Looking for a decent backup drive

[he-did-it-->]

With Windows 7 coming up and the realisation that I'm going to have to lose all of my beloved Steam games, I decided that I needed to back them up. My internet is terrible, so downloading them all again would be a nightmare.

So, I'm looking for a backup drive that has:

A small capacity (around 100GB)
A backup program (so I my savegames are stored automatically)
Something reliable (I've heard a lot overheat and break)
[highlight]Cheap[/highlight] (around £30)

I've searched around, all I can find have capacities bigger than my actual HDD (and are therefore expensive) :rolleyes:

So, anyone know of any?

[Tezza1234]

You get what you pay for.

These are literally the cheapest ones Ebuyer have.
[url]http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160906[/url]
[url]http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119939[/url]

Spend atleast £50 or be prepared to receive shit :v: - My damn external HDD caddy cost me £30 let alone one with a drive.

[Smoot]

If you do get one I recommend you get one that stands up straight, like Tezza's second link.

[he-did-it-->]

[QUOTE=Tezza1234;17645042]You get what you pay for.

These are literally the cheapest ones Ebuyer have.
[url]http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160906[/url]
[url]http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119939[/url]

Spend atleast £50 or be prepared to receive shit :v: - My damn external HDD caddy cost me £30 let alone one with a drive.[/QUOTE]

Again, those are bigger than my hard drive. There has to be a small one [I]somewhere[/I].

[r4nk_]

Do NOT get a WD Mybook

[Tezza1234]

That's progress.

A Drives smaller than 120GB These days just aren't viable, when you do find them they are usually the same price as (or close to) cheap 320GB HDDs.

Take these for example:
160GB - £29.39 - 18p Per GB
[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/WD-CAVIAR-G-POWER-WD1600AVVS-60GB-SATA3-8MB[/url]

320GB - £31.96 - 9p Per GB
[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320GB-Maxtor-STM3320614AS-DiamondMax-22-SATA-3Gb-s-7200rpm-16MB-Cache-85-ms-NCQ[/url]

500GB - £35.24 - 7p Per GB
[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500-GB-Hitachi-Deskstar-7K500-SATA-300-7200-rpm-16MB-Cache-85-ms-NCQ[/url]

750GB - £48.29 - 6p Per GB
[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750GB-Western-Digital-WD7500AADS-Caviar-Green-SATA-3Gb-s-32MB-Cache[/url]

[editline]01:42AM[/editline]

[QUOTE=he-did-it-->;17645168]There has to be a small one [I]somewhere[/I].[/QUOTE]
Used off Ebay? - Not that I recommend buying HDDs off ebay,

[Disarray]

[QUOTE=he-did-it-->;17644996]With Windows 7 coming up and the realisation that I'm going to have to lose all of my beloved Steam games, [/QUOTE]

You can redownload them.

[sleepyperson]

You could also just get a encloser if you have a big enough laptop HDD.
Though there a bit on the expensive side in the long run you can put any laptop HDD into them.

[Murk]

Why don't you just buy a new harddrive and use the current one as backup? Plus you keep your every single file and if you won't clean up, a backup OS.

[editline]02:37PM[/editline]

Unless you have an SSD or something

[he-did-it-->]

I've found [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27773]this one[/url]. It's a Maxtor, 160GB, has backup software and is £50. It also looks pretty damn sexy too. Thanks for your help anyway guys.

[TheMadness]

for £50 I picked up a Seagate 500GB drive.

also Maxtor is shite.

[Yuluthu]

why do you have to get a drive SMALLER than your current one?

sureley you want one with alot of room on it

[MetricMoose]

I find Microsoft Synctoy is a good tool for backing up files.

[Turbis2]

I bought a 1tb external HDD and it died on me >:C

[The Pro]

You do not need to reformat to install an operating system and windows vista/7 will automatically move all files to Windows.Old so you can go take a look and see what you need later.

[QUOTE=he-did-it-->;17644996]
A small capacity (around 100GB)[/QUOTE]
What?
[QUOTE=he-did-it-->;17658057]I've found [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27773]this one[/url]. It's a Maxtor, 160GB, has backup software and is £50. It also looks pretty damn sexy too. Thanks for your help anyway guys.[/QUOTE]
You are paying way too much for way too little.
1TB HDD = $70
Enclosure = $20 (don't be a dumbass, get a non shiny one or it's going to be covered in scratches/dust/etc a few months later)
Total = $90

No need for included "backup software" unless you love shitty proprietary programs and don't like taking a few minutes to do a search for a free open source alternative.
[QUOTE=Turbis2;17687105]I bought a 1tb external HDD and it died on me >:C[/QUOTE]
Yes, high speed metal platters with moving metal arms right next to the surface on them do have problems sometimes.
[QUOTE=TheMadness;17658849]for £50 I picked up a Seagate 500GB drive.

also Maxtor is shite.[/QUOTE]
The maxtor drive problems happened a long tine ago.
Maxtor is also owned by seagate.
Seagate had the massive firmware problem around a year ago (they fixed it, this doesn't mean you should stop getting brand X drives)

It appears you are going with the flow of hating something because other people hate it.

[TheMadness]

[QUOTE=The Pro;17688801]You are paying way too much for way too little.
1TB HDD = $70
Enclosure = $20 (don't be a dumbass, get a non shiny one or it's going to be covered in scratches/dust/etc a few months later)
Total = $90

hurr because dollars = pounds right? what with all that direct converting actually working in a real life situation

[QUOTE=The Pro;17688801]It appears you are going with the flow of hating something because other people hate it.[/QUOTE]

I've had them die on me 3 times, only to get a replacement... another maxtor

and this is in the space of a year

[The Pro]

[QUOTE=TheMadness;17688841]
hurr because dollars = pounds right? what with all that direct converting actually working in a real life situation[/quote]
E50.00 = $79
what?
[QUOTE=The Pro;17688801]
I've had them die on me 3 times, only to get a replacement... another maxtor

and this is in the space of a year[/QUOTE]
You can replace "maxtor" with any other hard drive brand, they all can break.
You can run in to problems where you get three broken ones no matter what brand and no matter what price you pay.

[TheMadness]

[QUOTE=The Pro;17688871]E50.00 = $79
what?[/quote]

[QUOTE=TheMadness;17688841]what with all that direct converting actually working in a real life situation[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=The Pro;17688871]You can replace "maxtor" with any other hard drive brand, they all can break.
You can run in to problems where you get three broken ones no matter what brand and no matter what price you pay.[/QUOTE]

except it's more likely to happen with worse brands, the same with any product

it's like saying you'll buy logisys PSUs because even corsair break sometimes