Backing up files using ipod or external hard drive?

alty127alty127
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I was wondering if an ipod works fine to back up a few gigabits. I have a minimum amount of 12 gigs that I need to back up. I could use my current ipod, which has about 15 GB of free space, or is an external drive be the better move. Would an ipod 4g non-color using fire wire be fast enough? I never wanted to back up files on my ipod because I didn't want to cause my ipod to crash some how, since that would suck being out a music player and my files. I don't mind getting an external drive but I guess I wanted to know if the ipod would do the job just as good as any other external drive. The external drive I was looking at is the Maxtor OneTouch II.



Thanks for your help
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    The iPod is an external firewire HD, and you can use it exactly as such. The speed is comparable to a regular HD. The only reason not to use it for backups is that, like you suggested, you're more likely to lose or break an iPod that you carry with you than a bulky HD you leave on your desk. (I don't think there have been significant problems with non-traumatic iPod HD reliability.) With a large (>80GB) HD you can also store multiple versions of your backups over time, and keep permanent archives of important data - with more space, you have more flexibility how you back up. But the iPod does the basic job just fine.



    But since both data to be backed-up and music collections tend to grow over time, it's likely your backup needs will soon outgrow the shrinking free space on your iPod, anyway.
  • Reply 2 of 27
    alty127alty127 Posts: 55member
    If you use an ipod to back up data does the drive get segmented then? So I would tell the ipod to use so much for music and the rest for storage? Also does can you still plug the ipod in and have it update the music manually or does the ipod become a manual device only once you put data on it? If I would decide to later get an external drive can I turn the ipod back into a music device only?
  • Reply 3 of 27
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Whoa. Not that complicated, at all.



    You just plug the iPod in, as usual, and drag files or folders onto its icon in the Finder. It acts just like any other drive in the Finder. Obviously, any files you keep on it reduce the free space available to hold music, but they do not in any other way affect the iTunes experience. Just don't delete or modify any of the folders aleady on the iPod - the ones that hold your music, contacts, etc. I think most of these folders are hidden in the Finder, anyway.
  • Reply 4 of 27
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    how about, get a 2nd hand 4200rpm or 5400rpm 2.5" notebook drive, put it into a nice fw or usb enclosure. then, backup your files on BOTH the external hd and on the iPod. that way, you will have easy access to your important files, make full use of your iPod, and enjoy your iPod music as well..



    definitely my iPod mini silver 4gb has saved my ass many a time by having some of my important files on there ~ especially since i don't have a dvd burner.....
  • Reply 5 of 27
    alty127alty127 Posts: 55member
    I could get just an external encloser I have an older 20GB 4200 drive around some place that was in an old dell. However, I think I'm going to go ahead and get an external drive, I was looking at the Maxtor ONETouch II 200 gig, and 7200rpms. But untill I get it I think I'll use my ipod, I really need to back up some art files asap, can't aford to have them damaged. I also need to do some video editing in the next few weeks and I believe the ipod would a little more handy than having to lug an external drive around. I have a 20 gig ipod with only 4.5 gigs of music, might as well fill up some of the extra space.
  • Reply 6 of 27
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    yeah, you know, until you get your Beastly maxtor oneTouch thingy, you've got your iPod 20gb or your 20gb 4200 to go in an enclosure. you can never have too many backups! especially for artwork, portfolio pieces, and the like.
  • Reply 7 of 27
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    i'm looking for a firewire/usb external hard drive, maccentral has a review and rates iomega and other world computing 250gb tops, but what about the maxtor one touch???anyone have this what is your recommendation???
  • Reply 8 of 27
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    hmm.. personally i have never owned a maxtor one touch. i would stay away from lacie though, just because i have heard, directly and indirectly of problems with their gear in the past year or so.
  • Reply 9 of 27
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    i wish when mags have reviews they also have consumer reviews so that the real world input comes into play and we can decide for the long term. i can wait but around christmas or first of the year i need to do this for safety reasons. and i don't want my backup to crash since it will hold 3 computers worth of stuff.
  • Reply 10 of 27
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    dude, maybe check the user reviews for a particular external hard disk on amazon.com and newegg.com ?? just an idea... yeah, paper mag reviews not that useful for getting the consumer aspect
  • Reply 11 of 27
    justinjustin Posts: 403member
    "i'm looking for a firewire/usb external hard drive, maccentral has a review and rates iomega and other world computing 250gb tops, but what about the maxtor one touch???anyone have this what is your recommendation???"



    I use a 280GB Seagate USB external hard drive which has taken me forever to learn how to use to back up my data.



    It takes 45minutes to back up my complete hard drive (around 20Gb of stuff). The great thing about external hard drives is that you can pick a case to suit your needs: a USB linked case; a one-touch back-up facility; a security lock system to stop people from reading your back-ups.



    The Seagates are great and reliable - I've never had problems with Seagate. I've owned 2x Maxtor internal drives which were corrupted and although this has nothing to do with Maxxtor, I'm happy with Seagate and/or Maxxtor.



    NB - Seagate commands a premium compared to other brands (Fujitsu, Toshiba, Lacie, Samsung)
  • Reply 12 of 27
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    savings today only on maxtor from apple store usa:



    Maxtor OneTouch II 200GB Hard Drive

    $229.00

    Today Only $198.00



    Maxtor OneTouch II 300GB Hard Drive

    $299.00

    Today Only $268.00
  • Reply 13 of 27
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    but is it better than the iomega or owc?? does the one touch button help or just wizbang/gingerbread??

    thanks
  • Reply 14 of 27
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    I think over the long haul, it might be a bad idea to continually use your iPod for back up. Slow drive, etc.



    I would get a firewire drive (Tiger currently has some glitch and doesn't allow bootable backups from a USB drive.)



    Then, get SuperDuper. It is a very easy to use app. Look it and the reviews up on MacUpdate or Versiontracker. You can use the free version or if you want schedule backups and the quick incremental backup feature that they call smart update, then pay less than $30 for it.
  • Reply 15 of 27
    danielctulldanielctull Posts: 586member
    I am using a 160GB Maxtor OneTouch drive as a backup for my laptop, although I need to really configure it for automatic backups. Never used the OneTouch button, but it is supplied with both Windows and Mac software. I also have a 300GB OneTouch II that I use to store DVD Rips, they work brilliantly.



    Also they both have two firewire ports, so you can daisy-chain them together, especially useful if like me you have only one firewire port.
  • Reply 16 of 27
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    if your computer crashes, can you boot into os10 from the maxtor hard drive?? so i quess this allows you access to all your files, and run a browser so you can trouble shoot and still get work done from the one computer. when my neice dropped my wifes ibook, it crashed, thank goodness i had all my photos on my g3 imac and a browser so that i could figure out what happened and still send pictures and check my email. so the backup, if it can boot os x, is like having a second drive in your computer?? i'm new to this backup hard drive stuff.

    thanks for your patience.
  • Reply 17 of 27
    danielctulldanielctull Posts: 586member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by NOFEER

    if your computer crashes, can you boot into os10 from the maxtor hard drive?? so i quess this allows you access to all your files, and run a browser so you can trouble shoot and still get work done from the one computer. when my neice dropped my wifes ibook, it crashed, thank goodness i had all my photos on my g3 imac and a browser so that i could figure out what happened and still send pictures and check my email. so the backup, if it can boot os x, is like having a second drive in your computer?? i'm new to this backup hard drive stuff.

    thanks for your patience.



    As long as your Mac allows booting from firewire, it'll do it. I use Carbon Copy Clone to clone my hard drive, so if I do get into hard drive troubles, I can boot off that to continue working. I try to do that every week or two with a flash drive to back up my important documents every day. That way I know I'll have a current enough set up, and all my current docs.
  • Reply 18 of 27
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    ive got an ibook g4 and a imac g3 400 and a dell 8100 windows xp will they allow booting from a hard drive. so do you have to partition for the pc part?? what about a network hard drive. all three are on the same network (airport snow) would i just have to allow sharing to get this to work?? sorry for all the newbie type questions, this would be my first backup drive. most of my backups before have been with cdrw but now things are getting beyond the cdrw size.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    alty127alty127 Posts: 55member
    I just received my Maxtor OneTouch II yesterday and although it is a very nice drive, however the onetouch button is useless on my mac, a powerbook running 10.4.3. The drive comes with retrospect express 6.0 which seems to have some compatibility issues with tiger, even after upgrading to 6.1. If you get this drive don't bother with the setup cd, just plug and play. I have since downloaded SuperDuper to back up my drive and have created a partition for that portion and the rest of the drive is used for video files and graphic projects.



    I can't really answer any of your questions but I do remember reading that Maxtor recommended partitioning the drive for each computer you are backing up, that way each computer has its own partition. I don't know if you can use the drive to back up mac and windows computers, I think you can only do one or the other, either mac and mac or pc and pc. However I'm not sure.



    Got my 200GB Maxtor OneTouch II fire wire/usb drive at Zipzoomfly for $164 with free fedex 2 day shipping.
  • Reply 20 of 27
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by NOFEER

    ive got an ibook g4 and a imac g3 400 and a dell 8100 windows xp will they allow booting from a hard drive. so do you have to partition for the pc part?? what about a network hard drive. all three are on the same network (airport snow) would i just have to allow sharing to get this to work?? sorry for all the newbie type questions, this would be my first backup drive. most of my backups before have been with cdrw but now things are getting beyond the cdrw size.



    ideally you would split your external hard disk into three partitions, one for each computer. you would need two partitions to be MacOSExtended(Journaled) and one partition to be [NTFS or FAT32]. i'm not sure if http://www.micromat.com/diskstudio/ds_introduction.html can do this partitioning, but if it can, then you're ready to roll.



    we need to look first if this Micromat DiskStudio can format different partitions as MacOS AND NTFS/Fat32 on one hard disk. anyone else know if it can??



    ...if it does work then you can use carbon copy cloner or superduper! to make bootable copies of your macs, and have the NTFS/FAT32 partition to make a (nonbootable)copy of your windows machine......
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