Backing up my system... advice?

[Jannae]

I have upgraded my PC so that I'm at about 170 Gb now. I think I'd like to look into getting a tape backup drive. Obviously, it doesn't have to be able to back up 170 Gb, but I don't really want one of the 2/4 Gb ones either.

Does any one have any advice on a nice consumer-level tape drive? It could be external, or internal... new or refurbished... I really don't care... I just want to be able to afford it... not to mention the media!

I've been thinking Ebay would be the best place to find one, but i really don't think i know exactly what i'm looking for, so i was hoping someone could help me out in that department.

Thanks!
~ Jannae.

 

[SickBoi]

You could get a DAT drive.. they store anywhere from 2 to 40GB compressed on one tape..

 

[Nick M]

http://www.onstream.com/

Check that out; this may interest you.

 

[jcs83md]

You'd probably be better off doing a hard drive image. With 170 gigabytes I would hope you would have enough free space to keep a backup of your necessary files.

 

[Nick M]

But with that one she would have to use her existing 170GB drive; no?

I think what might be an alternative to a tape drive is a removable HDD; a large capacity one; but I think as of now; the largest is 160GB.

 

[jcs83md]

Well she used the term upgraded, and I've never heard of a 170GB hard drive, therefore I'm assuming there are at least 2 drives in the system. She also said she doesnt have to back up all 170 Gigabytes, maybe even adding a smaller hard drive to the system would be cheaper then buying a tape drive with a larger capacity. As you rise in capacity, tape drive prices escalate rapidly.

 

[Nick M]

I looked around prices on pricewatch.com; and come to think of it; a larger HDD will be cheapter then a high/mid capacity drive; so that's an alternative.

I'm hoping Jannae doesn't forget about her post; and that she will come back and read this.