New External HD Question

[jbbrown211]

I'm getting a new external HD for use w/ my Asus laptop. I would like to get something around 750 GB or 1 TB, used for backing up my laptop HD as well as additional storage.

Option 1:
Internal drive w/ external enclosure. I've seen WD Caviar drives recommended, but not sure on enclosures (something with backup software or capability included?)

Option 2:
Pure external HD (any recommendations on this?)

Am I better off going with one option vs the other (flexibility, value, etc).

Thanks

[Nikon]

for simplicity i would say go with a prebuilt external HD. for a simple backup you can litterally drag and drop your reg HD into the external. there is software that will do this for you on a regular basis, and would be more selective on items backed up.

it may be cheaper to build yourself an external HD though.

if you want to use it for backup AND additional storeage, your going to need a big drive, and you would want to partition it, one partition being slightly larger than the size of the HD you are backing up, and the rest for the extra storage. (i suggest 1 to 2 GB extra, just to be safe.) a big caviar green would be fine for backup and data storage.

[glc]

Building your own is not cheaper - but it allows you to pick a quality drive and quality housing, and will also be more flexible later (swapping drives is possible, and better warranty). If a prebuilt external dies, you would void the warranty by opening the housing. More often than not, it's the housing that dies, not the drive, and you can pull the perfectly good drive out and not lose your data.

[jbbrown211]

So I wouldn't need anything more than a bare internal drive, and it would install into whatever enclosure I get with nothing else needed? If I get the Rosewill enclosure, does it have any backup software?

[glc]

Nope, no software. However, if you get a WD drive, you can download Acronis True Image WD Edition.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...19&wdc_lang=en

This will allow you to create a full image of your drive.

[jbbrown211]

OK, so here's what I'm looking at then:

WD Caviar Blue HD (1TB):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136534

Rosewill External Enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817173042

Any issues with this?

[glc]

Those should be fine.