Greg, On 4 March 2010 16:50, Greg Keogh <g...@mira.net> wrote:
> Thanks everyone for the advice. I believe Ken’s advice that if it’s just > for backups and carrying files around then a USB connection is good enough. > The guy in the shop pointed out that the 2.5" drives were the USB ones, and > they came in 2 or 1 cable versions. So I picked the 500GB Seagate 1-cable > for $120, which is now plugged into XP and seems to be found and working > okay. > > I have a single cable that has two plugs at one end with one of the plugs being a pass-through plug. This allows me to use one plug, where the usb port has sufficient power to run the drive, and two plugs for extra grunt if necessary. I've not used the pass-through but it is intended to allow another device to use the port at the same time. I've been told that a single usb port may eventually not provide enough power where the mobile drive and/or the PC it is attached to starts to get old and tired. > David’s comments about the power have me worried. I deliberately picked the > 1-cable version because it would be less bother. I didn’t think about why > anyone would create a 2-cable version (yoiiks! because I might run low on > power!!!). > > I've seen two-headed cables at the computer fairs/markets for cheap. > Tiang, if the ext HDD is dropped or stolen, then the backup is the desktop > machine and vice versa. Sounds logical eh! Encryption not needed, but I’ll > remind my wife of the security issues that come with portable data. She > carries a laptop around every day, so I suppose everyone with portable data > should be reminded to watch out for thieves or accidents. > And we habitually carry our backup drive in the same laptop case as the PC that it's backing up. Someone steals the case and look no data at all :-( -- Regards, noonie The idea of cloud storage is an interesting one which I will file in the > back of my mind for possible later consideration. > > > > Cheers, > > Greg** > > >
