external drive

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Well, the virus and/or spyware and/or anti-spyware and/or anti-virus software (from non-actuarial thread) has caused some major problem with IE and Windows, and my hard drive has to be re-formatted.

1. Any suggestions for an external hard drive to back up my files?
2. Anyone have a good checklist of stuff to back up? iTunes, e-mails, e-mail addresses, ...?
3. It's a Dell, and they (Indians, actually) are helping me through this. So, what about the software (MS Office, mostly) that came with the machine? I'm hoping I have the disks for those. The disks should have come in the box, right?
4. I went by Best Buy this morning. It opens at 10, but there was a geek squad of punks in a queue. Is that for PS3? Man, if only I didn't have this nice job, I could be a loser, too!

[Bama Gambler]

I bought this one. Worked great so far. Cheap. 300 gb. Plus it comes with free backup software that works great.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Thanks, BG!
I'll look into it. What-all should I be backing up? Should I back up software such as MS Office?

I was hoping to do a simple copy in Windows Explorer via the USB port. I have about 24gb to back up.

[hardinda]

Originally Posted by Bama Gambler

I bought this one. Worked great so far. Cheap. 300 gb. Plus it comes with free backup software that works great.

You mean this one?

Doesn't get that good of reviews on newegg.

I really don't know much about large storage drives though ... so it should do the trick. Oh yeah, buy from newegg not amazon. I've tried to teach bama but he doesn't seem to listen

[Dr T Non-Fan]

I might get the Seagate 160gb at Best Buy for $80. They're calling tonight to help with the reformatting.

[hardinda]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136020

This may be a good option if you only need 80GB of space. Does not come with backup software, but is half the price ... if you don't need 300GB. If you want to use the drive down the road, I'd get a bigger space external drive. Within a few years, you'll hear much more about terrabytes and much less about gigabytes.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Originally Posted by hardinda

You mean this one?

Doesn't get that good of reviews on newegg.

I really don't know much about large storage drives though ... so it should do the trick. Oh yeah, buy from newegg not amazon. I've tried to teach bama but he doesn't seem to listen

That review wasn't what I wanted to hear. I'm slowly getting tired of throw-away technology. No wonder our country can't save money. We have to buy everything again within five years! Either archaic or broken.

I might go with Western Digital 160gb for $130.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Originally Posted by hardinda

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136020

This may be a good option if you only need 80GB of space. Does not come with backup software, but is half the price ... if you don't need 300GB. If you want to use the drive down the road, I'd get a bigger space external drive. Within a few years, you'll hear much more about terrabytes and much less about gigabytes.

Looks good. If that's at Best Buy (it's not on their web site), I might buy that.

[erosewater]

You should never buy an external hard drive, buy an internal drive and a case to hold it, it's way cheaper. Seagate is generally regarded as the best brand, and they have the longest warranty (5 years). Right now New Egg has a Seagate 320 GB drive for $95, and a 250 GB for $75. An external enclosure for it will run about $20-30.

[hardinda]

Originally Posted by erosewater

You should never buy an external hard drive, buy an internal drive and a case to hold it, it's way cheaper. Seagate is generally regarded as the best brand, and they have the longest warranty (5 years). Right now New Egg has a Seagate 320 GB drive for $95, and a 250 GB for $75. An external enclosure for it will run about $20-30.

How do you run an internal hard drive with a case into your current computer? SATA? Do you have a SATA connection on your current computer with an external connection? I doubt a dell system would have that.