Crashed hard drive...

[MikeC]

Using the same CD drive? I have noticed that when I replace an older CD drive with a newer one (or a DVD writer), the older disks are not always readable.

Bill, the issue is the method of burning data on to the disks. From the info I have read/seen PC burners of both formats, CD & DVD, use a slightly different and cheaper technology then do disks burned by say Microsoft or another professional disk creator.

Proper storage of the media also is an issue.

 

[MikeC]

Now to figure out how to keep updated backups of 600GB without breaking the bank...

Newegg has Maxtor 300GB internal drives for $127, Western Digital external 320GB for $225. External USB housings, to convert an internal drive to an external drive, are about $30 each.

 

[rottielover]

My vote is for SpinRite... http://grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

I belive the price is still $89 per copy. I've used this program multiple times on "dead" drives. The technology is very sound behind the program, the only thing is, you have to be fairly knowlagable with computer hardware / drivers if your going to be using this program on say a USB external drive. It's actually easier to take the external drive out of it's housing and hook it up to your computer. SpinRite runs off a bootable CD, so the drive dosen't have to boot to any OS in order for this program to run. Nice feature if your running a "non-standard" OS (operating system).

Another thing to look into are programs you can install that monitor the S.M.A.R.T. data of your drives. Many times you can tell when a drive is close to failure using this info and move your files off to another drive.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Fly N Dive]

I used to back up most of my important stuff onto my ipod so that in the event of a hard drive failure i can get the stuff back.

well it happened, not just a crash, but a compleat failure. tried installing windows again and the drive is toast. but at least they are easy to replace

i got back 90% of my pictures and the ones i lost i dont care too much about. saved all but my most recent documents, again not a great loss, as a lot of them are still on the school network. the only thing i lost was ALL MY MUSIC, for some reason itunes wont let you download from ipod to pc! and it auto-erased all my music eventhough i told it not to.

Definitly in the market for an external hard drive!

 

[justleesa]

If you have lots of data you want to save, save it all on the web. You can get a website for not much $$ anymore, and they maintain constant backups and the files will be available to you 24/7 anywhere in the world.

FWIW.

Thanks

 

[MikeC]

I used to back up most of my important stuff onto my ipod so that in the event of a hard drive failure i can get the stuff back.

Don't forget that your iPod has a hard drive in it as well.

 

[zboss]

Bill, the issue is the method of burning data on to the disks. From the info I have read/seen PC burners of both formats, CD & DVD, use a slightly different and cheaper technology then do disks burned by say Microsoft or another professional disk creator.

Proper storage of the media also is an issue.

The ones created by large media outlets are stamped not burned... much like old records.

Someone should make a fire/flood/tornado/quake proof computer. case.. that way it could survive anywhere. I'm sure the military makes them!

I think the best bet so far is storing the files remotely on external and secure servers. You can even encrypt them so even if the provider gets broken into it wouldn't do them any good.

 

[zboss]

My vote is for SpinRite... http://grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

I belive the price is still $89 per copy. I've used this program multiple times on "dead" drives. The technology is very sound behind the program, the only thing is, you have to be fairly knowlagable with computer hardware / drivers if your going to be using this program on say a USB external drive. It's actually easier to take the external drive out of it's housing and hook it up to your computer. SpinRite runs off a bootable CD, so the drive dosen't have to boot to any OS in order for this program to run. Nice feature if your running a "non-standard" OS (operating system).

Another thing to look into are programs you can install that monitor the S.M.A.R.T. data of your drives. Many times you can tell when a drive is close to failure using this info and move your files off to another drive.

Just my 2 cents

You know - I had heard of spinrite before also (it apparently does rock) and I'm kicking myself for not remembering the name...

Don't forget that your iPod has a hard drive in it as well.

My hard drive also contained all my MP3's. Although they are all on my iPod also, I use Anapod Explorer rather than iTunes and as such used the on-the-fly resampling to compress the files on the iPod from the full uncompressed wave files on the drive.

 

[mstudley]

Someone should make a fire/flood/tornado/quake proof computer. case.. that way it could survive anywhere. I'm sure the military makes them!

I think the military buys them from Pelican...

http://pelican.com/cases/cases.html

 

[mstudley]

I think the military buys them from Pelican...

http://pelican.com/cases/cases.html

Ah, you meant an actual case not a storage case... in that case I have no idea The closest thing I can think of are the Panasonic Toughbooks although they don't really come close to meeting your requirements.