best long-term storage for photos and other documents i desperately need to back up years' worth of photos and design files but i want to make sure that they are safe forever. i've been reading about the inevitability of hard drive failures, so what's my best option? burn everything to like a hundred cd's, save data to usb flash drives, or buy multiple hard drives and duplicate my backup that way? best long-term storage for photos and other documents i desperately need to back up years' worth of photos and design files but i want to make sure that they are safe forever. i've been... » Read More best long-term storage for photos and other documents i desperately need to back up years' worth of photos and design files but i want to make sure that they are safe forever. i've been reading about the inevitability of hard drive failures, so what's my best option? burn everything to like a hundred cd's, save data to usb flash drives, or buy multiple hard drives and duplicate my backup that way? « Show Less
1080259
Have at least 2 copies of your files. Preferably 1 offsite in case of physical damage to your living quarters. I personally have an external drive that I use as the backup to my internal drive. Most important thing is to have redundancy regardless of what you use (CDs can scratch/go bad, USB sticks can have the NAND go bad etc etc.). If you have 2 copies, you're good to go unless you have some disaster destroy your place. If offsite storage isn't a possibility, a firebox is a decent alternative.
1080260
Good question. My IT brother says to use 2 external hard drives & back each of them up periodically, but keep one off-site. Other opinions/ideas?
1080261
WD says the component design life of a WD drive is 5 yrs. Does that mean after 5 yrs the hard drive is not going to work?What's the use of keeping 2 copies or more if they are going to die after 5 yrs, or am I misunderstanding what WD is saying about their hard drive design life?
903039
I've been a video editor for the past 30 years. These days, I tend to stick with G-Tech for my drives. But realize that EVERY drive will fail one day. It's not a matter of if, but when. So if you don't have two separate copies (preferably in different locations), it's not really backed up. :)
30808
I have had no problems at all using this brand of CDs for photos that I want to give to a relative; but frankly it is a huge waste of office space to store photos on CDs. A better choice is to store photos on DVDs. An even better choice is storing your photos in the cloud. If you have an Office 365 account with Microsoft you can have as much as a Terrabyte of cloud storage; Amazon also has a real good deal with cloud storage for documents and photos. With cloud storage, you can always access your photos from anywhere.
1268994
I don't know, but I am no longer buying any more WD hard drives. All the ones that have crashed and burned are, guess who? I have other brands that have lasted 8 years. Even the so called white lables that are generic from WD crashed within one year. No more WD.
2192892
That's a tough one to answer. My drive just crashed a few months after getting it but there's a few reasons why. One reason? Faulty hardware. Another reason? You over worked it or let it get corrupted / broke your OS but that's an easy fix. There are more complex ones like ram causing it to bottleneck and use your hard drive to take the slack. Imagine always running a light bulb non stop for a long time. It's all relative to the amount you use the product. I'd say one of this caliber should last a few years at least, but not always. It's a solid drive, just don't push it too hard, as these things CAN break.
956889
Connect it to your computer and copy all documents, music and videos to WD element, that easy. Best part when your computer dies all your document, music, etc. are saved and can be retrieve when you get a new computer.
470328
I have owned MANY SANDISK drives, and none of them ever failed. I can tell you that thumb drives DO fail, especially the cheap ones. So, if you value your data, and don't want to lose it, spend the money on a SANDISK.
2194924
If your pc is relatively new (up to 6-8 yrs) it is probably USB 2.0 or greater --- and this would be an excellent choice. I use the 128GB for 13 years worth of photos, plus I back up my most critical files there too.
1702429
Marilyn, I have several SanDisk Cruzers of various sizes and (1) GigaWare Flashdrive. I have lots of photos on a SanDisk Cruzer and many, many music files on the GigaWare Flashdrive. I don't think you need to be too concerned about which flashdrive works best with photos unless those files are exceptionally large, opening the door to "access time" concerns. Most of my photos range from 500k to 4M and there's no problem. If I had photos ranging from 15M upward I still wouldn't be too concerned. My music files range from 20M to 40M and I have NO complaints about the access time, and I'd expect the same from a SanDisk Cruzer. My only advice to you would be to invest in the LARGEST Flash Drive you can afford at the time, and in the event the flash drive "acts up" shortly after delivery--get rid of it immediately. I've had NO problem with my SanDisk Cruzers or my one GigaWare Flash Drive. Hope this helps you out.
1555872
You should ALWAYS have redundancy, especially with these kinds of drives. Yeah, they are cheap, but your data isn't. Buy two and use one as a backup. I learned the hard way myself.
1800855
Depending on the amount of files that you want to back up I would use this one. I have pictures, MS Word, pdf, and other important documents backed up on mine.
1983639
I have two of these drives and I keep one in the safe deposit box and one at home. I update the one at home from my hard drive and rotate them once a month. There is no way that I would put that many pictures in one place only!
43197
It would be far easier to back up to an external drive and keep it off site. This saves the very long drive rebuilding process. You really should have more than one backup especially for important data, photos etc. RAID is not the same as backup.
285314
I purchased two in Oct 2013 and use them on alternate months to back up 100 GB of files. One is for the even numbered months the other for odd numbered months. So I have used each at least 6 times. I have had no issues.
470331
I have yet to see a Sandisk fail; period! I've tried many brands, and I use one or two daily to move files, sometimes by the Gig. Maybe not the fastest, but reliability means more to me than any other factor. I've been using only Sandisk for about 5 years, and I'm a full-time, self-employed pc tech. I've bought and sold so many to clients, I've lost track, and haven't heard anyone say anything different: Sandisk drives don't fail.
629561
I've just had my 4th large (>1TB) WD drive failure in less than 2 years. I've had more drives fail in the last 2 years than in the last 20. All of them large WD drives. I'm done with WD. All these failures were with drives less than 3 years old. Just absolutely unacceptable.
111627
Your could do if the Flash drive is big enough. Personally I use an external hard drive to back up data. and just use the flash drives for portable data. If you want to back up more than just data [software/ settings] then you would need disc replicating software.