External hard drive recommendations

[Robdonty]

Hi Brian,

I have read through some threads on both this forum and the Facebook page but would appreciate some advice please on recommendations for an external hard drive back up - not sure if I am overthinking things or not!

I see that in a thread in November 21 this Amazon.com: SanDisk Professional 12TB G-DRIVE Enterprise-Class Desktop Hard Drive HDD, Ultrastar Drive Inside, Up to 195MB/s, USB-C (5Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen 1 - SDPH91G-012T-NBAAD : Electronics was being discussed as a HDD that you would recommend, but I note that you need to partition it for use with Windows.

Once you partition it, are you still able to have it automatically undertaking back ups? I also read in the same thread old WD External HD issues - The Windows & PC Hardware Forum - DamienSymonds.net not to use any of the manufacturers software so am not sure if this then means that any ability to automate the backups is removed. Can you please advise? Was trying to get away with not doing it manually - as I am likely to get slack :)

If you cannot automate the backups once the HDD is partitioned is there another one that you would recommend for Windows? I am currently running Windows 11 and backing up to the cloud, but want to have another backup - just in case.

Thank you!

[Brian]

Automatically performing backups is a software thing. Unfortunately, Windows does not have a “Time Machine” like Macs do. Say what you want about Apple, but they have backups down to an Artform. 
 

Most, if not all, OEM software that comes with HDs is buggy and never really works that well. It’s been this way since the 1990’s. 
 

Partitioning…

It’s not a huge deal. Takes no more than 5 min tops. Windows has all that you need built in to it. What is happening is that Macs are becoming more popular, so in order to cut support calls, they sell HDs with a Partition type called exFAT. Why? Because both a Windows computer and Mac can read/write that partition type. 

Sounds like a good thing right? Wrong. exFAT is not as bulletproof as it’s made out to be, and you could lose everything if it ever gets corrupted. Granted, the same thing can happen to a NTFS Windows Partition, but NTFS has been around for a LONG time and is mainstream. exFAT is more like Microsoft’s attempt at a new Partition Type that’s more of a side project; like a programmer was tinkering in their proverbial garage. I am not trusting my data on non-mainstream stuff. Fortunately, it’s easy to rectify this and like I said, takes less than 5 minutes. 

So when you say backup, what are you exactly meaning? Backing up important folders? Storing images and documents only on an external? Backing up your internal drive? In reality, I just store my documents and images on my main data drive and then copy any really important items to the cloud. If my computer crashes, reloading the OS and software is pretty straightforward; in reality it’s the data that is paramount. 
 

People put way too much faith in automatic backup software and never test it to see if it works. They just set it up, but never attempt to verify the data or ever attempt to do a restore. So how are you looking to backup things? 

[Robdonty]

Hi Brian, when I refer to a back-up I mean I was wanting something that would copy the folders and images on my PC (which is also what is copied in the cloud (OneDrive)) and put that onto an external drive, automatically (assuming the drive is connected). By the sounds of it, I probably just need to get what was suggested in your other post and then periodically take a copy of all of my files and manually put them onto the drive.

What I am not sure about is how to do that every time without downloading everything from OneDrive again (many of my old photos are sitting in the cloud only, and not on my PC due to space - therefore saved only in 1 location - eek) which would take days and use a lot of data. Which makes me think I am going about this all wrong!

[Robdonty]

I also did find this article (option 2) and wondered if this might be the way to go moving forward, but would appreciate any advice you can give:

3 Ways | How to Backup OneDrive to External Hard Drive [Full Guide] - EaseUS

[Brian]

12 hours ago, Robdonty said:

Which makes me think I am going about this all wrong!

Yep.

Your OneDrive really should be a one-way thing. PC --> One Drive. It's not meant to go back and forth, unless you have had some sort of catastrophic failure. I also wouldn't be un-linking anything, unless you are 100% sure what you are doing, regardless what some webpage tells you. Basically, EaseUS is trying to sell you something, and that's their software to handle backups for you.

You are looking for software that automatically does what you want, and for that, I have no recommendations. Well, there is one and I for-the-life-of-me can not remember what it's called. The software that I deal with is really on a Server Level and is expensive. It's also quirky as hell. I try to keep things simple and manually do things. It's important to have a file structure in place that makes sense to you. Actually, after viewing EaseUS' page, you might want to try out their software. It's $80 for a license that gives you unlimited upgrades, which is important with Windows 11 on the Horizon. https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-home-buy.html?linkid=store_hot

EaseUS ToDo Backup seems to be the easiest to use and usually makes the list for the "Best Auto Backup Software." Give this article a read, some other software packages also have made the cut: 

https://www.techadvisor.com/test-centre/software/best-backup-software-3647678/

The important thing, is to test your backups to another computer. I don't care how easy something is to use, you are kidding yourself if you think your backups are 100% if you have never tested restoring them. Computer crashes are stressful to begin with, combine that with finding out that your backups won't restore is a whole other thing. So I'd do a test run on a few different test folders with different files. A couple of images, some Word Documents, etc. Things that you will be backing up. Then configure the backup software to do its thing, then delete the files and have the software restore the file. Only after verifying that everything was restored correctly, then you can trust it to do the real thing.