I am going to buy a hard disk for added storage because my photos and videos library is getting huge. That 1 terabyte I inquired costs so much, whew, more than $100. Maybe I can get a better deal with another brand. My present storage, aside from the hard disk of my computer, is a 500 gigabyte hard disk that is external and I call it portable. What I plan to buy is also portable and external. When used, I just plug into the USB socket and it becomes an extension device. Have you bought a hard disk lately?
I have a two terabyte external hard drive which I use to clean out my computer of saved videos, pictures and old documents. It is quite handy a got it a few years ago don't remember the price but what ever it was it was worth it.
Same here, I have a two-terabyte external hard drive as backup unit. Brand is Western Digital and cost me about $150 five years ago. Western Digital comes packed with pre-installed software to make backups easier, theoretically, because it's easy do my file transfers manually to exclude all what I don't want to backup. In my experience, this external unit is slower than a built-in hard drive, so if I were you, I would better consider the addition of a second internal hard drive. Back to Western Digital, I don't know actual pricing, but I know they also sell refurbished external HD with considerable discounts and guarantee.
Thank you for the information. I agree that an external hard drive is slower if it has no power of its own. I actually have an external drive with a case that has a power cord so it runs on its own that's why its faster. However, it is very inconvenient since I had to connect the power cord to the case with an adaptor at that. So now I am using the small portable which is slow but convenient since all I need to do is to plug in the cord into the USB socket. With a second internal drive, I already have one - my home computer has 2 units of 500 GB hard drives. But if a virus hits the computer, those 2 drives would be affected while the external drive is safe in the cabinet.
When I went to the Office Depot store I needed to get a small USB back up for work and was shocked to see that some of these small devises now are pretty darn large. I picked up a 32 gig for my photos and I can assure you it holds quite a few. I have filled my 6 gig USB finally and it has close to 2000 photos plus other random stuff. I paid about $23 US for the 32 gig. My thought of having a few different external drives is that it helps me to better find things, because I take a ton of pictures, so I need only recall what era and I will know which USB I had then. I like the ones that are shaped like a character or a small animal. I also have a few external hard drives, the one I have right now is a Seagate 6T and it is set so that I can transfer files to it over the web. My son transfers all sorts of music files from his band, and these can be huge. I have two smaller terra drives that we use just for computer back ups. We got lucky with the 6T because I saw it go on sale and had a coupon from work so the price was not to awful, I think it was like $169 or in that range. I do not recommend the Toshiba terra drive, that one went to crap pretty fast. As far as photos go, I don't know what kind of camera you have @Corie Henson but some cameras and phones have slots where you can insert a small chip that serves as back up, I got the chip for my Sony camera at Best buy and it was like $14US, holds up to 1000 pics. I figured it was a great way to have an immediate back-up, it is more likely I drop the camera and it malfunctions then one of those chips go. This chip fits my phone so it can be transferred to more then one thing, and it can be loaded to the PC, so that's a win/win.
@Jenn Windey, I'm, overwhelmed with that 6T hard disk you mentioned. I cannot imagine the vast storage that it would give me. My 1T is almost filled up that's why I am planning to buy a new hard disk. But that 32GB of a usb drive is also unimaginable. However, USB drives here have poor reputation when it comes to integrity and durability. After saving some your database, some files may be corrupted. We only use the USB here for temporary storage like for transporting.
I would love to tell you they work really great here, but it seems hit or miss. like a said the Toshiba brand did not last long and I have had a few USB Flash Drives that really could not manage that well. The last two I bought a better quality and they seem to be lasting pretty good. I have been online forever it seems and when I think about all the stuff that is saved to floppy, and how it would be so hard to transfer files not that long ago I cannot help but feel that we have come a very long way as far as file size and ability to transfer. I still have several discs that are of obsolete stuff I am sure, but I do still try and go thru them to make sure there is nothing like a random image I would miss. I have to admit I was not that great back then at making libraries so I could find stuff. that seems to be a key part of the game.
I have had my external hard drive for a few years. I think it is 500 GB I am not sure it is still working, I hope it is I will be using it to clean off my computer hard drive since I need to purchase it a new computer.
Funny you should mention this. I am just starting to look for a new PC and I was wondering how big of a hard drive I would need. I've had my current PC for about 5 years now and still have almost 220 gig free (about 140 used). I guess I just don't store a lot on my PC! A terabyte of data is an enormous amount of data. I suppose someday I'll be up that high but it doesn't look like I will in the near future anyway.
If that's the case, meaning you are not a heavy user of storage, get the smallest hard disk of 1 Tera, I don't know if the 500 GB is still in the market. I guess that 1 Tera would last forever, hahahaaa. But if you don't want to waste that extra space in your hard disk, buy a camera and shoot pictures and videos. There, you will have something in your storage at least. That is our main reason for acquiring new storage - the photos and videos that we regularly take.
I had a Dell laptop with a 60 GB hard drive and I was always fearing to run out of space through out the six years I had it, and such thing never happened. Later I got an Acer with an 80 GB and either, much less the 250 GB additional internal HD installed into this. Finally got the laptop I'm using today and, after almost two years, I have only used 25% of its 500 GB hard drive. I have the external hard drive for backup purpose after having suffered data loss many times (because I like to play tweaking the operating system) however I see really far the day such unit could be insufficient to me. Size of the hard drive doesn't matter at all but the way you use it. People who run live webcams, download tons of multimedia files, photos or scanned documents may run out of hard drive space very quickly though.
I'm in the process of putting most of our printed photo's on USB Flash Drives (4 and 8 gb) I scan the photos into a software, sometimes enhance them and then transfer to the Flash Drive. To be safe, we keep a set of these Flash Drives in our bank Safe Deposit Box and a set at home. Some photos use to be on CD's and I transferred them onto Flash Drives as well. Some printed photos I shred and others I give to relatives/friends. The CD's I scratched with a knife and tossed them. However, I do have a few photo albums that I'm not messing with. Oh, and BTW, our tv and newer ones have a USB connection installed in them so people can look at photos on USB Flash Drives. I call the above "downsizing"...LOL.
If I were you, I wouldn't have any second thoughts and just purchase a 1 terrabyte hard disk. My laptop came with one, and I never had to worry about running out of storage so far (a few years have passed). It's definitely worth it, as it saves you from headaches and time-consuming tasks like having to clean up your storage when you don't have enough space.