeable DVD, can someone make a suggestion, is there a better way to store my portable stuff?
Thanks.
Just run chkdsk on that drive at some regular interval then the chances of being surprised when your original data is lost in very small.
Throw a seperate physical disk in your machine and use it as your primary backup. You could always schedule a seperate task to copy the contents to your flash drive as a contingency backup. You could also look into online storage such as http://www.idrive.com/
ASKER
Dave_LaSalle:
What is chkdsk ?
100243196:
Would you say then the criticisms concerning the unreliability of external USB drives is unfounded? Does is depend on the make, if so know of any reviews worth looking at?
Are some USB Flash drives prone to overheat, particularly those of a large capacity ?
What is chkdsk ?
100243196:
Would you say then the criticisms concerning the unreliability of external USB drives is unfounded? Does is depend on the make, if so know of any reviews worth looking at?
Are some USB Flash drives prone to overheat, particularly those of a large capacity ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck
depending on your OS
Make your you properly dismount / eject your drive when removing it. This is where damage may occur.
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsck
depending on your OS
Make your you properly dismount / eject your drive when removing it. This is where damage may occur.
ASKER
Dave_LaSalle:
chkdsk ok thanks for that. Looks like a good way to regularly check on data integrity. What about hardware reliability? For example I understand that solid-state USB Flash drives eventually "wear out" and repeatative erase/write actions the cells deteriorate and become unusable.
With external drives, there's the risk of platter damage, shock and vibration damage. What say ye?
[ Although I do use an on-line storage company, it's no good for either large PDF eBooks or .MOV movies files which can be large and I want immediate access ]
chkdsk ok thanks for that. Looks like a good way to regularly check on data integrity. What about hardware reliability? For example I understand that solid-state USB Flash drives eventually "wear out" and repeatative erase/write actions the cells deteriorate and become unusable.
With external drives, there's the risk of platter damage, shock and vibration damage. What say ye?
[ Although I do use an on-line storage company, it's no good for either large PDF eBooks or .MOV movies files which can be large and I want immediate access ]
USB keys / external drives are good if the data being backed up isn't of the highest importance. I don't like using external media as a primary backup because every time the drive is detached without being properly ejected, there is the possibility for data corruption. The problem with that is you generally won't know that there is corruption until you need to salvage data from the backup.
We've all been there where we are waiting and waiting for the usb key to eject properly and finally become impatient and just pull the device out. 99% of the time this won't impact the data but Murphy's law states that the worst thing will happen at the worst possible time ie. corrupt data on the usb media when you are relying on it for current backup.
We've all been there where we are waiting and waiting for the usb key to eject properly and finally become impatient and just pull the device out. 99% of the time this won't impact the data but Murphy's law states that the worst thing will happen at the worst possible time ie. corrupt data on the usb media when you are relying on it for current backup.
ASKER
100243196:
Then what in your opinion is the most reliable form of primary backup ?
Aren't USBs basically for temporary storage ?
Also, isn't an external hard drive more reliable given your comment re device dismounting, which presumably applies to any USB coupled device.
Then what in your opinion is the most reliable form of primary backup ?
Aren't USBs basically for temporary storage ?
Also, isn't an external hard drive more reliable given your comment re device dismounting, which presumably applies to any USB coupled device.
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ASKER
Thanks, informative, useful.