Imaging with free Macrium

Jack, and Jennie; Understood. Whichever way I'd go the only time I'd have the drive(s) connected to my daily machine(s) would be to either back-up or restore, I figure all I'd have to do is disconnect the cat5 cable either manually or with a switch.
I've only looked at Western Digital because I've had good luck with them over the years, , but are all brands / types of externals like the passport encrypted?

John; It wouldn't hurt to try then if I ran into problems with the spare case I'd still have the HDD(s) and only have to buy the external dock(s).

Golden, and Mike; Thank you for the vote of confidence. Many options, I like the idea of the EZSwap. I have several local computer shops, not the big box variety that I'll be checking to see what's available, sure, prices may be lower online but I like supporting the local guys.

Decisions, decisions....Thanks for all the ideas, keep 'em coming.

Anak said:

Jack, and Jennie; Understood. Whichever way I'd go the only time I'd have the drive(s) connected to my daily machine(s) would be to either back-up or restore, I figure all I'd have to do is disconnect the cat5 cable either manually or with a switch.
I've only looked at Western Digital because I've had good luck with them over the years, , but are all brands / types of externals like the passport encrypted?

John; It wouldn't hurt to try then if I ran into problems with the spare case I'd still have the HDD(s) and only have to buy the external dock(s).

Golden, and Mike; Thank you for the vote of confidence. Many options, I like the idea of the EZSwap. I have several local computer shops, not the big box variety that I'll be checking to see what's available, sure, prices may be lower online but I like supporting the local guys.

Decisions, decisions....Thanks for all the ideas, keep 'em coming.

Since I have several backup drives, I find it less expensive and more convenient to use internal type bare drives as external drives. Internal type drives are usually better quality than external drives, and take up less room in storage because you don't have the housing and external PSU of external drives. In my case, I use an internal hot swap bay to plug my SSDs into but an external dock can also be used.

Since you like WD drives (I agree that most of them are good quality), instead of going with the Passport, you could go with the 5400rpm WD Blues (formerly, the WD Greens). I've had excellent luck with the Greens I had (I retired them only because I went nuts and switched to all SSDs). If you prefer an actual enclosed external drive to a bare drive, you can always buy enclosures to put the bare drives into.

No matter what kind of backup drive you decide on, make sure you have at least two for each drive—one kept onsite and one kept offsite—and swap them out frequently to ensure the offsite drive is as up to date as possible.

While backup images can be stored on a internal drive, the same kinds of mishaps that can take out an internal drive—flood, fire, theft, voltage spikes and current surges from the power line or a blown PSU, etc.—will also take out your images so images must be backed up on drives that are stored externally. I admit that, when I make my images, I send them to a folder on an internal drive for convenience and speed but I then backup that drive to an externally located backup drive. You may prefer to save your images directly to an external backup drive (it does require less drive space overall to do that).

You have some sage advice there Jeannie, looking around I see the WD blues / greens are comparable in price if not less expensive. I will definitely keep it in mind as I'm setting up my system.

Hi,
I wouldn't bother with any 5400 rpm hdd's = too slow :)
They do have 7200 rpm blue not sure about the green though
Western Digital WD Blue Hard Drive 1TB WD10EZEX 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb Internal Hard Drive-Newegg.com

If I can I'd want the 72's which would be okay with my 10Laptops, they both have USB3 connections but my 7desktop was built with USB2....

IIRCC, it was purchased in 2010.

I think the wd blue 7200rpm only come in 1tb. I have one and it works well.

The larger ones are 5400rpm.

Hi,
Yep only 1tb's but that has always been a nice size for me anyway :)

On a laptop I'd use nothing but ssd's for the os and programs for backups/ images an hdd of course

I do try to stay with the black series though.

For system imaging and large data backup I use 2TB WD Blues (previously WD Greens) in a USB 3 Docking station. I use dual slot Docking stations so I can make images to 2 separate drives with minimal hassle. The 2 TB WD Blues have a good price point and I find them fast enough for backup.

I wouldn't touch an external portable (eg MyBook Essentials) for backup except in special circumstances.

That's one item I'm unsure about, how large a drive I'd need. I'd want at least 1TB but with cost the way it is I can afford 4TB.

Over the years our 7box has only grown to 220GB out of 1TB and on a 1TB back-up drive that leaves me with at least 4images with considering overhead, but including our win10 machines that 220 grows to 380 so I'd need at least a 2Tb and if I'm making bi-monthly back-ups on all three machines the logical choice would be a 4TB.

I've been ignoring SSD's only because of the re-write cycles and how long will it last, I'd believe it has gotten better since they came out, but I'm not sure.

I'd always have system images on more than one HDD. 2TB can store heaps of images plus data even for 3 PCs. So I'd go 2x2TB. Size will depend on how much non image data you have. If you go >2TB then you'll need to format GPT and not MBR. I suppose most backup/recovery tools support GPT now?