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External HD Recommendation

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  External HD Recommendation Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> - 2013-12-28 09:21 -0800
    Re: External HD Recommendation William Hanna <whanna@invalid.invalid> - 2013-12-28 09:44 -0800
      Re: External HD Recommendation Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> - 2013-12-29 09:37 -0800
        Re: External HD Recommendation Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> - 2013-12-29 10:08 -0800
          Re: External HD Recommendation android <here@there.was> - 2013-12-29 19:15 +0100
    Re: External HD Recommendation billy@MIX.COM - 2013-12-28 20:21 +0000
      Re: External HD Recommendation Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2013-12-28 14:59 -0800
        Re: External HD Recommendation Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> - 2013-12-28 15:28 -0800
          Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2013-12-28 20:17 -0500
          Re: External HD Recommendation Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2013-12-28 17:34 -0800
            Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2013-12-28 21:06 -0500
        Re: External HD Recommendation Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2013-12-29 04:18 +0000
        Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2013-12-30 04:38 +0000
          Re: External HD Recommendation Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> - 2013-12-29 21:36 -0800
            Re: External HD Recommendation Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2013-12-30 01:58 -0800
            Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2013-12-30 10:20 -0500
              Re: External HD Recommendation Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> - 2013-12-31 07:32 -0800
                Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2013-12-31 11:46 -0500
            Re: External HD Recommendation Bread <BreadWithSpam@Fractious.net> - 2013-12-30 09:37 -0800
              Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2013-12-30 18:07 +0000
                Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2013-12-30 13:13 -0500
                Re: External HD Recommendation Bread <BreadWithSpam@Fractious.net> - 2013-12-30 10:27 -0800
                  Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2013-12-30 14:15 -0500
                    Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2013-12-30 22:43 +0000
                      Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2013-12-30 18:09 -0500
                      Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2013-12-30 22:34 -0500
              Re: External HD Recommendation TaliesinSoft <taliesinsoft@me.com> - 2013-12-30 13:54 -0600
                Re: External HD Recommendation Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> - 2013-12-30 13:14 -0800
                Re: External HD Recommendation Bread <BreadWithSpam@Fractious.net> - 2013-12-30 14:49 -0800
            Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2013-12-30 18:01 +0000
      Re: External HD Recommendation Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2013-12-29 03:59 +0000
        Re: External HD Recommendation George Kerby <ghost_topper@hotmail.com> - 2013-12-29 07:47 -0600
    Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2013-12-28 17:52 -0500
    Re: External HD Recommendation Earl Grey <earl@t.net> - 2013-12-29 10:06 -0500
      Re: External HD Recommendation yellow label <here@there.was> - 2013-12-29 17:01 +0100
    Re: External HD Recommendation John Albert <j.albert@snet.net> - 2013-12-29 16:27 -0500
      Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2013-12-29 21:29 -0500
        Re: External HD Recommendation claudel@sonic.net (Claude V. Lucas) - 2013-12-30 12:36 +0000
          Re: External HD Recommendation TaliesinSoft <taliesinsoft@me.com> - 2013-12-30 08:55 -0600
        Re: External HD Recommendation John Albert <j.albert@snet.net> - 2013-12-30 10:29 -0500
          Re: External HD Recommendation Martin Frost me at invalid stanford daht edu <nospam@stanford.edu.invalid> - 2013-12-30 19:56 -0800
            Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2013-12-31 19:18 +1100
              Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2013-12-31 15:30 +0000
                Re: External HD Recommendation Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> - 2013-12-31 07:34 -0800
                  Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2014-01-01 17:51 +1100
                    Re: External HD Recommendation TaliesinSoft <taliesinsoft@me.com> - 2014-01-01 10:14 -0600
                    Re: External HD Recommendation Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-01-01 17:39 +0000
                      Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2014-01-02 11:54 +1100
                        Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-01-02 01:09 +0000
                          Re: External HD Recommendation Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2014-01-01 20:38 -0700
                            Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-01-02 16:47 +0000
                          Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2014-01-09 08:13 +1100
                            Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-01-08 21:19 +0000
                        Re: External HD Recommendation Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-01-02 02:35 +0000
                Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2014-01-01 17:47 +1100
                  Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-01-01 02:24 -0500
                    Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2014-01-02 02:38 +1100
                      Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-01-01 11:55 -0500
                      Re: External HD Recommendation J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2014-01-01 13:34 -0500
                      Re: External HD Recommendation Leonard Blaisdell <leoblaisdell@sbcglobal.net> - 2014-01-01 19:01 -0800
                  Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-01-01 09:45 +0000
                    Re: External HD Recommendation Barry OGrady <atheist@hotmail.com.au> - 2014-01-02 02:28 +1100
                      Re: External HD Recommendation Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-01-01 15:36 +0000
                      Re: External HD Recommendation nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-01-01 11:55 -0500
    Re: External HD Recommendation TaliesinSoft <taliesinsoft@me.com> - 2013-12-29 16:00 -0600
      Re: External HD Recommendation Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2013-12-29 22:01 +0000
        Re: External HD Recommendation TaliesinSoft <taliesinsoft@me.com> - 2013-12-29 16:19 -0600
          Re: External HD Recommendation Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> - 2013-12-29 14:45 -0800

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#53946 — External HD Recommendation

Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
what would you all recommend for an external HD? Needs are simple, just
backing up my HD before installation of Mavericks, probably backed up
with CCC, and then the occasional  back up. The drive needs to be
bootable and the capacity could be as low as 500GB. I'd also like to
keep the cost at $100 or lower. The primary laptop is a mid-2011
MacBook Air. Thanks.

-- 
Deja Moo: I've seen this bullshit before. Please respond to: scasse@invalid.net
replacing invalid with sonic.

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#53949

In article <281220130921464151%otto@bogus.address.com>, Otto Pylot
<otto@bogus.address.com> wrote:

> Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> what would you all recommend for an external HD? Needs are simple, just
> backing up my HD before installation of Mavericks, probably backed up
> with CCC, and then the occasional  back up. The drive needs to be
> bootable and the capacity could be as low as 500GB. I'd also like to
> keep the cost at $100 or lower. The primary laptop is a mid-2011
> MacBook Air. Thanks.

i've had good luck with Seagate drives.

it will be easy finding 1 TB drives for $100.

i just bought four 4 TB Seagate Backup Plus HDs for $150 each, to
replace all the 1 and 2 TB HDs cluttering up my desk.

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#54011

On 12/28/2013 9:44 AM PT, William Hanna typed:

 > i've had good luck with Seagate drives.
>
> it will be easy finding 1 TB drives for $100.
>
> i just bought four 4 TB Seagate Backup Plus HDs for $150 each, to
> replace all the 1 and 2 TB HDs cluttering up my desk.

You missed USB3 external 1 TB Seagate HDDs for $59.00 yesterday in Fry's 
Electronic stores yesterday. :(
-- 
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Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

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#54012

In article <aPmdnU73WNFtwF3PnZ2dnUVZ_oydnZ2d@earthlink.com>, Ant
<ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

> On 12/28/2013 9:44 AM PT, William Hanna typed:
> 
>  > i've had good luck with Seagate drives.
> >
> > it will be easy finding 1 TB drives for $100.
> >
> > i just bought four 4 TB Seagate Backup Plus HDs for $150 each, to
> > replace all the 1 and 2 TB HDs cluttering up my desk.
> 
> You missed USB3 external 1 TB Seagate HDDs for $59.00 yesterday in Fry's 
> Electronic stores yesterday. :(

Thanks for all of your input. Didn't realize that HD choice could be
such a touchy subject. Yes, I know not to use any bundled software that
comes with the drives and to reformat it with Disk Utility I was just
looking for recommendations based on experience (certainly got those).

I was going to go to Fry's yesterday but got off track. Buying at Fry's
is always a carp shoot unless you know how to buy at Fry's. Once
burned, twice shy. Found out yesterday that my bro-in-law has a couple
of WD "book end" drives. That's the wrong term I know but they do look
like books so he may wipe one and give it to me. We'll see.

-- 
Deja Moo: I've seen this bullshit before. Please respond to: scasse@invalid.net
replacing invalid with sonic.

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#54013

In article <291220131008384888%otto@bogus.address.com>,
 Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> wrote:

> In article <aPmdnU73WNFtwF3PnZ2dnUVZ_oydnZ2d@earthlink.com>, Ant
> <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
> 
> > On 12/28/2013 9:44 AM PT, William Hanna typed:
> > 
> >  > i've had good luck with Seagate drives.
> > >
> > > it will be easy finding 1 TB drives for $100.
> > >
> > > i just bought four 4 TB Seagate Backup Plus HDs for $150 each, to
> > > replace all the 1 and 2 TB HDs cluttering up my desk.
> > 
> > You missed USB3 external 1 TB Seagate HDDs for $59.00 yesterday in Fry's 
> > Electronic stores yesterday. :(
> 
> Thanks for all of your input. Didn't realize that HD choice could be
> such a touchy subject. Yes, I know not to use any bundled software that
> comes with the drives and to reformat it with Disk Utility I was just
> looking for recommendations based on experience (certainly got those).
> 
> I was going to go to Fry's yesterday but got off track. Buying at Fry's
> is always a carp shoot unless you know how to buy at Fry's. Once
> burned, twice shy. Found out yesterday that my bro-in-law has a couple
> of WD "book end" drives. That's the wrong term I know but they do look
> like books so he may wipe one and give it to me. We'll see.

I'f you only need it for that upgrade then you don't need to own it  do 
you? Your bro can lend it to you and get it back!
-- 
teleportation kills

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#53960

Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:

> Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> what would you all recommend for an external HD?

I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go

They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.

Billy Y..
-- 
        sub     #'9+1   ,r0             ; convert ascii byte
	add     #9.+1   ,r0             ; to an integer
	bcc     20$                     ; not a number

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#53981

In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:

> Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
> 
> > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
> 
> I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
> 
> http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
> 
> They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
> that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
> but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
> but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
> 
> Billy Y..

Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.

3 WDs were DOA on getting them home from Frys and I won't ever get 
something from them again either.

Hitachi or Toshiba drives seem OK.  You missed all the Christmas disk 
drive deals on Lifehacker, but you can still keep an eye out

http://lifehacker.com/tag/dealhacker

Meanwhile, Toshiba's Canvio USB3 drive is self-powered. $60 for 1GB.

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-Drive/dp/B005J7YBRW

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

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#53985

In article <vilain-E2F745.14592728122013@news.individual.net>, Michael
Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:

> In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:
> 
> > Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
> > 
> > > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> > > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> > > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
> > 
> > I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
> > 
> > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
> > 
> > They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
> > that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
> > but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
> > but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
> > 
> > Billy Y..
> 
> Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
> I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
> backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
> didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
> 6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
> same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.
> 
> 3 WDs were DOA on getting them home from Frys and I won't ever get 
> something from them again either.
> 
> Hitachi or Toshiba drives seem OK.  You missed all the Christmas disk 
> drive deals on Lifehacker, but you can still keep an eye out
> 
> http://lifehacker.com/tag/dealhacker
> 
> Meanwhile, Toshiba's Canvio USB3 drive is self-powered. $60 for 1GB.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-Drive/dp/B005J7YBRW

According to the Amazon page you can't back up the OS (I'm assuming it
is Mac compatible) so using it as an emergency boot drive for my
MacBook Air won't work.

-- 
Deja Moo: I've seen this bullshit before. Please respond to: scasse@invalid.net
replacing invalid with sonic.

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#53990

In article <281220131528132066%otto@bogus.address.com>, Otto Pylot
<otto@bogus.address.com> wrote:

> > Meanwhile, Toshiba's Canvio USB3 drive is self-powered. $60 for 1GB.
> > 
> > http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-Drive/dp/B005J7YBRW
> 
> According to the Amazon page you can't back up the OS (I'm assuming it
> is Mac compatible) so using it as an emergency boot drive for my
> MacBook Air won't work.

of course you can back up the os and you definitely can use it to boot.

maybe whatever piece of shit backup software is included can't backup
the os, but if that's the case, then it's even more of a piece of shit
than i thought. 

all mass storage compliant usb/firewire hard drives (i.e., all of them)
are mac compatible. plug them in and they work.

where the 'compatibility' comes in is with the crappy bundled software
and whatever disk format it has out of the box. don't bother with the
bundled software and reformat it however you want. 

as for which hard drive to buy, it makes almost no difference. everyone
will have a horror story about every hard drive maker, while others
will praise the very same ones. like everything, nothing is perfect and
it's possible whatever you get will fail prematurely, but chances are
it won't. the drive companies would not be in business for very long if
they shipped crap. there are bad batches every so often, but that's
what the warranties are for. 

since it's a backup drive, you have the original data on another drive.
what you need to protect against is *both* the backup *and* the main
drive failing at the same time. that means having more than one backup,
with one offsite. the chances of that are low, but it can still happen.

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#53991

In article <281220131528132066%otto@bogus.address.com>,
 Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> wrote:

> In article <vilain-E2F745.14592728122013@news.individual.net>, Michael
> Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> 
> > In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:
> > 
> > > Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
> > > 
> > > > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> > > > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> > > > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
> > > 
> > > I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
> > > 
> > > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
> > > 
> > > They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
> > > that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
> > > but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
> > > but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
> > > 
> > > Billy Y..
> > 
> > Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
> > I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
> > backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
> > didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
> > 6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
> > same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.
> > 
> > 3 WDs were DOA on getting them home from Frys and I won't ever get 
> > something from them again either.
> > 
> > Hitachi or Toshiba drives seem OK.  You missed all the Christmas disk 
> > drive deals on Lifehacker, but you can still keep an eye out
> > 
> > http://lifehacker.com/tag/dealhacker
> > 
> > Meanwhile, Toshiba's Canvio USB3 drive is self-powered. $60 for 1GB.
> > 
> > http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-Drive/dp/B005J7YBRW
> 
> According to the Amazon page you can't back up the OS (I'm assuming it
> is Mac compatible) so using it as an emergency boot drive for my
> MacBook Air won't work.

I don't know where you read that, but it's not true for this drive. I 
did it on my MacBook Pro before I found the 3TB model for less money.  
It's your call on if you want to trust that statement, but the drive was 
visible from the available boot devices after I cloned my 10.8 system to 
it with SuperDuper.

http://www.wikihow.com/Boot-a-Mac-from-USB-Drive

Why don't you continue your search on your own and let us know what you 
end up with?

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

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#53992

In article <vilain-D60D6E.17345528122013@news.individual.net>, Michael
Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:

> > > Meanwhile, Toshiba's Canvio USB3 drive is self-powered. $60 for 1GB.
> > > 
> > > http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-Drive/dp/B005J7YBRW
> > 
> > According to the Amazon page you can't back up the OS (I'm assuming it
> > is Mac compatible) so using it as an emergency boot drive for my
> > MacBook Air won't work.
> 
> I don't know where you read that, 

it was one of the questions/answers on the linked page.

> but it's not true for this drive.

it's not true for any drive.

it's possible that the included software might not support it (and a
ridiculous limitation if true), but the included software can (and
should) be discarded.

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#53997

On 2013-12-28, Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:
>
>> Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
>> 
>> > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
>> > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
>> > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
>> 
>> I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
>> 
>> http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
>> 
>> They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
>> that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
>> but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
>> but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
>> 
>> Billy Y..
>
> Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
> I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
> backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
> didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
> 6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
> same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.

Seriously? LOL... If I spent ~$100 on a hard drive and it was defective
and under warranty, I wouldn't just throw it into the garbage - even if
the drive was a replacement itself. That's effectively throwing away
good money for nothing.

I actually have sent one or two Seagate drives in for replacement
several times in the past few years, and while it's naturally somewhat
of an inconvenience to remove a drive, package it up for shipping, print
out a prepaid shipping label, and send the drive back to the
manufacturer (which, BTW, took a week or so max - not 6 weeks as you
suggest), it's certainly not such a hassle that I would consider it
worth all that money to avoid doing it. And I'm also not living in some
strange utopian magical hard drive dream world where it is impossible to
get a defective drive, because I am well aware of the realities of
consumer hard drives today. All hard drives fail - it's just a matter of
when, and I have yet to see a consumer hard drive manufacturer that
never ever ships a defective drive.

-- 
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I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#54033

In message <vilain-E2F745.14592728122013@news.individual.net> 
  Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:

>> Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
>> 
>> > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
>> > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
>> > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
>> 
>> I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
>> 
>> http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
>> 
>> They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
>> that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
>> but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
>> but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
>> 
>> Billy Y..

> Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
> I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
> backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
> didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
> 6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
> same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.

I haven't had any trouble with Seagate drives EXCEPT for their drives
sold in enclosures, all of which are complete and utter shit. I had a
3TB USB 3.0 Seagate that would not mount at all until I ripped it out of
the case (destroying the case in the process) and put it into another
enclosure.

I stopped buying WD years ago, but still buy bare drive Seagate or
Toshiba or Hitachi.

They are all getting progressively worse though.

-- 
'A man like that could inspire a handful of broken men to conquer a
country.' 'Fine. Just so long as he does it on his day off.'

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#54041

In article <slrnlc1u6b.c4g.g.kreme@amelia.local>, Lewis
<g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:

> In message <vilain-E2F745.14592728122013@news.individual.net> 
>   Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> > In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:
> 
> >> Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
> >> 
> >> > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> >> > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> >> > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
> >> 
> >> I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
> >> 
> >> http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
> >> 
> >> They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
> >> that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
> >> but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
> >> but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
> >> 
> >> Billy Y..
> 
> > Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
> > I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
> > backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
> > didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
> > 6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
> > same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.
> 
> I haven't had any trouble with Seagate drives EXCEPT for their drives
> sold in enclosures, all of which are complete and utter shit. I had a
> 3TB USB 3.0 Seagate that would not mount at all until I ripped it out of
> the case (destroying the case in the process) and put it into another
> enclosure.
> 
> I stopped buying WD years ago, but still buy bare drive Seagate or
> Toshiba or Hitachi.
> 
> They are all getting progressively worse though.

This sure doesn't instill a lot of confidence in using an external
drive for backup. I just used CCC to clone my HD to the WD "bookend"
drive that was just given to me. I'll try to boot from it tomorrow but 
don't expect any problems. It almost seems like I should get another
drive and clone that as well, just in case. But how many do you really
need to keep your important data safe? One could sure go crazy with
this.

-- 
Deja Moo: I've seen this bullshit before. Please respond to: scasse@invalid.net
replacing invalid with sonic.

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#54051

In article <291220132136524546%otto@bogus.address.com>,
 Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> wrote:

> In article <slrnlc1u6b.c4g.g.kreme@amelia.local>, Lewis
> <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> 
> > In message <vilain-E2F745.14592728122013@news.individual.net> 
> >   Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> > > In article <l9nbrf$qqu$1@reader2.panix.com>, billy@MIX.COM wrote:
> > 
> > >> Otto Pylot <otto@bogus.address.com> writes:
> > >> 
> > >> > Ok, it's a new subject related to my previous question about backing up
> > >> > to a bootable external. With the exception of the WD My Passport Slim,
> > >> > what would you all recommend for an external HD?
> > >> 
> > >> I really like these (just bought my 7th one) -
> > >> 
> > >> http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
> > >> 
> > >> They have a large heatsink (hard to see in the photos) for the drive
> > >> that works very well.  These used to be supplied with Seagate drives
> > >> but now come mostly with Hitachi drives, which also seem to be ok, 
> > >> but it'll be a while longer before I can say that for sure.
> > >> 
> > >> Billy Y..
> > 
> > > Seagates and Western Digital drives have caused me nothing but trouble. 
> > > I bought a 1GB Seagate and it died within a week of doing a full clone 
> > > backup. Took it back to Frys and they wouldn't take it back because I 
> > > didn't buy their extended warrantee.  I had to send it back to Seagate.  
> > > 6 weeks later after dealing with UPS, I get the replacement that had the 
> > > same problem.  I tossed the drive and won't buy Seagate ever again.
> > 
> > I haven't had any trouble with Seagate drives EXCEPT for their drives
> > sold in enclosures, all of which are complete and utter shit. I had a
> > 3TB USB 3.0 Seagate that would not mount at all until I ripped it out of
> > the case (destroying the case in the process) and put it into another
> > enclosure.
> > 
> > I stopped buying WD years ago, but still buy bare drive Seagate or
> > Toshiba or Hitachi.
> > 
> > They are all getting progressively worse though.
> 
> This sure doesn't instill a lot of confidence in using an external
> drive for backup. I just used CCC to clone my HD to the WD "bookend"
> drive that was just given to me. I'll try to boot from it tomorrow but 
> don't expect any problems. It almost seems like I should get another
> drive and clone that as well, just in case. But how many do you really
> need to keep your important data safe? One could sure go crazy with
> this.

That's the job of a sysadmin. You'e only as good at your job as your 
last backup.  Two backup methods are good enough for me with some data 
on the cloud services.  But I don't bother keeping stuff off-site in a 
safe deposit box.

Do two backups if you want to worry.  Check them BOTH for the ability to 
restore from a disaster.  Then go about your business.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

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#54056

On 12/30/13, 12:36 AM, Otto Pylot wrote:
> In article <slrnlc1u6b.c4g.g.kreme@amelia.local>, Lewis
> <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:

>>
>> They are all getting progressively worse though.
>
> This sure doesn't instill a lot of confidence in using an external
> drive for backup. I just used CCC to clone my HD to the WD "bookend"
> drive that was just given to me. I'll try to boot from it tomorrow but
> don't expect any problems. It almost seems like I should get another
> drive and clone that as well, just in case. But how many do you really
> need to keep your important data safe? One could sure go crazy with
> this.
>
I used to go crazy with backups.  In the days of floppies, I'd keep at 
least 3 backups and still feel nervous.  When I got a Zip drive, I 
didn't trust it.  I'd keep 2 Zip backups and 3 floppy backups.

I've found hard disks very reliable as hardware.  I've had only one 
fail, the internal drive of a computer I'd retired after 9 years.  I've 
also had one enclosure fail.

In the days of Classic, I never knew when a computer gremlin or an event 
like a power failure would leave a disk unreadable. I fell back on my 
backup often.  Once, when I tried to boot from my backup, the gremlin 
that had made my internal drive unreadable also made my backup 
unreadable.  I was lucky.  The gremlin went away the next day, and 
Apple's disk repair utility was able to fix both disks.

It seems possible that an event like a power failure that happened 
during a backup, might leave both disks unreadable.  Time Machine has a 
provision for that.  Plug in 2 backup disks and tell Time Machine to 
alternate.

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#54131

On 12/30/2013 7:20 AM PT, J Burns typed:
> I used to go crazy with backups.  In the days of floppies, I'd keep at
> least 3 backups and still feel nervous.  When I got a Zip drive, I
> didn't trust it.  I'd keep 2 Zip backups and 3 floppy backups.

Did put backups off-site too?
-- 
"Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw 
from us. We need hours of aimless wandering or spates of time sitting on 
park benches, observing the mysterious world of ants and the canopy of 
treetops." --Maya Angelou (b. 1928) American writer and entertainer
    /\___/\         Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
   / /\ /\ \                Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
  | |o   o| |
     \ _ /        If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
      ( )         If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

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#54134

On 12/31/13, 10:32 AM, Ant wrote:
> On 12/30/2013 7:20 AM PT, J Burns typed:
>> I used to go crazy with backups.  In the days of floppies, I'd keep at
>> least 3 backups and still feel nervous.  When I got a Zip drive, I
>> didn't trust it.  I'd keep 2 Zip backups and 3 floppy backups.
>
> Did put backups off-site too?
Of course!  One building wasn't big enough for all those piles of 
floppies and zips!

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#54068

On 2013-12-30 05:36:52 +0000, Otto Pylot said:

> In article <slrnlc1u6b.c4g.g.kreme@amelia.local>, Lewis
> <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> They are all getting progressively worse though.
> 
> This sure doesn't instill a lot of confidence in using an external
> drive for backup.

Don't buy it.  Hard drives are more reliable now than ever before.  Heads don't
crash, drivers and connectors are all standardized.  Heat is less of a problem
than ever before.  The progress in hard drives may well be more impressive than
the progress that's been made in solid state stuff like CPUs.  It's *hard* to
make devices with high-speed spinning parts so reliable and on such a massive
scale.  It's just astonishing.

Compared to floopies, Zip drives, almost any other magnetic media, modern hard
drives are, to borrow a phrase, insanely great.

That all said, if your data is important to you, you need at least two backups.

All of my machines get Time Machined to external drives, Crashplanned 
(only data
files, not the entire drive - but the data is much bigger than things like apps
and system stuff anyway) to two locations (not to the cloud), and, every once
in a while, I make SuperDuper clones.  But the clones really aren't 
very important.
They'd get me up and running again immediately if necessary (just plug one in,
boot up and be good to go, though some data would be stale).

The thing is that the SuperDuper clones require more intervention on my 
part and
the least reliable part of my backup system/workflow is *me*.  Crashplan and
Time Machine just happen.  YMMV, of course.

As for actual drives, I have a mix of things.  The Drobo is full of WD 
Red drives.
the various externals are a mix of seagate and WDs, most of them 
actually seagate
or WD enclosures which came with the drives in them, though I do have two OWC
enclosures that I stuck drives into myself.

Most of the time, my drives get retired not because they died but because they
were replaced with higher capacity ones.  In all the years, across 
dozens of drives,
I've only had a few (perhaps 4 or 5?) actually die on me.  Two were 
internals on
an old iMac which ran 24/7, and one was an internal on a MBP which also was run
pretty constantly.  Another was in the Drobo (simply swapped it out with a new
drive, Drobo reconstructs, magic!).  There had to be another one or two 
failures
along the way, but that, again, is out of many many drives over decades.

The point is that any given drive will eventually die.  In my 
experience, the vast
majority will be replaced due to capacity (or computer replacement) well before
the drives fail.  But at any point, you have to expect any drive to fail and be
prepared for it.  The odds that two or three critical drives will all 
fail at once,
especially if they are not all running 24/7 are very small.  So don't worry.

The biggest cause of backup failures is human intervention (or lack thereof as
necessary), not hard drive reliability, so I say to solve that problem first.

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#54073

In message <l9sb0f$98l$1@reader1.panix.com> 
  Bread <BreadWithSpam@Fractious.net> wrote:
> On 2013-12-30 05:36:52 +0000, Otto Pylot said:

>> In article <slrnlc1u6b.c4g.g.kreme@amelia.local>, Lewis
>> <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> They are all getting progressively worse though.
>> 
>> This sure doesn't instill a lot of confidence in using an external
>> drive for backup.

> Don't buy it.  Hard drives are more reliable now than ever before.

Simply not true. I still have a 100MB drive that works just fine in a
Mac SE, and many drives in the under 100GB range all of which still
work. The last time I booted my Apple //gs, the 20MB drive spun right up
and loaded Prosel without a problem. In fact, I've never had a drive
under 10GB fail. I've had many drives over 1TB fail, despite owning
many more of the smaller drives.


-- 
'I'm just going to kick some arse dear' 'Oh, good. Just be sure you wrap
up well, then.'

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