External or Internal backup

[MindoverMaster]

I want to do something extra with my backups. Let's start with my setup.

On my computer, I have:
30GB SSD for OS
320GB SATA for storing applications and downloads to not clog up my SSD
320GB WD MyBook Essentials for backups
500GB SATA only recieved recently, hardly any files.

On my home server:
2 x 640GB for backups, 1 small partition for OS, no RAID.

I am planning to get a 1TB or 1.5TB drive to backup all data, and then seal in an antistatic bag and put on the shelf to not stress it. What is more appropriate? External, Internal, or Self-made External? I know the good brands, Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung. WD is my top gun. I have little knowledge on separate externals.

Any suggestions here?

 

[memory]

You could get an external hard drive, that way just turn it on only when you need to use it and leave it off rest of the time. Plus it would be portable. The only problem I see is the speeds of the transfer. If you transfer large amounts of files to the external drive, it might take a while since you are limited to the speed of usb or esata if your case has one.

I plan on putting one of my drives in an external enclosure.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Wouldn't dust be a factor?

 

[memory]

Not if you have in inside an enclosure. In fact, it will probably stay cleaner since it will not be running all the time.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Well, some enclosures have vents.

Are separate enclosures any better/worse/cheaper/reliable than pre-made enclosures?

 

[carnageX]

Separate enclosures you can usually swap drives out; pre-made enclosures by HDD companies you usually cannot open them up and just swap the drive.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Well, there is a way to open enclosures by HDD companies, you just crack thing open. That does void warranty though..

As for separate enclosures, I am not looking to swap drives. I happen to have one sitting around but I do not like it. It is cheaply made.

As memory said, file transfer will slow to a crawl with externals, I'm not sure about eSATA.

I do not have eSATA, but I could easily attach one.

 

[carnageX]

Well, yeah you can crack the pre-made open, but most of the time you can't put it back together.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

The way we do it at my company, for any users working on more important stuff we attach an external drive to their machine and set it to auto-backup the thing every day. But an internal drive would work just as well IMO.
I've just had to replace a couple of external drives which failed, but to be fair they'd been running on close to 6 years.

 

[MindoverMaster]

I have several WD Caviar 20GB PATA HDDs from the 98 days, still works like a champ.

I do not want to stress it though. I want a once-in-a-while backup, and put on the bookshelf. I had too many hdds fail on me recently. I don't want this to happen again. They were all backed up before they fried, but If my server hdds go out, I'll be dead in the water. Call me paranoid, but I have a lot of downloads I do not want to lose.

Edit: I don't need it now, but in the near future.