Speaking of Amazon.com, they are selling as their “deal of the day” a 320GB external hard drive for $95.
And I now see that you can get a 500GB one for $140. Both of which fit in the palm of your hand. Unbelievable. In college (circa 1991) I remember looking at a magazine that was selling a 20GB drive that was the size of a night table and likely cost several thousand dollars. Now you can get more than 20 times the storage capacity for 1/20th of the price, all powered by USB.
And of course, after this little episode I swore to backup my data, and here we are just over a year later and I haven’t done so. This may be the time.
i’ve got a big black cube (a foot on each side) next to my desk that holds 1 TB. i use it for my iTunes library, digital pictures and daily backups. it cost a thousand dollars when i bought it. now you can get a 1 TB drive for about $120. the HD in my first PC was 240 MB. it was more storage than anyone would ever need and was therefore fucking awesome!
and yeah, do backups! even once a month is infinitely better than nothing.
cleek – any thoughts on whether a backup drive like the Western Digital is immune from viruses (or can be made immune)? I.e., if I get a virus on my regular hard drive from surfing the internet, could it jump to the backup drive?
sure, a virus could end up on any drive you attach to a computer that’s connected to the net – even one of those little keychain USB drives. ultimately, viruses are just programs, which are just files like any other. but a decent virus scanner should take care of any that show up.
I think the appearance of Christmas albums by has-been southern rock bands is one of the signs of the Apocalypse. The guy on the White Horse is probably coming along any time now.
Speaking of Amazon.com, they are selling as their “deal of the day” a 320GB external hard drive for $95.
And I now see that you can get a 500GB one for $140. Both of which fit in the palm of your hand. Unbelievable. In college (circa 1991) I remember looking at a magazine that was selling a 20GB drive that was the size of a night table and likely cost several thousand dollars. Now you can get more than 20 times the storage capacity for 1/20th of the price, all powered by USB.
I think I may have to buy one.
Comment by Ugh — December 11, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
And of course, after this little episode I swore to backup my data, and here we are just over a year later and I haven’t done so. This may be the time.
Comment by Ugh — December 11, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
take a look at NewEgg, too.
i’ve got a big black cube (a foot on each side) next to my desk that holds 1 TB. i use it for my iTunes library, digital pictures and daily backups. it cost a thousand dollars when i bought it. now you can get a 1 TB drive for about $120. the HD in my first PC was 240 MB. it was more storage than anyone would ever need and was therefore fucking awesome!
and yeah, do backups! even once a month is infinitely better than nothing.
Comment by cleek — December 11, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
Newegg, cool, never heard of it. Selling the 500GB one for $10 less than amazon.
Comment by Ugh — December 11, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Thanks for the Ping, and no, I am not buying that album, either!
Comment by Bob W. — December 11, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
cleek – any thoughts on whether a backup drive like the Western Digital is immune from viruses (or can be made immune)? I.e., if I get a virus on my regular hard drive from surfing the internet, could it jump to the backup drive?
Much obliged.
Comment by Ugh — December 11, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
sure, a virus could end up on any drive you attach to a computer that’s connected to the net – even one of those little keychain USB drives. ultimately, viruses are just programs, which are just files like any other. but a decent virus scanner should take care of any that show up.
Comment by cleek — December 11, 2008 @ 4:08 pm
I think the appearance of Christmas albums by has-been southern rock bands is one of the signs of the Apocalypse. The guy on the White Horse is probably coming along any time now.
Comment by russell — December 11, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
Thanks cleek, I figured as much.
Comment by Ugh — December 11, 2008 @ 5:08 pm