Chris Jones wrote: > On Fri, Jan 09, 2009 at 03:49:29AM EST, Johannes Wiedersich wrote: >> Chris Jones wrote: >>> Is there an altogether better/smarter/reliabl-er solution? >> IMHO, the smartest, fastest, most reliable and cheapest solution is to >> use external hard disks like usb-disks.
> Raises a few other issues. > > 1. How do I determine if a modern USB drive will work with USB 1.1? > 2. What brand, model, size do you recommend? > 3. With only one USB port .. I'll need a hub.. will that work? > 4. Will the old laptop provide enough power .. er, to drive the drive? Unfortunately, I don't have my old laptop with usb 1.1 any longer (display died). However, it worked perfectly with external 2.5'' usb disks with one usb connector (no y-usb cable) and without external power supply. The recommendation of the manufacturer at the time was to use two usb ports in parallel, so YMMV. I guess it is worth a try. Purchasing a disk with external power supply would lower the risk of 'not enough power to drive the drive', but I've always found it more convenient to have a small disk with less cabling. For the brand, I can't give any recommendations. I never had any problems with any brand, and I don't think that there are large differences. At the shops I asked at, noone was ever able to tell me the brand/type of hard disk that was actually present in the housing. The only way to find out has always been to break the warranty the seal and open the housing. SMART and other diagnostics, unfortunately are not transfered via usb. >> If you choose your backup strategy cleverly, an external hard disk can >> serve as a drop-in replacement for the hard disk of your computer, >> whenever that should be required. > > Are you thinking of disaster recovery .. if/when the internal HD fails? Yes. I partition my external disk with a similar layout as my internal disk. I've several times upgraded my laptop with a larger, former usb drive by just swapping the disk within the usb housing with the disk within the laptop. Cheers, good luck, Johannes
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