Re: External Hard drive.

Anyone thinking of so doing might want to make sure that they are aware of how it works, how secure it is, and how the costs work out.

It's useful to look at good old "Which" who had tested quite a few.

http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/cloud...orage-services

For me, I like to keep it all where I can touch it.

Re: External Hard drive.

I use Dropbox and OneDrive but only for temporary backups between backing up on to external hard drives and my stand by laptop (which I suppose I should do more often!).

Re: External Hard drive.

Don't forget to look out for the USB device (a full-blown drive or a USB stick) being USB 3.0. It may not matter now with the older computer but it will if/when the computer is replaced by a newer one. A bit of 'future-proofing'.

Re: External Hard drive.

easy way to sped up computers is to get rid of any dust inside . if the air vents get clogged up it stops airflow causing the computer to heat up. The cooler a computer runs the more efficient it is.Just checked my computer airs vents so will do them now

Re: External Hard drive.

And the best was to clean the dust in computers and any other dust collecting electronic equipment, is with a vacuum cleaner pipe and a soft haired brush.
I used to do this with TVs.

Re: External Hard drive.

Although I have read that use of a strong vacuum cleaner in this way could physically damage the internal fans.

Re: External Hard drive.

I've moved away from USB external hard drive, for backups, nowadays, because a spare hard drive mounted inside the Desktop PC is so much faster.

Faster still is the spare 1TB SSD I have now put in there .

On my Notebook, an extra internal drive is not physically practical so will have to make do with USB 3 until I can figure out a way.

Re: External Hard drive.

Similar here Tedc but the 1TB second drive isn't an SSD. OK for storing all sorts of files on though, including a few disk images.

I use an external USB 3.0 drive as well. Once every couple of months, the changed content of the internal 'storage' D: drive is transferred to the external drive. This drive is disconnected from the computer when not being actively used.

There's not much chance of my system or files becoming infected but if it were to happen, there'd be no chance at all of the files on the disconnected external USB drive being got at.

The C: drive is a 225GB SSD.

Re: External Hard drive.

An internal drive may be faster but, in an emergency, when you've only minutes to grab a few possessions before leaving the house, selecting a desktop PC to carry away may be low on the list of your priorities whereas slipping an external hard drive into a pocket or bag is something to be considered along with spectacles and a mobile phone .....

Re: External Hard drive.

I would just grab my wife ,she claims to know and remember everything.