Solved Need Advice On Back-Up Hard Drives

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CompGuy999

CompGuy999

PCHF Member
Aug 29, 2024
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I have filled up the 64 Gig San Disk USB3.0 flash drive that I use for back-up and need to get another one. I have not been happy with the flash drives because even though it is USB3.0 it takes forever to back up some of the files I have. I have 3 files that go into the hundreds of megabytes and each of these can take up to 15 minutes to back-up and I am not running anything else that consumes computer or system resources.

In addition to a couple of flash drives I also have a Western Digital 500 Gig portable hard drive that I use for my videos and photos and it is much, MUCH faster. The drive to the best of my knowledge is a true mini hard drive with platters and it runs off of the USB3.0 port on my computer. The drive is older, about 8 years old but it not been used heavily.

With the cost on 64 Gig flash drives in the $50 range I am really thinking about just getting another portable hard drive which I can pick up for approx. $40 to $70 and get a name brand like WD or Samsung.

My question is this. I am seeing portable hard drives that are now SSD's as well as portable hard drives that are still the platter drives and I am wondering which I should get? My first priority is speed of back-up and transfer. I am not at all happy with the flash drives I have and I don't want to get an SSD and find out it is just like a flash drive, slow as molasses in January.

What is the feeling of the group? Should I get a portable hard drive that has a platter drive or should I get an SSD back-up drive? Thanks.
 
USB sticks are really hit and miss with transfer rates.
I also like getting the faster ones, and in my experience you get what you pay for - more money equals more speed.
Plus I also look at the manufacturer's website speed claims, then try to confirm those with independent tests of the speeds, luckily there are usually lots of review sites that cover that.

With external drives, if HDD, be sure and get the 7200rpm units, and of course get 2.5" (laptop drives) as these don't required a separate power supply.
You'll pay slightly more for the extra rpm's but the speed increase over the standard 5400rpm units is noticeable!
And of course you'd expect to see a SSD unit even better than the 7200rpm ones.
Not only speed, but being external and potentially getting moved more, a SSD will be bump proof compared to any HDD.
 
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+1 for SSDs- name brand ones are so cheap nowadays there's no reason to risk it on a HDD for most use cases.

Another thing to add- If you are truly looking for the fastest drive, find out what ports you have at your disposal. WD provided this useful chart to show some of the different ports and their speeds:

Thunderbolt 41Thunderbolt 3USB4USB 3.2
Data Transfer40 Gbps40 Gbps20 Gbps/40 Gbps5-20 Gbps
VideoTwo 4K Monitors
One 8K Monitor		Two 4K Monitors
One 5K Monitor		Two 4K Monitors
One 8K Monitor		One 4K Monitor
Power/ChargingCable up to 100W
Port minimum 15W		Cable up to 100W
Port minimum 15W		Cable up to 100W
Port minimum 7.5W		Cable up to 100W
Port minimum 4.5W
Daisy-ChainingYes (up to 6 devices)Yes (up to 6 devices)NoNo
Passive Cable Length22m0.8m0.8m1m
Mandatory CertificationYesYesNoNo
Backwards CompatibilityFull≥1m = 480Mbps (USB)FullFull
ConnectorUSB-CUSB-CUSB-CUSB-C, USB-A
 
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@Pyro Thanks for the information. My computer is 8 years old. I bought it secondhand from a Dell Authorized Reseller and it does what I need it to do. My computer has four USB ports and they are Type A 3.0 ports.

Interestingly there was at least a partial solution to my situation sitting right in front of me, my computer. When I bought the computer it came with a 150Gb SSD as the primary drive and I have my programs on this drive. My computer also has a second SSD which interestingly enough the Man I bought the computer from named "Data". Last night a created a folder on the second hard drive for the very documents and spreadsheets that I have. I gave the folder a unique name so I would know it instantly. I now have two backups. My WD back-up hard drive and the second SSD on my computer. I will at some point go out and buy an SSD but for now I am good. Thank you for your help.
 
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