Time to Buy an External Hard Drive!!

[shooter]

After a very bad scare with my PC, I think it's time to buy an external hard drive. I was thinking of the DIY option and have seen the following on ebuyer:

Caddy (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=74826)
Hard Drive (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=40968)

I know nothing about putting the two together. Are they compatible & is it just a matter of sticking the hard drive in the case and its away to go to backing up my data?

Thanks.

[bh1]

Yes, after formatting (and optional partitioning).

[Roy Munson]

Shooter, you'll probably find it more cost effective to just buy another drive and keep it inside the PC, you can still use it purely for backups. External is good if you want to lock your data away in a bunker for safety, or share it between machines. Either option is a good idea though of course.

[ganan]

Is that caddy any good? Im looking to get one too.

[fredfox_uk]

Shooter -

The Caddy you linked to is 5.25" but HDD's are either 2.5" (laptop) or 3.5" (desktop). That Caddy will take a CD or DVD drive, you need to look for a 3.5" caddy.

But I'd agree with Roy, if you just want to backup your data then slap anothe HDD in your machine (assuming you have room) and backup to there, unless you want a seperate backup device.

[shooter]

Doh! lucky I asked you guys.

Thanks for all the help.

[bh1]

Shooter, the case options from ebuyer are:

USB 3.5" version:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=2956099870&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=74821

Firewire 3.5" version:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=2956099870&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=72260