External USB Drives

[Don Quixote de la Mancha]

> On Wed, 2010-01-13 at 16:46 +0000, Jonathan Allen wrote:
>> I'd like to buy a 1.5Tb (or so) external USB disc drive to use for backup
>> from my main file server.  Most of the ones I see around seem to say that
>> they want Wondiws something - is that necessary or meaningful?  Should I
>> just be able to plug it in and use it?  Do I need to partition and format
>> it, or will it just work?

I use a pair of Wiebetech ToughTech FS drives:

 http://www.wiebetech.com/products/toughtech.php

There are two models.  Each has USB, eSATA and FireWire.  The
ToughTech FS has IEEE 1394a (FireWire 400) while the ToughTech XE has
1394b (FireWire 800).

I wanted the multiple interfaces so that if I needed to recover a
backup, I would have the ability to hook it up to just about anything.

I leave one connected to my Fedora box, and the other in a safe
deposit box at my bank.  One a week or so I swap them.

I make all my backups to a partition on my internal drive, then rsync
that partition to the ToughTech.  That makes it more convenient when I
swap the drives - I don't have to make two trips to the bank.

I should cop to the fact that Wiebetech is a former client of mine.

Don Quixote
-- 
Don Quixote de la Mancha
quixote at dulcineatech.com
http://www.dulcineatech.com

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