What External Devices Use for Backup: eSata, FireWire or USB?

Backing up data is a key necessity for all the daily business and most of user activity. When you need a hard drive clone, strategy for server backup or just moving some precious data to the safe location, you can’t trust to local storage devices only and often choose to plug some external devices, giving data the different place other than your computer. Hot and powerful HDD backup software is a vital part of this process.

Let us bring an opinion about some popular external backup devices, to help you choose the product most satisfying for you among the rich collection of different external storages. We can’t show the advanced overall test or tech review, but some of most basic characteristics featured by external storages are commonly known and can be listed in a comparison.

Types of Direct Connections to External Devices

These are two types of external direct-attached storages (DASes) most popular and readily available: USB pen drives and external hard drives. A couple of years before the bridge technology were appeared: external flash drives (SSDs) in the form factor of an external 2.5” drive.

The typical interface of external drive is the USB plug, available in both widespread USB 2.0 and relatively new USB 3.0 connection standard, ten times faster than its predecessor. Other popular interfaces are FireWire (also available in two version standards), external serial ATA (eSATA) and the most modern, ultra-fast Thunderbolt interface available in Apple computers only.

Almost any producer of the HDDs or flash memory has some external drives utilizing one or more connection interfaces. Among the most popular manufacturers are such giants as Hitachi, LaCie, Iomega, Buffalo and SunDisk. The matters of functionality, economic benefits and tech quality of external devices for some of these manufacturers will be detailed in the next chapter.

Manufacturers of DASes: Can You Grab a Case Studio for External Backup Needs?

Surely, you can. The answer is you have no need in case studios nowadays, really. Every manufacturer of external data storage units can bring you an appealing and useful product. All you must to calculate before is a matters of interface, price, storage available and needed, and, in some cases, design.

• Buffalo backup devices. Buffalo produces often somewhat big, relatively bulky external storages. You may choose Buffalo backup device when you need a ready-to-use, reliable standalone unit. Most Buffalo backup units utilize USB connection, but Thunderbird and eSATA units are available, too. The example of Buffalo backup device is a DriveStation Axis, using the USB 3.0 interface.
• LaCie backup devices. Traditionally, LaCie manufactures devices which can be described as paragons of design and innovations. LaCie experiments with modern connection interfaces freely, so if you need some hot type of data plug for your external device, look to LaCie firstly. The typical disadvantage of LaCie backup devices is a relatively high price tag. A mark of product for LaCie external drives is a posh Porsche Design device types, e.g. ‘9220 model.
• Hitachi backup devices. Steady horses of the HDD world, Hitachi hard drives work as both built-in and external devices throughout the entire modern computer infrastructure. Somewhat conservative design and a healthy dose of stability approved by time are the trademarks of Hitachi backup devices. The typical modern Hitachi backup unit is the XL Desktop Drive model.
• Iomega backup devices. Like LaCie, Iomega do not manufacture own HDDs or flash memory units; Iomega devices are just a case for some different storage modules in a specified form factor. Some product lines of Iomega backup drives, including 2.5” eGo and 3.5” Prestige Desktop series, are widely available on the market.
• SanDisk backup devices. SanDisk is one of most popular and reverenced manufacturers of flash memory units, including 2.5” SSDs, memory cards and USB pen drives. The most actual product line of SanDisk Ultra backup devices is a SanDisk Extreme series which includes a lot of external and built-in SSD devices as well as USB and memory cards.

Choosing among these manufacturers seems like tricky task, but nowadays it is very easy; just take what you choose, plug it and use it without a doubt.

HDD Backup Software and Other Tools of Automation

Almost every single manufacturer completes its backup device with some software used to external drive backup. These utilities are comfortable and reliable, although have somewhat restricted functionality for a while. The biggest disadvantage of these tools is the dedication to some particular manufacturer or device.

If you are using many types of drives with different interfaces instead, then you can decide to use more universal and versatile backup software for such tasks as database backup or a disk clone.

For example, Handy Backup can use any type of external device as both the data source and backup destination, doing all the operations needed with equal efficiency no matter what device you are using. With just one click you can perform the backup task using any external device plugged to your computer.

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