Ordered a new external hard drive and and am worried I didn't make the best choice. Ordered Samsung 320GB Portable External Hard Drive.

It was an impulse purchase, just trying to get as inexpensive as I could. Now I think I should have paid a little more for a 1TB USB 3.0 drive.

I'm worried because someone mentioned adapters in regard to external hard drives. Didn't know I needed to consider that. What are the adapters for? Are we talking power adapters? I forgot I needed to look for one with a power pack.

My system has a 2.0 USB port on the front which I intend to use. My internal hard drive is only 200/186GB. My purpose for the external unit is to back up data/image files and store all my download games.

But I don't know how they operate. I don't have any of my download games currently on my system. They are still available on their respective websites. Do I need to download them all to the internal harddrive to do a onetime backup? Or can I download some at different times for storage without losing the files already on my EHD?

Would you recommend sending it back and getting one with a power adapter - 1TB, 3.0 USB to be forward compatable with my next system? -- Or, do you think this unit will be satisfactory for the purpose I have described?

I am experiencing some nerves and incipient buyer's regret. Don't know enough about how these things operate - their processes, etc. Like I said, this was an impulse buy I had been considering for some time. I should have asked on GameBoomers for recommendations/advice before I made the purchase.

Please note: this EHD is intended just for my desktop computer -- I don't have a laptop.

Any advice? Recommendation?

***What do you think of this? Would this be better suited to my needs? Has a power pack, 3.0, drag and drop..

I'm not sure what adapter they were referring to either. The drive is powered from the USB port, no additional adapters are required.

How you choose to backup your data is up to you. I've always copied the files and folders I wanted to save with Windows Explorer (the drag and drop method). But, there is nothing to prevent you from downloading and writing directly to the drive; Windows sees it as a removable storage device.

For another $30.00 you can get a 1TB WDC Mybook, but if you're happy with 320GB there's no reason to send it back.

Thanks for replying so quickly, Inland. I just felt I wasn't getting the best drive for my long term needs. It's really good to know I'll be able to drag and drop my chosen files. I also like the idea that I can download directly to the EHD and avoid filling up my HD. Can I do both? Automatic backup for some files and drag and drop for others?

I found this Mybook Drive on NewEgg. Is this what you were referring to?

I am now positive I made a mistake and will return other EHD as soon as it arrives.

Edit: Wish I had waited to reflect before just jumping in without the basic knowledge I needed.

I'm also not sure what the "adapters" are that were mentioned. Some drives have a separate power source like my Seagate and then connect to your computer via USB. Some are as Inland says and are powered through the USB connection.

The size of your EHD should be at least equal to or preferably double the size of the hard drive on your computer.

You will notice that in the description for the WD drive, it includes backup software with automatic continuous backup.

Yes, that's the one. I've used mine for several years, never had an issue with it.



I've never used their software, but I couldn't imagine why you couldn't do both.

I'm sorry to seem so dumb Draclvr but I really don't understand how that would effect my adding download games for storage. I don't want to backup the whole hd. I want to be able to occasionally reformat and "clean out" the HD. I want to be able to reinstall only certain applications and restore the datafiles and restore(?)/transfer my download games when I'm ready to play them. I'm afraid if I backup the applications/OS/registry, etc. I will be reinstalling a lot of junk/errors with it. Not sure I'm being clear.

Once I have an EHD I'm sure my confusion will be cleared with a little trial and error. Just nervous and don't want to experience anymore out of space difficulties.

***Edit: Thanks Inland. I've determined to get this model. I think it will be much better for my needs. First I need to figure out how to handle the return/refund of the ordered EHD. Will take a little longer to get the right drive, but at least now I'll be getting something that will work better for me.

That's what a backup does, Sharon. It backs up your files. It doesn't back up applications and programs. If you ever need to restore those, you have to reinstall them. Then all you have to do is select Restore and your files and data will be right back where they were.

What you might be talking about is creating an "image" of your hard drive. This would do just what you say - create an image of everything on your hard drive, including any errors etc.

But I think you're right - after you get it, you will get it all figured out!

Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding on that point, Draclvr.

This may be more simple to do than I thought.

I'll let you all know what happens.

In my opinion, if you use external hard drives as a backup, you should have at least two of them. Consider the guaranteed life span of a hard drive. It isn't any better for an external drive than for an internal hard drive.

As long as the 320GB hard drive is large enough to hold your games for the foreseeable future, you may want to keep it and just get another. Then back up your games on both.


Depending on where you got the game and what their policy is, the download may or may not expire. Big Fish, GOG and DotEMU games can be re-downloaded at any time. I'm not sure if the downloads at places like Gamersgate and Adventure Shop expire or not. With games from GOG, DotEMU, Gamersgate, and Adventure Shop you'd back up the files you downloaded. With Big Fish, you'd install the game and back up the game folder.

As long as you back up manually using Windows Explorer, you won't lose your files (unless the hard drive goes bad). If you use some weird automatic backup utility, there's no telling what will happen. It may try to "update" what's on the external hard drive -- especially if there isn't enough space for everything. My advice is just use Windows Explorer to copy/paste what you want to back up.

Good advice, Jenny.

My downloadable games are on GOG, Big Fish, Tell Tale and Steam. Not sure what to do about Steam games. Don't want to download them and have them taking up space on my HD. Not sure how activation is handled by storing on my EHD. Do I download them and then not install, just store on my EHD and then when I'm ready to play just move to my HD and install and the activation takes place then?

This copy/paste method makes sense to me. It gives me more control over what gets stored and what gets restored on an individual basis.

You're probably right about the size of my EHD. I'm only going to use it to store my download games and some files such as my organizer program data and my Collectorz Inventory data/images, my email saves, etc. Also game mods, patches, etc. I can't imagine needing much more space than on this drive.

It also makes sense to have a second backup. Although my current HD has lasted for 8 years without giving me any trouble (other than running out of space ) you can't really depend on that holding true for all drives.

Well, I think I'm going to accept delivery of this smaller hard drive and see how I make out with it. At the very least it will give me some much needed experience with EHDs and in the future I will have a greater understanding of what I need/want.

Thanks

Excellent course of action...

I had to format and reinstall my Windows 7 recently. This time I put it on a small 60 GB SSD (solid state) boot drive. I keep all my programs - except for a few that I use often - on a separate 500 GB hard drive. This weekend I downloaded a couple of my Steam games. My downloads are set to go to drive D (the 500 GB drive) and I directed the installation to also go to my drive D. It's just a matter of changing the drive letter when prompted. So my game icons point to the game on drive D.

Your setup should work the same way just changing the drive letters to match what you have.

Cool, Draclvr . I'll try that. Thanks for the advice

(Some day I'll have an SSD drive to rule all the drives...)

And that is great advice, Jenny, advising us to keep two EHDs - when living in Kenya, I had so many drives fail on me - I will also run 2 backup drives in future.