External Hard Drive for storeage

[HarrietSchulenberg]

My PC is on it's last legs and I'm not in a position to replace it yet. When I do, it'll be with a laptop.

I need to get something to back up all the PC stuff (10 years worth of photos, ITunes, Microsoft Office files, etc), and am thinking about an external hard drive.

I'd also like to use it with the new laptop to save space.

So, firstly, would something like this be what I need:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B008PABFX8/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1435525921&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&keywords=external+hard-drives+1tb&dpPl=1&dpID=41rcB3E1O6L&ref=plSrch
It's a Samsung M3 1TB slimline portable hard drive.

If so, can I move my iTunes stuff to it easily or is that going to be a bit of a bugger?

Sorry, that link was a lot longer than I thought .

First thing to check is the size of drive you are backing up - on a 10 year old laptop I would have thought a 1TB drive was overkill.

Second is deciding what to use to do the backup - I use Acronis True Image and I make two sorts of backup, a file backup for restoring too another computer and an image backup to allow me to restore the whole (old) computer if necessary. Acronis also compresses the data do if you did go for the 1 TB drive you would easily get both types of backups onto the one drive.

Thank you for this. So I wouldn't be able to just plug up the hard drive and move everything across? I'll need to use extra software?

I'm aiming to continue using the hard drive for storeage to keep the new laptop virtually clear, hence the 1tb.

Whatever you go for, just be very careful with the external drive. We have managed to physically break 2 when they were knocked onto the floor and lost everything

You can just copy files but that relies on you remembering, you can set up the backup software to continually back files up when they change or to back them up at a particular time.

Gosh sorry for butting in but I need advice about this too.

what is the best way to back up important files (I work form home and want to back up everyday) is the hard drive Harriet linked to, the best think to do?

And what is this Acronis you speak off? Is it software?

Acronis is software. An external hard drive is the best way. Although you might want to backup really important files to the cloud as well.

For work related files Acronis (like many others) allows you to select directories or files and have them backed up every time they change.

I would also suggest you get backup software that let's you image your whole computer - and do that on a regular basis - to a separate hard drive, I use a solid state SSD drive for that and keep it away from my house. That provides you with the ability to get up and running again if a minor disaster happens, fire or theft.

A simple strategy would be

1. Image backup every month or if you install new software to an external drive which you generally keep elsewhere.
2. A full backup of work files followed by continued, incremental backups on file changes to an attached external drive.
3. Continual backup to the cloud of current work.

I just paid under a tenner for a 256 GB USB stick (only arrived today) - found on Ebay.

Do you have reasonably speedy internet ?

One FREE backup you could do is to use Google Photos to make a free backup of any photos or video from any devices you have [they describe it as unlimited storage but do be aware that there are some {generous} size restrictions in terms of width x height for images (5-8 Mpixel seem OK)]