# How to Choose an External Hard Drive



## Kemper100 (Sep 16, 2017)

I'm a PC dummy and I'm looking for something to back up my PC (Windows 10 Desktop System) 

There are lot of options now available but I'm not too sure on what I need in terms of size for saving documents, photos, and media....basically anything I want to save incase my PC goes nuts and won't boot.

Are all external hard drives the same except for size?

:glasses: :glasses: :glasses:


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

I don't find any difference in the ones I have. I use a Toshiba 500 Gb. for backup images and other storage such as some batch file backups that I want immediate access to without having to mount an image. I actually copy everything except the backup images from that drive to a 2 Tb. Seagate.

Those little USB powered drives are so cheap that there's no point in not having a couple as far as I'm concerned. Get one that runs on USB3.

Toshiba Canvio Advance HDTC920XK3AA 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive

They do run much slower than a hard drive but that's no big deal.

Previous to the above pair, I used a Western Digital 640 Gb. that required a separate power supply and was huge in comparison to the usb powered types.


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## ktownskier (Aug 22, 2018)

No, they are not all the same. And backing up, versus making a back-up copy are two different things as well. 

There are 3 main types of Disk Drives currently available or referred to as HDD, SSD and ODD. 

HDD typically refers to Hard Disk Drive, literally spinning platters of metal that are covered with read/write material and are accessed by, for lack of a better term, an arm that has the ability to read and write from the disk. 

SSD, stands for Solid State Drive, or a bunch of flash memory strung together that stores data even when the power is off and can be accessed in the same way that an HDD can. 

Optical Storage is another method for backing up. However, more and more PC's and Laptop's no longer come with optical drives making this less and less of a usable option. Also, most generic CD's/DVD's sold for recording data onto had a shelf-life of 2-10 years. Newer discs, referred to as Millennial or M-Discs are made in a way to last upwards of a century or more. Some state they will last 1000 years, hence the Millennial title.

For a better understanding of Backups and how to use them, and how they are done, and the differences, Follow this Link.

Personally, I don't like backups that use proprietary software or encoding, that make it difficult to extract a file. I want it to be as simple as possible. 

I also prefer it to be attached to my Network so that anyone on the network can backup to it and it can be used for media storage if needed/wanted. (NAS or Network Added Storage).


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## ktownskier (Aug 22, 2018)

surferdude2 said:


> I don't find any difference in the ones I have. I use a Toshiba 500 Gb. for backup images and other storage such as some batch file backups that I want immediate access to without having to mount an image. I actually copy everything except the backup images from that drive to a 2 Tb. Seagate.
> 
> Those little USB powered drives are so cheap that there's no point in not having a couple as far as I'm concerned. Get one that runs on USB3.
> 
> ...


I agree with @surferdude2, there is no reason why anyone shouldn't have an external driver, or two, or three or backups or external storage. 

On Amazon, I found 2 TB (Yes TERABYTE!!) portable external HDD from Seagate for $60 and from Western Digital for $65. 

The Toshiba Canvio Advance mentioned above was also $65, and a 4 TB on for $100. 

As for SSD external storage, they are much more expensive. A Western Digital 1TB is $130. Samsung 1TB is $140, SanDisk for $190 and Seagate Barracuda 1TB for $160. 

All are USB 3.0 and all are portable, meaning you can take them with you or you can leave them behind. 

SSDs are faster to read and write. I switched my LT to SSD when I first got it, it had one in it already and I switched the HDD to an SSD that I scavenged from my old LT that died. (I also scavenged the memory). Instead of booting in up to a minute, it boots in less than 9 seconds.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

I will add that I have used just about every brand of backup imaging software and find *EaseUS TODO* to be the most sociable and well featured of all.

It allows for easy mounting an image by merely double clicking on it, so I can pluck a past file out fairly quickly when needed. It also allows auto-scheduling and doesn't get upset if you don't have the computer on at the scheduled time, it'll make one when you next boot up, if you have checked that option box. I set mine for 3 AM so it images daily at first boot... takes less than 10 minutes. YMMV depending on drive info size.

Edit; The free version is all you need. I'm using version 12.0 so can't say how their later versions may or may not do.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Ease US TODO Features:

System Backup and Recovery
Backup Schedule
File and Folder Backup
Incremental disk/partition backup
Backup Management to manage the backup tasks and plans
Disk Tools like clone disk, wipe disk
Backup to external hard drive, CD/DVD, NAS for double protection
Schedule backup ongoing indicator to timely notify whether your schedule is ongoing or not.
Backup network shared files
One-click system backup & recovery.
Support dynamic disk - back up and clone dynamic volume.


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## Kemper100 (Sep 16, 2017)

Thanks guys.....so a SSD external drive and use the Ease US TODO for management?


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## Kemper100 (Sep 16, 2017)

surferdude2 said:


> Ease US TODO Features:
> 
> System Backup and Recovery
> Backup Schedule
> ...


I just need the Todo Backup Free off the site correct?

https://www.easeus.com/download.htm?ad&gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WLlpEhfEi0cI4VVaevVjDPXYwCEn64YQlWXV6NDYuzblWuK-88IG1hoCmdUQAvD_BwE


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## McGillicuddy (May 31, 2020)

The best external HD for backups is the cloud. Nothing to worry about maintaining/upgrading nor about losing to fire/flood. And storage space can be dynamically sized. Carbonite is a good provider, for example.


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## Kemper100 (Sep 16, 2017)

ktownskier said:


> I agree with @surferdude2, there is no reason why anyone shouldn't have an external driver, or two, or three or backups or external storage.
> 
> On Amazon, I found 2 TB (Yes TERABYTE!!) portable external HDD from Seagate for $60 and from Western Digital for $65.
> 
> ...


I have no idea what size I need. Anyway of finding out the how much I have on my drive. When I go to device manager and right click for properties it doesn't show me the amount of data I have on the disk.


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## McGillicuddy (May 31, 2020)

Kemper100 said:


> I have no idea what size I need. Anyway of finding out the how much I have on my drive. When I go to device manager and right click for properties it doesn't show me the amount of data I have on the disk.


Settings>system>storage


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

:subscribing:


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

Depending on your needs, I would wager that a cloud service will be easier and won't cost much more than a hard drive would (especially an external hard drive). If you are just backing up files, it is super easy to back them up with a cloud service, and there is almost no chance that you'll lose those files. A backup hard drive can fail and you'll lose everything on it, cloud services backup all of their client data so they won't lose anything you put there short of a real disaster happening.


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## ChuckTin (Nov 17, 2014)

We recently moved accross town (5-7 miles) so I did a blue ray and a cloud backup to prepare.
1 - I (fortunately) didn't need to restore from the cloud backup cause ...
2 - the cloud backup took 36 HOURS to complete. (Blue ray took 2-3 hours).
Just saying.


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## Joeywhat (Apr 18, 2020)

ChuckTin said:


> We recently moved accross town (5-7 miles) so I did a blue ray and a cloud backup to prepare.
> 1 - I (fortunately) didn't need to restore from the cloud backup cause ...
> 2 - the cloud backup took 36 HOURS to complete. (Blue ray took 2-3 hours).
> Just saying.


It's based on your internet connection. If you have fast upload speeds it will go a lot quicker.


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## ktownskier (Aug 22, 2018)

I downloaded 28K files/211 gb of music files from google music at 50 mbps and it took 12 hours.

Just Sayin...


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Cloud is too slow for full disk drive imaging.

I backup a full system drive image on day one of the month and incrementals daily afterward. The full image takes around 15 min. and the incrementals less than 10 min. I have 70 Gigs of data on the system drive. I save the previous month's images while making the current month one's and the total burden on the backup drive approaches 220 Gigs at the highest point right before I dump the oldest one via a batch file run by the Win7 Task Manager. I'll share that batch file and Task Manager import file if anyone requests it.

IMHO, if you aren't making a full system drive image, you don't have much of a plan. I rarely ever need to deploy an image but if I didn't have one... well, you know how that goes with Murphy's Law lurking in the wings. I have deployed one a time or two and it makes me smile to realize how much grief I'm getting out of by not having to reinstall the system and go through all that associated nightmare that comes along with that process.

k


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Kemper100 said:


> I just need the Todo Backup Free off the site correct?
> 
> https://www.easeus.com/download.htm?ad&gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WLlpEhfEi0cI4VVaevVjDPXYwCEn64YQlWXV6NDYuzblWuK-88IG1hoCmdUQAvD_BwE


 @Kemper100 I run version 12.0 and my recommendation is valid for that version. I won't go out on a limb for any later version until I test it and the current one works too well to make that a sane thing to do.

12.0 is still being served if you look around the Google hits, so choose as you think best.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

If you're just doing cloud backups of files, it should go faster on subsequent backups if your system just does incremental backups. Assuming you don't change every single file between backups!


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

huesmann said:


> If you're just doing cloud backups of files, it should go faster on subsequent backups if your system just does incremental backups. Assuming you don't change every single file between backups!


That's correct since the initial image records the entire drive. E.g., my initial image is 41 GB while the incrementals average 2.6 GB. That's Running Win7 with 70 GB of data on the drive. The Win systems since Win98 have a ton of activity going on that makes the incrementals rather large in comparison to the actual user activity. They must be doing things the hard way! :biggrin2:

I've got a good 100 MB/sec. connection and I still consider cloud storage out of the question, not only for the lost time but security and possibly being abandoned at some point and there's always the inconvenience of access that requires an internet connection. Keep it local is my style... I still use a local mail client.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

I meant 100Mb/sec. not 100MB/sec. as my speed of transfer connection. I wish I had 100MB/sec.! :biggrin2:

That's the DL speed. I only get 11Mb/sec. upload speed. You can divide 40 GB by 11 Mbs and see why I don't use cloud for my images. :smile:


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## Highlander86 (Aug 14, 2017)

Kemper100 said:


> I'm a PC dummy and I'm looking for something to back up my PC (Windows 10 Desktop System)
> 
> There are lot of options now available but I'm not too sure on what I need in terms of size for saving documents, photos, and media....basically anything I want to save incase my PC goes nuts and won't boot.
> 
> ...



I you like speed, affordability, and efficiency, go with an internal SSD which is easy to install and setup. My first one bought four months ago was a Samsung EVO 500GB which was super easy to install and setup on a nearly new computer with SSD slots and mounting brackets. My second one was a Micron Crucial brand 500 GB SSD that was installed in a very old computer (2011 model HP Pavillion with a somewhat fast processor)- I did buy a separate mounting bracket for the old computer. Both computers are now very fast in startup and processing. Both computers have hard drives that now act as spare data drives since the SSDs have become the new C:\ drives. Both were installed in internal open bays and connected to a power supply cable and a SATA cable connected the device to the motherboard. I do have a 500 GB Toshiba external USB drive connected to my newer computer but it is way too slow to keep up with the SSDs.


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## Darkkhelmet (May 22, 2018)

I have never heard of EaseUS but it sounds interesting. How does it compare to Acronis True Image (which is what I use)?


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## ChuckTin (Nov 17, 2014)

No all Hard Drives are not the same. Some are built for speed of access. Others are made for smooth input/output as in video streaming and editing.
If you are adding an _external_ drive you'll need to consider the speed of your interface. If you've got a reasonably current machine look for USB3 or better.
If you don't have a fast interface you may be able to add a internal card with a fast connector on it.
Sounds like you'd be better off finding a local computer repair that can advise you.


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## BataviaJim (Dec 26, 2008)

Here's a key point that I haven't seen mentioned:

If you use an external drive (whether it be a disk or thumb drive) remember to disconnect the drive from your computer when done.

Ransomware disables all connected drives if it infects your computer. So having a backup on a separate drive is useless if the drive is connected. And be sure NOT to reconnect until you have reinstalled Windows, or the backup drive will be encrypted at that point.

I used to keep my backups on a separate internal drive until I learned this (fortunately not the hard way). So now I have a 128gb thumb drive for partial backups, and a 2TB external Seagate HD for image and full backups.

I too use the free version of EaseUs ToDo for image backups. It works fine -- some up-selling ads but no big deal. If your system drive is partitioned you can use it to image only the system partition -- gets the critical part while saving some space.

It also does regular (non-image) backups but I use BackupMaker for that because I had it previously and already had a variety of partials setup, otherwise I'd use EaseUs.

It's easy to forget about backups so put a periodic reminder in your calendar.


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## wraiththe (Sep 27, 2011)

The first thing to consider is how much stuff you have to back up.
Depending on how much, your internet connection.
If you do not have a lot of stuff, then simply having a microsoft outlook.com account (free) and using windows 10 to its potential.. you can have a mirror drive for all your important files on the net. Fully encoded and split up, and saved on multiple continents... so there is not much worry you will lose anything.
If you do get a backup drive and your computer is USB 3 capable... get one of those... or a wifi model. Learn how to use the windows media creation site to create a bootable copy of latest windows 10 version. If you go down, boot from one of these and reinstall is quick.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Darkkhelmet said:


> I have never heard of EaseUS but it sounds interesting. How does it compare to Acronis True Image (which is what I use)?


I used all versions of Acronis up to and including 12. The earlier versions were great but then they went downhill with newer ones and finally got to where it was difficult to get their boot media to work on newer computers and I had to drop them. Also, it left me stranded once when attempting to restore an image. It wiped the drive and got half way through deploying the new image and errored out. Fortunately I was testing another imaging software at the time and it worked to bail me out. I lost confidence in it and started searching for a replacement. That led to EaseUS.

Another problem I had with them, when dumping or relocating a series and starting a new one, like at months end or whatever, it was necessary to recreate a new backup task within Acronis... kinda like reinventing the wheel each time. EaseUS doesn't require that, so I can set up a batch file to move the current series to another folder and EasUS will go right ahead and recreate the previously set up folder again and start a new series, full disk and incrementals without any involvment from me.

I also like the fact that I can double click any image file, full or incremental, and it will mount the image in a folder and allow me to pick whatever file or folder I want from it. No big deal... the folder disappears when you close it.

Trust me, You'll like it better.

Here's the simple batch file that I have Windows Task Manager to run monthly for maintaining full system mdisks like I want to. Keep it in the folder on the drive where you direct you backup images to... that way Task Manager doesn't get confused about the path.

<resetEaseUS.bat>

@Echo OFF
IF EXIST "DiskC\*.pbd" GOTO PROCEED
GOTO CANCEL
ROCEED
RD Older /s /q
MD Older
MOVE "DiskC\*.pbd" Older
RD "DiskC" /s /q
GOTO END
:CANCEL
ECHO Protection invoked to avoid deleting older
ECHO backup series when no new series is present.
Pause
:END

</resetEaseUS.bat>

You can create your own Windows Task to call up that batch or run it manually if you like. Windows Task Manager runs mine monthly and I don't have to remember to do it.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

Reliving the time Acronis had me hung out to dry, it all comes back vividly to me now. Here's how it went and why I quit Acronis:

While I was deploying an Acronis 2014 full system drive image to correct some obscure problem, it errored out and left me with an unbootable drive. Not only that, the numerous Acronis boot CD's that I had made for just such an occasion would not boot either... none of them... no version. Actually one of them booted but wouldn't recognize the drive where the images were stored. I was sweating bullets and thinking I'd have to reinstall Windows and spend 3 days or more getting it back to where it was sociable again.

As a last ditch effort, I placed an old Hiren boot CD in the drive and lo and behold, it booted! It even had a version of Acronis on it and that pulled my bacon out of the fire!

As a result of that harrowing experience, I swore off Acronis and started using Aomei. That worked pretty well for a while, no problems, but when EaseUS came along, I tested it and the rest is history. It was a hands down no brainer winner. It just works better than any freebie out there and has more features and versatility.

The moral here may well be to always have an alternate boot method that has some useful utilities on it. The Hiren boot CD is a good choice. You can even put it on a boot usb thumb drive if you have no CD-ROM drive.

<end of novel>

Exibits A,B, and C pictured below:


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## wraiththe (Sep 27, 2011)

The thing is, when you reinstall windows 10, there could be hours and hours of updates since you backed it up. If you use the windows media creation tool
1) windows 10 will remember your computer and you will not need a license key
2) the version it installs should be current and not need many updates
3) it takes less than a few hours.. depending.

the bad part is installing other software.


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## diyorpay (Sep 21, 2010)

Thank you surferdude for your experience.

I started with Ghost, moved to Acronis and presently use AOMEI.

I will give EaseUS a workout.

I am old school also and will not trust any backup source that relies on internet availability. And its not the storage provider there that does damage, it's the hackers that hack them.

My experience about external drives, for large data storage including images:
Any drive that has its own power supply that plugs into a USB port on computer is less reliable than one that plugs in directly. My favorite at present is Seagate Backup Plus 4TB or 5TB which when being promoted run from $80 to $90. Also using the 18 inch connecting cord is far better than longer ones. The ease of mobility is amazing.


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## HandyAndyInNC (Jun 4, 2018)

It all depends.
Each hard drive is different.
If you are looking a spinning rust type,

You want to look at the spindle speed, the higher the better.
The amount of buffer memory on the controller comes into play.
Make sure that the onboard controller on the drive has its own processor.

SSD are faster than spinning rust, but only if the amount of memory in the controller is large.

I do not like cloud storage, that is on someone else's server and it is shared by any number of other users. I'm talking millions of other users. Not all at the same time of course. But the server CPU, Memory and Controllers get a good workout. Also, the server can be performing multiple duties. Like also hosting websites, or a database server. All depends on the type of package that you purchase. Another thing about cloud storage, they may shut them down during the lower traffic times, like in the middle of our night in the US. You do not get a choice as to where your data may be residing. Could easily be on a server outside of the US. They are not required to follow the same security as the servers in the US. Just ask any bank that is in business. They use storage and employees in foreign countries because the rules and laws, network, hardware and employees are cheaper than the US. If you do use cloud storage, encrypt everything. And you must follow their schedule of availability.

I keep my data safe on another server that is located in the house. But never seen. All data is stored there. Nothing is stored on the boxes I use. They are only a dumb terminal to access the data.


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

diyorpay said:


> My experience about external drives, for large data storage including images:
> Any drive that has its own power supply that plugs into a USB port on computer is less reliable than one that plugs in directly. My favorite at present is Seagate Backup Plus 4TB or 5TB which when being promoted run from $80 to $90. Also using the 18 inch connecting cord is far better than longer ones. The ease of mobility is amazing.


Agreed on all that. I love portable drives! No drive is to be trusted fully though, so I also use redundacy. Since my daily backup images are stored on a USB drive, I occasionally hook my old adapter cable up that plugs into the computer USB port and allows connecting to a SATA or IDE drive (40 pin or 80 pin) and run a full drive image backup to one of my old spare hard drives. That cable and power supply was less the $20 and makes it easy to crank up an extra drive when I need to.

I think it grinds along at USB 2 speed but that's ok since it's rarely used. If you have any old hard drive laying around, get one of these adapter hookups and get some use out of them. I see Walmart.com is even selling them now... Drive Adapter Kit just be sure you get the IDE/SATA one if you have old spare IDE drives, otherwise most of what's offered lately only hook up to SATA drives.

Another feature I forgot to mention about the EaseUS imaging software is that it has an option that will place a boot menu on the bootloader sector of you hard drive so that no boot media is ever required to access the software when needed. I tested that and it works very well. I elected to discontinue it since I have never been a fan of anything that messes with the bootloader sector. YMMV Probably just my cynicism working overtime. lain:

Best regards, SD2


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## surferdude2 (Nov 21, 2019)

You can't have too many hard drives! I work on a few friends and close family members computers and image them to some old spare drives since they won't do that or any other type of backup themselves. It comes in handy when they return a few months later with some malware and viral infested mess that they want me to clean up. It takes about an hour and they're back in shape like it was the last time it left here. Cool.

Now that I've pulled these out for the photo-op, I think I'll wipe a couple of them since I know the backups for two of those people won't be needed, they aren't with us any more. :sad:
+
+


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## Kemper100 (Sep 16, 2017)

So I purchased a Samsung SSD T7 plugged it in and went through the start up and looking at this manual besides the connection page and warranty page it doesn't show how to start using the device. Looked at YouTube bot all I see is reviews. 

Do I have to make a folder and drag and drop everything I want to save on it like the picture I've linked here?


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

Click Windows+Run, type Backup and restore (Win 7) and let the Backup program do it's thing.
It will suggest the Backup Drive to be the Target.
Let Windows choose what to backup. (Everything plus System Image)
Repeat on a schedule that fits you.
Make sure the Drive is plugged in on the next scheduled backup.


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## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

Btw, the external SSD wasn't really necessary. Any external Drive would have been good. For half the money.
Unless you want the Backup to be over with very fast, lol.
😎


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## snic (Sep 16, 2018)

BataviaJim said:


> If you use an external drive (whether it be a disk or thumb drive) remember to disconnect the drive from your computer when done.
> 
> Ransomware disables all connected drives if it infects your computer. So having a backup on a separate drive is useless if the drive is connected.


A better idea is to back everything important up to a cloud storage service such as Google Drive. On the surface that seems like a horrible idea because then all your personal stuff is presumably exposed to who knows what kind of hackers. However, I use a backup program called Duplicati that encrypts the data using a local encryption key. That basically means that my computer encrypts the data before it gets uploaded, and you need my password to decrypt it. Because I chose a very strong password, I don't need to worry about anyone being able to read what's in my backups.

With this system, ransomware attackers can freeze my computer and make all the threats to wipe it they want. All I need to do is wipe the hard disk myself, re-install the operating system, and restore my backed-up files. What really, really astonishes me is that organizations that have been the victim of ransomware attacks don't have a backup system in place that would similarly eliminate the need to pay ransom.


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