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Happy Hard Drive Stories by Jeeps

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: macppl@gmail.com <macppl@gmail.com >
Date: Dec 7, 2007 12:29 PM
Subject: Happy Hard Drive Stories
To: iMac List <imaclist@googlegroups.com>

One of the unfortunate drawbacks of computer life, hard drives!
They just don't last forever. No matter how many times you've heard it
said, are you really ready for that day?
So yes, it did happen to me.
First on my old 6100 AV, then later on my G4.

External hard drives become a necessity for backups early on, I can't
imagine that I survived the days of the 250 mb hard drive. I don't
even want to recall those days.

Let me share my current set up for those using macbooks and macbook
pros this might be helpful.
If you have other ideas, please comment.

I am using the MacBookPro I purchased in April of 2006.
In just about one year from that the date the computer failed to burn
and would hang up.
I took the laptop down to the local Apple Store and they agreed to
replace the mechanism free of charge.

I have a ton of video I want to digitize and boy does that fill up
your drives fast!

So here are some of my solutions:

1. I use the Universal USB 2.0 from NewerTechnology to plug into my
old hard drives to access data.
Uses the USB port on your macbookpro and works fine for temporary
service.
I also bought some silcon rubber covers for the internal hard drives
to keep them protected.

2. I was advised by the Apple Store genius to purchase DiskWarrrior to
repair and recover files that I couldn no longer access and thought I
had lost on my old G4.
( I had to await the intel version which wasn't the one available at
the store when I purchased but was sent to me months later by
Alsoft ). It found the data for me to my great relief!

3. To access older VHS tapes and digitize them I use eyeTV hybrid.
This also uses the USB to access your computer. You can EXPORT the
hybrid file to iMovie to edit.
This is the least expensive way I have found to transfer my old tapes.

4. To handle all this I found the recent Iomega "UltraMax" USB/
FIREWIRE/eSATa external hard drive.
This 500 Gig external HD is fast and is bootable. It is also pre-
initialized for use with your Mac!
I am using the FW port.

5. To transfer my old HI 8 tapes I am using a friends HI 8 camcorder
and a FW cord.
This FW cord can piggy back on to the "UltraMax" hard drive in the
back so I don't have to switch the FW
input on the laptop. You can control the camcorder directly from
imovie to watch and record.

6. The "Ultramax" comes with backup software, I won't mention the name
as some folks love using it, but I much prefer to use SuperDuper (R) to
back up and update my files. If you have the purchased version you
will get the full functionality. This is the easiest, user friendly
backup software I have found yet.
I back up my laptop once a week, but you can schedule it to backup the
way you like.

Summary:
Hard Drives are a fact of life. If you care about all the work you
have done and can't imagine losing it, you simply MUST take the time
to figure out how to back it up.
PS: For "on line" back ups Google up the topic at MacWorld.

Someday I hope we can "flash" all of our data and not even worry about
hard drive failures.

11:44 - 2007-Dec-7 - post comment

Untitled Comment
Huh?
LauriesAsylum - 01:12 - 2007-Dec-8

Untitled Comment
ooooooh, a titanium powerbook with a 300 gb flash drive.
i can only hope i live to see it.
:)
tommyfusco - 03:16 - 2007-Dec-8

<i>Untitled Comment</i>
I don't own a Mac. I have a pc with the same power that cost me as much as one though, so I venture a comment: I'm not actually using the HD of my computer for files that I want to last longer than my computer, I use an external HD. I only use the internal HD for software. I have ended up buying new bigger HDs every two years or so and transfer all my files so never had the problem of losing files to an external HD that gave up on me but I suppose they don't have eternal life either, any data on that?
thyme - 10:56 - 2007-Dec-8

It could happen
Thyme
I think you are smart to keep your files on the external hard drive.
Also, to upgrade as you do is added assurance for you.

about flash:
I am seeing the flash drive technology moving rather quickly in a short time. The question in my mind is why not more toward this form of data storage rather than moving data from one hard drive to the next new one every 3-4 years.
More on this:
http://tinyurl.com/27tttl

jeeps - 11:50 - 2007-Dec-8

why do they call it "flash"?
Flash memory is too slow! I was reminded of this entry when I recently bought a 4 GB card for my camera, ended up putting music on it so the superkid can use his phone as an mp3 player but it takes ages to put the music on there using the card reader. Connecting the phone with a datacable the transfer aslo takes ages plus depletes half the battery of the phone..so.. I don't really like flash. Only for camera's and phones and to carry around temporary stuff. It isn't good for data I need to access frequently like drawing and such.
thyme - 02:23 - 2007-Dec-27

Back to Flash
Maybe I am spotting a future trend, I don't know...
But when I made the comment about flash drives awhile back I didn't expect that Apple would be coming out with the MacBook Air!
See this about solid state hard drives:
http://tinyurl.com/yt5s57

Pretty much what I wished but a bit expensive yet!

Let's see how they perform!

jeeps - 12:17 - 2008-Feb-9

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