I am improving my backup regime, and want to backup my major data folder onto my USB.

However, even without all the current data on it, the USB is still too small --1GB vs. folder of near 2GB.

Can anyone here give me an idea of the current range in capacity for USBs above 2GB, and their respective price range?

Thanks.

Buy SD cards to back up instead. Less chance of becoming unusable or suffering data loss. Also, they are a lot faster.

If you are willing to spend the coin, you can get up to 64 gigs I believe. My suggestion. Get a Calss 10 Toshiba 16 gb card. They cost about 500rmb each. A 8 gig is about 300. I have many Class 4 SD cards and USB sticks, but the class 10 SD HC cards are super fast. Read at 23MB/s and Write at 19MB/s. There's faster however, the Toshiba SD XC cards with a write speed of 45MB/s and a read speed of 90MB/s. I have no idea of the prices however, perhaps 2000rmb for one? They only come in 64gigs.

USB drives are going to give you a write speed of around 4MB/s and a read speed of 17 MB/s on average.

If you are going to be transferring large file sets regularly, the faster the better.

I recommend Toshiba for USB and SD cards. I have had good luck with Panasonic cards as well. I have not had good luck with Transend and Verbatim USB drives. I've been using a 16g SanDisk USB drive for a couple months, seems ok so far.

If you really want a USB drive, you should be able to pick up a Toshiba 4 g for about 70rmb or an 8g for about 120rmb at MediaMarkt.

Thanks much.

Didn't know what the acronym SD meant, checked on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Dig ... _computers

I have a PC--there was a little caveat in the above overview. You might be aware of this...?

I think I will have to go for the "crude little dongle"( ).

As an afterthought, have you heard of any possibilities of ordering online, and having a single unit delivered?

I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

you can backup on 1tb usb portable hard drive or 750mb portable hard drive. Cost range depends on brand. I have a Western Digital that works great. Also, if you have China Telecom as your internet provider, they give you some storage space on their servers as part of your package.

KopyKatKiller wrote:I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

mediamarkt's prices aren't that great. i live next to one and i go there a bunch and buy from them but i've always found their prices to be on the high side. in fact, the laptop i'm using that i bought from them is 100RMB more than the advertised price at sunning and their stuff isn't cheap either. i go there because it's less hassle to shop at and is a decent environment to buy things, not for their prices.

KopyKatKiller wrote:I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

I love Media Markt but they are NOT cheap. Their selling point is that they are trustworthy (no fakes) and you're less likely to have issues if you buy a faulty product. The down side is their prices are HIGHER than you can find elsewhere.

Also I suggest downloading the free Microsoft File Sync utility called Synctoy 2.1 here is the link

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... x?id=15155

Very easy to use. What I did was create a folder say "DATA" and all the folders you use and want to back up) are all within that folder. To your external (USB or HDD) copy the folder DATA and all its folders.

When you are done open Synctoy and create a folder pair, say the left folder is DATA on your PC and the right folder is on your external (You browse for both).

The you chose which sync option you want... the help file is very useful and informative.

I've used Synctoy for years and never had any issues with it.

KopyKatKiller wrote:I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

Edit. They have the best prices on USB Sticks and SD cards generally.

I buy my electronics at PC Mall, MediaMarkt, and YoLo. for the most part. I got my 46" Sony TV at RT Mart, though it is now a TESCO for a cheaper price (1 year out of date now of course). I buy all my camera equipment and SD cards at MediaMarkt. I have bought 3 laptops in the last year or so. One at MediaMarkt, one at YoLo, and one at PC Mall.

thanks KKK for the SD card tip !
much faster than USB key...

Polito wrote:thanks KKK for the SD card tip !
much faster than USB key...

Can I just check this is right - the entire volume of files you want to back up can fit on to a tiny SD card? Gosh I envy you. I'm having to delete stuff off my 1 terabyte (1000 GB) drive as it's 99% full!

Oh, SD card is just a mobile disk to use on-the-go...
I backup with Timemachine on my Synology NAS... and then make a local back-up of the important files of the NAS on an external 2TB USB disk... it will definitely not fit on a SD card ^_^
I wait for the Petaoctet devices !

Update: The Toshiba 16gig class ten SD card is now 380rmb at MediaMarkt. They have another type of class 4 SD card from Toshiba with 60kB write speed for 780rmb.

I also back up onto external disks. I have 3 compact 3.5 500 gig drives on my desk. But if you are only backing up a gig or two, that's overkill. A 4 gig SD card or usb stick for 40 or 50rmb makes much more sense.

Polito wrote:Oh, SD card is just a mobile disk to use on-the-go...
I backup with Timemachine on my Synology NAS... and then make a local back-up of the important files of the NAS on an external 2TB USB disk... it will definitely not fit on a SD card ^_^
I wait for the Petaoctet devices !

How's the NAS work for you?

My co-worker and I need to share files regularly and have been using dropbox. I've been looking into a local cloud set up of sorts to share files between to macs, iphones, and ipads.

Basically what I want to do is have a local dropbox that can be accessed through wifi. Looks like NAS is the way to go.

I got this 2-bay Synology (DS212j) last November to give a try to this system.
I found the dealer on the syno website (1650 yuans without HDD).
I have mounted only one disk (2 TB) in it (one slot is still empty) and plugged it on a 200-yuans APC UPS.

It works really well. It was my first time with this kind of machine and it is pretty easy to set-up.
The OS is nice. Creating of the accounts and their rights is a bliss.
I connected it on my wifi router (airport extreme).
On my local home network, I use the applications developed by Syno with my android phone and my iPad.
On my macbook, it appears as a Shared and you see the mounted volumes on the desktop.

It is a UPnP and DLNA device so media players and PS3 can detect it and browse it.

When out, I can access the NAS through a web browser.
I use Filezilla (free) to send documents through FTP. It also works well.

I have not been through all the possibilities offered by the OS but I am very happy so far.
To have this amount of Giga available is very comfortable.

The Time Machine feature is kind of build-in. The back-up of the NAS it self is also very easy.

The set up for local use is very easy.
For remote access, I had to go through things like port-forwarding on airport extreme, DynDNS and a couple of other network stuff. Lot of info on the forums. I am a beginner and i managed to go through...

The NAS solution is very comfortable, not so expensive regarding to the possibilities offered.
It offers sharing capabilities, space and easy backup.

I am using a 2 TB wireless backup. When my computer is on, it automatically makes incremental backups every hour.

Polito wrote:I got this 2-bay Synology (DS212j) last November to give a try to this system.
I found the dealer on the syno website (1650 yuans without HDD).
I have mounted only one disk (2 TB) in it (one slot is still empty) and plugged it on a 200-yuans APC UPS.

It works really well. It was my first time with this kind of machine and it is pretty easy to set-up.
The OS is nice. Creating of the accounts and their rights is a bliss.
I connected it on my wifi router (airport extreme).
On my local home network, I use the applications developed by Syno with my android phone and my iPad.
On my macbook, it appears as a Shared and you see the mounted volumes on the desktop.

It is a UPnP and DLNA device so media players and PS3 can detect it and browse it.

When out, I can access the NAS through a web browser.
I use Filezilla (free) to send documents through FTP. It also works well.

I have not been through all the possibilities offered by the OS but I am very happy so far.
To have this amount of Giga available is very comfortable.

The Time Machine feature is kind of build-in. The back-up of the NAS it self is also very easy.

The set up for local use is very easy.
For remote access, I had to go through things like port-forwarding on airport extreme, DynDNS and a couple of other network stuff. Lot of info on the forums. I am a beginner and i managed to go through...

The NAS solution is very comfortable, not so expensive regarding to the possibilities offered.
It offers sharing capabilities, space and easy backup.

Thanks for the feedback. Basically this is what I am looking for. Looks pretty slick.

Where did you purchase it?

Looks like I got to get some enterprise class hard drives.. It's going to get awesome.

take a look at their website www.synology.com
there is a link ''where to buy'' with resellers in Shanghai. I chose the first on the list.
Some new models are expected in March (feedback from CES in early january).

Their website is full of ressources... you may want to add to Favorites !

chingiskhan wrote:

KopyKatKiller wrote:I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

I love Media Markt but they are NOT cheap. Their selling point is that they are trustworthy (no fakes) and you're less likely to have issues if you buy a faulty product. The down side is their prices are HIGHER than you can find elsewhere.

You might be interested to know that the prices for 4-8GB USB at Carrefour are b/t RMB130-200, for mostly local brands. The Toshiba 4GB USB I purchased today from MediaMarkt was RMB68, with 1 year warranty.

ATP wrote:

chingiskhan wrote:

KopyKatKiller wrote:I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

I love Media Markt but they are NOT cheap. Their selling point is that they are trustworthy (no fakes) and you're less likely to have issues if you buy a faulty product. The down side is their prices are HIGHER than you can find elsewhere.

You might be interested to know that the prices for 4-8GB USB at Carrefour are b/t RMB130-200, for mostly local brands. The Toshiba 4GB USB I purchased today from MediaMarkt was RMB68, with 1 year warranty.

I don't mean compared to Carrefour! I mean compared to places like the electronics mall. I can get Toshiba 4GB for about 47 RMB. Obviously the extra you pay at Media Markt gives you piece of mind so it's fine.

USBs defy the laws of physics in any case.
- 50 % chance to put it in the right way round on the first attempt.
- In practice you only achieve this 10 % of the time.

Andreas wrote:I am using a 2 TB wireless backup. When my computer is on, it automatically makes incremental backups every hour.

What software are you using ?

hammerforlife wrote:USBs defy the laws of physics in any case.
- 50 % chance to put it in the right way round on the first attempt.
- In practice you only achieve this 10 % of the time.

It's like when you drop a slice of toast on the floor - 90% of the time it lands buttered side down!

chingiskhan wrote:

ATP wrote:

chingiskhan wrote:

KopyKatKiller wrote:I never shop online. Just go to MediaMarkt. They have the best prices.

I love Media Markt but they are NOT cheap. Their selling point is that they are trustworthy (no fakes) and you're less likely to have issues if you buy a faulty product. The down side is their prices are HIGHER than you can find elsewhere.

You might be interested to know that the prices for 4-8GB USB at Carrefour are b/t RMB130-200, for mostly local brands. The Toshiba 4GB USB I purchased today from MediaMarkt was RMB68, with 1 year warranty.

I don't mean compared to Carrefour! I mean compared to places like the electronics mall. I can get Toshiba 4GB for about 47 RMB. Obviously the extra you pay at Media Markt gives you peace of mind so it's fine.

Well, I was going on the pricing indicated by KKK, so went with this in mind, along with the Carrefour pricing. I made it a bit of a "day out"--I had to get the USB (MMkt was the 2nd store I had been to, & I had come quite a way), though it was on the pricey side (now I realise RMB20+ more than such malls as you've mentioned). I checked out the store's range of goods, attempted to replace the batteries in my older model mobile phone, sampled their pizza & coffee on the 5th floor, rested, then purchased the USB on the way out on 1st floor. In one way, it wasn't worth it, but in another way it was. I don't normally work like this, but pushed for time to try & complete my backup regime, I decided to purchase the Tosh 4GB there. Perhaps if there was no cafe on the 5th floor, I might not have purchased the USB there. It is a moot point though.

^^USB's and SD cards at the electronics markets are often fakes. Open one up sometime and take a look at the crappy chips with the brands rubbed off inside. (did this with a fake Sony Memory Card (real ones have Samsung chips))

ATP wrote:I made it a bit of a "day out"

I love Media Markt and the cafe is great value for money. I'm happy to pay the 20 RMB premium on a small item like a USB flash drive. But for anything bigger I cannot accept it, so for example, my microwave oven - I saw it in Media Markt then bought it on Taobao for a few hundred less. So it depends what I'm buying.