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How to Choose a Hard Drive for Backing up Your Files

Hard drives can be used for a variety of reasons, but you want one that's great at backing up your files. How do you choose such a drive? Learn everything you need to know, now.

Things You'll Need

  • Hard drives to consider
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a size. Find the size of the files you want to back up, and estimate how much they'll grow in the future. To find the size of a drive, double-click on "My Computer," and right-click on the drive you want to know the size of. Select "Properties," and look under "Used Space." To find the size of a file or folder, right-click it, and select "Properties." Look under "Size." Ask yourself how many backups you'll be storing on the drive, how long you want to keep the drive, and what size backups you'll be making at that point--to choose the right size.

    • 2

      Decide between mechanical and a solid state disk. Mechanical is really the only option here. SSDs aren't nearly large enough or cost-efficient to use for backup purposes.

    • 3

      Decide on an internal or external hard drive. Internal drives are slightly cheaper, and installed inside your computer. If you get this kind of drive, you'll need to know whether you need an IDE or SATA drive. For info on finding out, see the resources below. External drives are best if you'll be backing up data from multiple computers, or if you want to store your backup data in a location away from your computer. For help in choosing an external hard drive, check the resources.

    • 4

      Consider what speed you want. Backup hard drives don't need to be fast, so the standard 7200RPM drive will work perfectly.

    • 5

      Choose your style. If you're getting an internal drive, style isn't an issue, but if you're going with an external drive, it could be. You'll probably be looking at the drive every day, so choose one that you don't just like, but love.

Tips & Warnings

  • For more info on choosing hard drives, check the resources.

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Comments

View all 7 Comments
  • sonni57 Apr 02, 2009
    Good article on how to choose a hard drive so you can back up your computer. We all need to do this.
  • Rob McKelvie Dec 28, 2008
    Very helpful info about backing up to a hard drive. Thanks and 5*
  • Upon-Request Dec 28, 2008
    Good article - thanks for the details...
  • AlishaV Dec 20, 2008
    I need to do this before my computer goes completely on the fritz. Thanks for the info!
  • Vanillatte Dec 17, 2008
    Excellent, detailed article on how to choose a hard drive for backing up your computer! I'm sure a lot of people can use this helpful information.

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