Decision regarding Ext or Int HDD

trendy · 08 May 2014

Good day to all.
Decision time.I want to get two 1TB HDD for backing up purposes,The reason for two is to double backup.
Now what would be the best option An Internal ones or a portable one,The point regarding an External one that is one of my choices is that I have a docking station that will accept an Ext sata drive.
Just cant decide on the best option,Would anybody please kindly assist me out here as to the above question.
I have already got backups but the HDD that I got are only small ones and my desktop drive is getting larger than the ones that I now use for backups.
Running windows 7 home premium.
Many thanks David.

flogit · 08 May 2014

The point regarding an External one that is one of my choices is that I have a docking station that will accept an Ext sata drive.

Do you mean having an internal to fit in the docking station not an external one.

ignatzatsonic · 08 May 2014

I'd recommend an internal for your primary backup unless you have a situation where portability would be very important for the backup drive.

For the secondary backup, you'd have 2 choices: a full-fledged "external" drive in a standard enclosure or another internal that you use only in an external dock. Either will work, but if you have a dock already, you may as well use it. You can get a good 1 TB internal drive to put in the dock for $60 in the USA. Not sure about the UK.

No need to get a fast 7200 RPM drive for backup purposes. I'd probably look for Western Digital "red" or "green" drives that spin at 5400 to 5900 rpm.

Personally, I use an internal for primary backup that I run at least once a day. Maybe every couple of months I will plug in my dock and make a secondary backup. Then the dock goes back in the closet. I re-format this drive every time I use it---that's faster than deleting the files from it.

The internal backup is very fast as it does not have to navigate that port and cable to a drive outside the case.

What interface does your dock have? USB 2.0?? USB 3.0? eSATA? I use eSATA on mine and can back up 575 GB of data in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. That's noticeably faster than USB 2.0, but I haven't yet compared eSATA to USB 3.0.

crawfish · 08 May 2014

The StarTech USB3 dual dock has been working very well for me. I've also used ThermalTake and Rosewill eSATA docks. Besides being cheaper, the nice thing about bare drives vs enclosures is that I can fit at least four 3.5" bare drives in a standard small U.S. safe deposit box.

trendy · 08 May 2014

Many thanks both for your replies.
regarding having an internal HDD its a bit awkward as I have a SSD as the main C drive and that has the O/S and program files etc.
Then I have a second 2TB HDD internal with all my data pictures etc.I did think about fitting another internal 2TB HDD as there was another slot that would take it,But there was no other connection on the mother board to connect the third drive to All the HDD are sata.Now that idea went out of the door.Unless there are other options to connect a third internally?
So now I do have regular backups of my data but the HDD I'm using are only small storage and they are getting close to being full.
About using two Internal HDD via my docking station that would be an easier job I thought,On the other hand regarding the other Portable External HDD.The docking station is mains powered and USB 2 connection to desktop.
The Docking station is similar to this one but it don't have the sockets on the front usb and card reader.
Thanks Once again.

My Docking Station... DUAL 2.5"/3.5" IDE SATA HDD HARD DRIVE DOCK DOCKING STATION IDE SATA eSATA USB ALL IN 1: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

ignatzatsonic · 08 May 2014

Your system specs say you have a Biostar N61PB-M2S motherboard.

The link below says it has connections for 4 SATA drives.

MOTHERBOARD BIOSTAR N61PBM2S AM2+ - Compuser

You are positive that is not true???

That looks like 4 connectors in the lower left corner in the pic below.

badger906 · 08 May 2014

Personally I would have 1 internal and 1 external. That way you have a portable solution that you could store away from your pc incase something bad happens. if both were in the pc and it was stolen or damaged by say fire both backups may well be destroyed, but one external lessons that chance of happening.

trendy · 09 May 2014

ignatzatsonic.
Thanks Yes you are correct it has four sata sockets,But I have two HDD.One is the C drive and other is G drive with all my data.And two Optical drives a total of four.

regarding having an internal HDD its a bit awkward as I have a SSD as the main C drive and that has the O/S and program files etc.
Then I have a second 2TB HDD internal with all my data pictures etc.I

Thankyou,Would there be another way round it to connect a third internal?
Thanks.

ignatzatsonic · 09 May 2014

Yes, you could buy a controller card, which fits into one of those long slots in your motherboard. The card has 2 or more ports on it. You'd then plug at least one of your drives into it, rather than into a port on the motherboard.

I've never used one and don't know how much of a pain they are to get working properly. Maybe quite easy, maybe not.

Here are some examples:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Hard Drives, Controllers / RAID Cards, Syba, Newegg, SATA II (3.0Gb/s)

BUT----I'm wondering why you need 2 optical drives? That's unusual unless you have some peculiar circumstance. I'd think the path of least resistance in your circumstances would be to just use a single optical drive and plug your third internal into the 4th port on the motherboard.

trendy · 09 May 2014

Hi,Good day to you.
Thanks for the reply,Regarding the two optical drives.I find it easier when I copy a DVD or a CD It just copies from to the second without saving data then placing a disc into the drive.
Most prob it's how I was taught from the very start.

Looking at the situation maybe the option would be to have two external HDD connected via USB?.
I'm not very techy but I'm improving every day thanks to the help from people like you on this forum,I believe that you and whs helped me a while back to fit an SSD.
Thanks.Will have another think regarding internal or external HDD.