What's the opinion here on using FLASH DRIVES to backup files and to store home snapshots on? Seems I read somewhere that the flashdrives are great for short term storage but avoiid long time storage.

bcarll

Even if they had a sterling reputation for stability (which they don't), they'd be an incredibly expensive choice for archiving.

hi,
This is just my opinion..... i agree with what you have heard... great for short term but not for long term...

on other boards people who have used flash drive to store , for long term, there data files, have run into problems... files are "lost" and can't be recovered or for some reason file get corrupted when downloading.... after a long storage....

I think for those important graphics for long term storage I would only use a external HD or cd or dvd ...!!
What's the opinion here on using FLASH DRIVES to backup files and to store home snapshots on? Seems I read somewhere that the flashdrives are great for short term storage but avoiid long time storage.

bcarll

Well thanks for supporting what I had heard about flash drives. I am no computer genius but if you had an old computer just laying around could you format it and use the hard drive in it for your storage needs. Or remove the hard drive from it and use it like that?

bcarll

harddrives are about your best bet for longer term storage. and yes, you can format a drive from an older computer and use it in a new one (or in the old one, for that matter). if you use it in the old one, you'll obviously still need an operating system instaleld in order to access it. but, if you want to put it in a new one, windows is very accomadating about installing and removing drives. i move drives in and out of a system fairly regularly.

you might also consider getting a usb external drive. this is probably about the best way of backing up data. usb has 'hot swap' capability. that basically means you can have the computer running, but not the external drive and then turn the drive on and windows will mount the drive. then, when you're done, turn it off and windows will unmount it automatically. the drive stays off till you need it again, saving wear and tear on the device.

other methods of backup are hot swap drives. these almost got popular a few years back. havent seen any for a while now, though. usb probably put them out of business.

you can also back up to cd or dvd, but these dont have as long of a shelf life as harddrives with only one exception i've ever seen. there was a japanese company that was making archival cd's that claimed a shelf life of something like 15 years. sorry, i no longer remember the company name or have the link. there were also fairly expensive.

cheap cd's and dvd's may surprise you as to how short their shelf life is and maybe even some name brands. a couple years ago some were reporting a reliable life span of only about 18 months. hopefully, this has changed, but you shld probably always research your brands before buying.

you might also consider backing up online. there are plenty of services out there that can and will do this for a fee. this is fairly reliable, since the service is making backups of your backup and can simply restore your files if their own servers go down.

RAID is another method for protecting your data. this involves multiple drives on the same computer. there are several versions of RAID, but at least one version is specifically a redundant data back-up mode. if one drive goes down, the data is already on the other drive.

and if you really want to keep your data 'forever', i've heard of a cd type that basically writes on a metal alloy type disk. this is about as permanent as you can get :)

Craig said...

>if you use it in the old one, you'll obviously still need an operating system instaleld in order to access it.

If you are on a Mac, you do not need to install an operating system on the drive, just use Apple utility to erase the drive (you can partition it at the same time if you want to). Once you've done that, just copy all your data files to it with drag and drop.

You can get a shareware utility like ChronoSync that will let you schedule backups from one drive to another automatically. I keep all my files on my main drive and backup selected folders to an external firewire drive daily. It all happens in the background and after the first backup, ChronoSync does a syncronization by file date/time if that is your option. You can also choose to delete any files on the backup that you may have deleted from the main drive.

I am planning a vacation and were wondering how to download my SD card(s) I am using, from my Canon S3 IS to a hard drive, and be able to re-use my Sd card(s).

- I can take my laptop with me, but don't like the idea. Cost of a laptop $500 and up.

- Then I found some portable devises where you need to install a 2.5" hard drive (easy to do). Less than $50.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-5-USB-Storage-Bank-Hard-Drive-Backup-Card-Reader_W0QQitem
Z190083319463QQihZ009QQcategoryZ116238QQcmdZViewItem

Or 1.8" hard drive:

http://www.amazon.com/Xs-Drive-Portable-Storage-Drive-Reader/dp/B000I5MZR8/sr=8-5/qid
=1171836265/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5/002-6955162-2492028?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Here is for some HD:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Skusearch.hmx?scriteria=AA17640
https://secure.santechusa.com/advert.asp?id=10174&refer=pricegrabber

Hard drives for less than $50.

- Then you have the unit already put together. $140

http://www.buy.com/retail/Product.asp?sku=202493300&SearchEngine=NexTag&Search
Term=202493300&Type=PE&Category=Comp&Gad=0&dcaid=15894

Because I already have an external hard drive, i also looked into devises to transfer from the camera/memory card to the HD.
Only BELKIN makes 2 units. This BELKIN F5U203 is for less than $40.

http://www.dealtime.com/xPC-Belkin-BELKIN-USB-Anywhere-F5U203

I have not found any comments on any English language sites, but for those who can read French, here it is :

http://www.ldlc.com/critiques/PB00035836-1/belkin-usb-anywhere.html

All the comments are in general pleased with the BELKIN. One major drawback, is that it won't read directly from the CANON cameras. But if you
have a USB adapter (see picture) for your memory card, it will work fine. $20

Today I was making some movies with my camera. Once all was done, I plugged my SD card to my PC and patiently waited for those movies to download. It took for ever. :dizzy:
So I decided to test my download speed.
I took a 45 second movie (this off course will apply to photos, lots of photos).
Once the SD card was on my PC, I timed the download to be 1 minute 45 seconds. :confused:
I then took the card and put it in the same USB adapter I mention on my post above.
The download took 25 second. This is 5 times faster. :bow: