Time Machine status: stuck in the now
April 29, 2011 8:20 AM Subscribe
The bad news: catastrophic hard drive failure! The good news: it's my back-up drive. Help me replace it.
I need a CHEAP back-up hard drive to replace the one that just crapped out on me. My system: OSX 10.6.7 on a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, internal hard drive of 250 GB (35 G free) with a 20 GB Windows partition (for gaming, rarely if ever used, won't be backed-up). Hard drive requirements: USB, must play nice with Time Machine, reliable, preferably small since it's going to take up space on my desk. I don't care about keeping multiple back-ups, all I want is to make sure my music and documents are backed-up daily, so size isn't that important. That's what she said. Oh, and did I mention CHEAP? Yeah, CHEAP. I'd like to be able to pay for this with change scrounged from my couch cushions.
Recommendations for online purveyors and suggestions for reputable brands welcomed. Also shopping tips. Thanks!
I need a CHEAP back-up hard drive to replace the one that just crapped out on me. My system: OSX 10.6.7 on a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, internal hard drive of 250 GB (35 G free) with a 20 GB Windows partition (for gaming, rarely if ever used, won't be backed-up). Hard drive requirements: USB, must play nice with Time Machine, reliable, preferably small since it's going to take up space on my desk. I don't care about keeping multiple back-ups, all I want is to make sure my music and documents are backed-up daily, so size isn't that important. That's what she said. Oh, and did I mention CHEAP? Yeah, CHEAP. I'd like to be able to pay for this with change scrounged from my couch cushions.
Recommendations for online purveyors and suggestions for reputable brands welcomed. Also shopping tips. Thanks!
This $50 Seagate 250GB drive has really good reviews and reportedly works well w/Time Machine.
I've done the whole bare drive + enclosure thing, but now have a Western Digital external drive setup. Saves some work, almost as cheap, looks nicer than those cheap-ass DIY enclosures.
posted by cog_nate at 8:53 AM on April 29, 2011
I've done the whole bare drive + enclosure thing, but now have a Western Digital external drive setup. Saves some work, almost as cheap, looks nicer than those cheap-ass DIY enclosures.
posted by cog_nate at 8:53 AM on April 29, 2011
I said it two years ago, and I'll say it again: Western Digital is the best. The prices are great, and they last forever. The hard drives I mentioned in that comment? Knock on wood, but they're all still ticking. I've since bought two 500 GB Western Digital My Passport drives, one for me, one for my fiancé, and they're both doing great.
posted by limeonaire at 9:11 AM on April 29, 2011
posted by limeonaire at 9:11 AM on April 29, 2011
I work for a major hard drive manufacturer, so I'm not going to make specific recommendations... but I will say that if you want to use Time Machine to its greatest extent you may want to find a backup drive that is significantly larger than your internal drive. I'd say get a 500GB or larger drive.
Depending on how much you alter/delete files (do you do a lot of photo editing?) the versioning features of Time Machine can use a good chunk of space above your primary drive's capacity.
posted by m@f at 9:37 AM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Depending on how much you alter/delete files (do you do a lot of photo editing?) the versioning features of Time Machine can use a good chunk of space above your primary drive's capacity.
posted by m@f at 9:37 AM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
How did your old drive fail? I assume it was an external USB drive since that's what you're buying to replace it. If the old backup drive's enclosure is still good you could save a few bucks by just replacing the drive and not the whole thing.
posted by hattifattener at 9:48 AM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by hattifattener at 9:48 AM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: On the flipside of hattifattener's comment... your drive could be just fine but the enclosure died (again, assuming you have an external USB/firewire/esata drive). I see a few of these a month at work and it's almost always the enclosure that stops working and the drive inside is just fine. And if that's the case, you can just pick up a hard drive enclosure and keep on trucking. Good luck!
posted by wxguychris at 4:17 PM on April 29, 2011
posted by wxguychris at 4:17 PM on April 29, 2011
Seconding what wxguychris said - I had that same thing happen with a WD external drive a few years back. Recently cracked it open, checked it with a hard drive dock, turned out to be fine, and is now employed in an external enclosure.
That said, were I in your position, I'd grab an external drive now and fiddle with the maybe-broken one later. Never hurts to have too many drives kicking around.
Also, re: brands. The only drive that's failed on me has been that WD, and then only because of the enclosure. Purely anecdotal, but I've been happy with WDs and Seagates (including one Seagate drive in a LaCie enclosure). Seagate used to make a nice tiny portable drive that I really like, might be just what you're looking for. Hopefully you can just get a USB model without getting into their stupid "GoFlex" line. Good luck!
posted by TangoCharlie at 10:55 PM on April 29, 2011
That said, were I in your position, I'd grab an external drive now and fiddle with the maybe-broken one later. Never hurts to have too many drives kicking around.
Also, re: brands. The only drive that's failed on me has been that WD, and then only because of the enclosure. Purely anecdotal, but I've been happy with WDs and Seagates (including one Seagate drive in a LaCie enclosure). Seagate used to make a nice tiny portable drive that I really like, might be just what you're looking for. Hopefully you can just get a USB model without getting into their stupid "GoFlex" line. Good luck!
posted by TangoCharlie at 10:55 PM on April 29, 2011
Sorry, limeonaire, I will never buy another Western Digital drive again. They seem to fail at a much, much higher rate than Seagate's or Hitachi's.
Staples has a 500 gig Seagate external drive for $50 on sale right now. They've got a 1 TB Seagate external on sale for an amazing $60.
How cheap is really cheap? I doubt you'll get much better deals than those for quality hard drives.
posted by fenriq at 10:51 AM on May 2, 2011
Staples has a 500 gig Seagate external drive for $50 on sale right now. They've got a 1 TB Seagate external on sale for an amazing $60.
How cheap is really cheap? I doubt you'll get much better deals than those for quality hard drives.
posted by fenriq at 10:51 AM on May 2, 2011
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There are also a bunch of pre-built drives on this page that you might want to check out.
It looks like my best price is about $50. If you can wait a bit (maybe not a great idea, since you'd be without a backup), keep checking at Newegg--they have some great deals that go pretty fast. Sign up for their email newsletter.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:29 AM on April 29, 2011