external hard drive Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Where can I buy a fireproof external hard drive?

Posted on August 6, 2021

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Question from Jeromy : I run a business that deals with some pretty sensitive customer data that I would really prefer not to have stored in the cloud.

I know that cloud storage is supposed to be encrypted and secure, but with all the hacking going on these days I just don’t trust it.

Right now we’re using dual 2TB external USB hard drives to back up all of our data but I’m worried that a fire could wipe it all out.

What I’d really like to get is a 4TB external hard drive that’s fireproof. Do you know where I can get one? [Read more…]

Q&A: Is it safe to delete the files that came on a new external hard drive?

Posted on June 24, 2021

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Question from Maurine: I bought a 2TB external hard drive to store my large collection of old family pictures on.

When I plugged the new drive into my computer I noticed that it has several files on it already.

One is a file with info about the warranty. Another is a user guide.

I’m not sure what the other two files are.

My question is can I delete all these files or do you know of any reason why I should keep them?

[Read more…]

Q&A: Should I replace a 3 year old SSD just to be safe?

Posted on April 23, 2021

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Question from Kendra: Hi Rick. I really love your blog, especially the section where you answer questions from your readers.

If you don’t mind I’d like to ask a question of my own.

Back in early 2018 the guys at Best Buy installed a Samsung 250GB SSD in my Dell laptop and it really made it run a lot faster.

I recently read on another site that all SSDs wear out over time because they can only be written to a certain number of times.

That has me sort of worried because this drive is now 3 years old and I have a lot of personal files on it that I don’t want to lose.

My question is do you think this drive is likely to fail at some time in the near future? If you think it might I’ll go ahead and replace it now rather than taking a chance on losing my files.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How do you erase an external hard drive with a Mac?

Posted on March 24, 2021

Question from Alan: I bought a new 4TB external hard drive to hold my photos.

I bought the new drive because the 1TB drive I’ve been using to store my photos is full and I have a lot more pictures to scan and store.

My plan is to give the 1TB drive to my niece so she can use it with her iMac, but I want to completely erase everything from the drive before I give it to her.

That way she can start fresh with a blank drive.

Can you tell me how to completely erase this drive with my MacBook?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you recommend a good external hard drive for a Mac?

Posted on February 8, 2021

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Question from Maria: Hi Rick. I recently purchased a MacBook Air with the M1 processor.

I am new to MacBooks so I am on a learning curve even though I have both an iPhone and an iPad.

I wanted to buy an external hard drive for my processor but have no idea what type I should get. I would like it mainly to back up my iTunes library and photos. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Read more…]