External Hard Drive

[JillW]

I know this has been discussed a ton of times ... but ...

We've been dealing w/ internet issues for a month now. We went through the same stuff last year (actually, less than a year ago) with Comcast. They replaced our router at least twice that I recall and then the problem seemed to correct itself, until last month. A Comcast tech came out and claimed it was our electricity causing issues, that the plug wasn't grounded, etc. Which is not the case - we just had new wiring done. (I suppose I can ask them to change the router, but man, working with them is a hassle and the last bill I got was $200 instead of $85 because they charged us for the tech visit ... that's a whole other story - lol ... but I did get all of that credited.)

Internet goes out every time an overnight backup using iDrive is scheduled. (I'm backing up two EHD's).

Since I don't add much to those EHD's any longer (maybe a kit or two a week and a handful of photos at best), I'm really contemplating purchasing a 2TB SSD EHD to use instead of iDrive. I'd keep the 2 EHD's I use now and just back them up monthly (or more often if needed) to the 2TB drive, which I'd keep in a fireproof safe.

I'm wondering if anyone else has gone this route and if so, what are your thoughts.

Thanks in advance!! :hugs:

 

[bestcee]

Honestly, Comcast routers are crap. They rent the bottom of the barrel. You may want to consider buying a router and see if that fixes your internet issues. Yeah, I know they sell you on easy of renting, and they won't fix issues, blah blah blah. But, buying our own immediately fixed our issues, and interestingly, our speed increased. I did that years ago, and have continued doing it since. It's cheaper to replace my router, and I get a nicer one than they rent, for the price they charge. We did the same for my sisters internet, and it fixed her issues too.

That said, if you want to go the EHD route:
Fireproof safe - what about floods or other natural disasters in your area (tornadoes, eathquakes, etc.)? Is the safe protected from theft?Are the 2 EHD's the same info? Or is one supplies and one photos? Are you good at updating them? Or would that be a struggle? Some people are super organized and update photos daily or weekly, while others struggle to do it monthly or yearly. Is it a habit you could commit to on a frequent enough basis that if you lost it, you would be okay with what's lost?

Do you have an offsite option for storage? Even if it's local, a friend or family member who doesn't mind keeping it safe. It's less likely you'd both have fires or floods (unless they live next door!), and it would give you the off-site option.

 

[JillW]

Courtney, thanks for all of the info. I would love to go back to our own router and will either do that or change providers all together, but unfortunately - they sucked us into a contract that goes through 2026. And thinking back on it, I don't think we had issues when we had our own a few years ago! UGH!

I'm very organized so don't think backing it up will be a problem ...

The 2 EHD's I have now have different things on them. One is larger than the other and one holds newer files, etc.

As for the safe - no risk of flooding or earthquakes here, but I hadn't thought about a tornado ...

 

[KristinCB]

I am not sure! Have you checked out other options like backblaze? I'm not sure if is any better/faster for updating compared to icloud

For EHD's I was always taught it's not if they fail it's when, you never know when an external HD may just up and die. I know SSD's are way more reliable though, it really is hard to know what the best thing to do is.

 

[LynnZant]

What Courtney said. I had a router/modem combo from our provider and had all sorts of problems. I bought my own router for $150 and haven't had a problem since. I still use their modem, though.


Before I got my new computer last year, the cloud would back up as soon as I would make a change. (I have to manually do it now, but that's another story.) Can you set yours to back up immediately? That way, when it comes back online there won't be too much to update and won't take very long if it keeps up with it in real time.

 

[GraceJ]

Comcast routers are the worst on Earth, buy your own router, I bought one is Asus, I don't remember the cost, but it was under $100 and is working perfectly.
About EHD the best are WD, that's without doubts, but same like computers, you don't know when is gonna failure, so I recommend you to buy two EHD, save the same information, one is the backup.

 

[LJSDesigns]

I use Drop Box to back up all my files. I have to pay for the business account, but I think it is reasonable enough. Also, I can do more with DB, share links with my team for example, than I would do with just an online back up.