External hard drive allow you to add terabytes of storage to your computer for a few hundred dollars. External drives connect to PCs and Macs via their external connectors. Almost every computer has a USB 2.0 port, so it’s the most common type of connection currently. Here’s the speed of other interfaces (from slowest to fastest): FireWire 400, USB 2.0, FireWire 800, eSATA (external SATA), Thunderbolt and USB 3.0.
Many new drives support the fast USB 3.0 interface, which some newer computers now support. However all Apple computers only support USB 2.0 connections — Apple has stated that it does not intend to support USB 3.0 in the foreseeable future. Instead, they support the Thunderbolt interface, but very few hard drives support the Thunderbolt currently.
If you’ll only be doing backups with an external drive, you can opt for a drive that only supports USB 2.0, because most of your backup process will occur in quietly in the background, and interface speed will not matter so much. However, getting the right size drive is important — it’s prudent not to skimp here, you’ll want to drive that has a capacity that’s 2-3 times the size of the drive you want to backup.
If you’ll be using the external drive to store and watch movies, or render videos, then drive’s interface speed is important you’ll want to connect the drive with eSATA, USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, if you computer supports these interfaces.
Here are our recommended drives for backups:
Apple Time Capsule
Pros:
- Serves as a centralized device to backup all household computers
- Allows easy backups of portable Apple devices (including iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, and notebooks)
Cons:
- More expensive than a simple external hard drive
- Won’t save bootable backups
- Backups must be made wirelessly on a home network
Apple makes a device called a Time Capsule, which is a wireless router combined with a external hard drive. A Time Capsule allows you perform wireless backups using the Time Machine application or a third-party applications that use the Time Machine format. You connect wireless to the Time Capsule with a host of devices: Mac, compatible PCs, and wireless devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV. Note that the portables devices must be running iOS 5 to connect to a Time Capsule.
You can attach additional hard drives to a Time Capsule via USB 2.0 if you want more storage space, and you can attach a printer, for wireless sharing.
I’d recommend Time Capsules, you if like the idea of backing up a number of notebook computers and other portable devices wirelessly. Time Capsules cannot be used to create a bootable duplicate your boot volume, so you’ll have to buy a second hard drive to create bootable backups. Also, Time Capsules are not mirrored drives (they don’t support Raid configurations), but you can attach an Raid drive to a Time Capsule via its USB 2.0 interface.
Apple’s standard warranty covers the Time Capsule for one year, and this includes 90 day of phone support. Apple does not an extended warranty for a Time Capsule specifically. However, if you extend the coverage on another Apple device, the Time Capsule warranty will be extended too (see this page for details).
In regards to environmental criteria, Apple has removed almost all of the the toxic substances from its products, and the company accepts old devices for recycling, under the Apple Recycling Program.
The Apple Time Capsule (3 TB) is available from Amazon for about $369.
ioSafe Solo External Drive
ioSafe specializes in making hard drives that are fireproof, waterproof and, in the case of the portable models, crushproof and shockproof. The ioSafe Solo, can withstand 1550° F for 30 minutes or, being sunk in water for three days. This ruggedization certainly means ioSafe drives are less prone to disaster, but it also increases the cost of the drives, and makes them larger and heavier than comparable external drives.
ioSafe drives also come with a three year warranty, and one year of data and hardware recovery protection, which means the company will recover your data should a disaster strike, or the drive fails for any reason (this protection only covers your first request for data recovery). If your drive is so badly damaged that forensic recovery is required, the ioSafe will cover up to $2500 in recovery costs. You can extend the data recovery to three years for an additional $50. You can buy a five year warranty together with five years of data recovery protection for an additional $100 over the base price.
The ioSafe Solo is a single volume drive, which means it doesn’t support drive mirroring or Raid configurations. This means if the drive fails due to mechanical problems or other defects that might crop up over time, you’ll have to send it in to ioSafe for recovery.
Despite these limitations, we chose to include this drive due to its ruggedness, and the warranties and protections provided by the company. Most of the 70+ Amazon reviewers at Amazon, give the ioSafe Solo an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars.
In regards to environment criteria, ioSafe makes not information available, I will however contact the company for a statement, and update this article accordingly.
The ioSafe Solo 2TB is available from Amazon for about $277.
Western Digital My Book Studio II
The My Book Studio II from Western Digital is hard drive that comes standard with a 5 year warranty. The drive actually includes two separate drives in one case, making it ready for Raid 1 mirroring. The drive includes interfaces for USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 and eSata.
The drive is quiet, but it does have a distracting light that flashes whenever the drive is active, and the drive’s case is somewhat flimsy. However, the drive still gets recommendation they come with a five year warranty, and they can be set up a Raid 1 mirrored drive.
Recently, one My Books Drives would not turn on, but it was still under warranty, so I requested a replacement drive from Western Digital. A replacement drive arrived in a few days, so Western Digital did honor their warranty quite promptly, but I did have to pay to ship my old drive back to the company (it cost about $15 in postage).
The Western Digital My Book Studio II is available from Amazon for around $190.
