USB Harddrive as a backup solution?

[Glengoyne]

Allright a friend has asked me to help them out with a computer issue. I have yet to format one of her hard drives with data on it or actually set her computer on fire, so she is still asking me for assistance. Most people don't ask more than once or twice.

In any case she is a secretary for a local church. The church is quite small and resources are limited, that is why she asked me, I guess. They have single computer. Windows 98, 8Gig hard drive, adequate RAM, and USB. Everything they have ever done on a computer is on that hard drive. She is worried something might happen to it. I looked into Tape Drives, hoping there was some new wonderful technology out there, but didn't really find anything acceptable. I also looked into USB devices. I found USB harddrives with plenty of space for under $200. I think this might be the best solution. I can have her purchase one of these drives, and something like Norton Ghost. They can backup their system whenever they like, and take the USB drive home safely.

So my question is does anyone have any experience with USB hard drives. Are they reliable? Speed isn't really an issue. Neither is space, I am thinking if they get an 80 GB hard drive they can retain a number of images(backups) on the one drive. Some of them say they are powered by the USB bus, some require power cords. Obviously the bus powered models would be preferred, but are there issues with that? Will I need to upgrade the power supply?

Also the specs for the USB Hard drives call for USB 2.0. Is this a newer version of USB than is likely resident on the Mother Board(circa 2001)?

[mckerney]

I use one of these (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10357139&loc=101&sp=1) (though I'm glad I got one before they went to the 'Special Edition', how ugly it looks now) for backup and transfer. It works well with both Firewire and USB hookups.

As far as USB 2.0 you can still use it with first generation USB drives, you just won't get the addition speed (USB 2.0 is supposed to be about on par with Firewire).

[Glengoyne]

Thanks Mckerney. I am going to go ahead and reccomend that solution. I think it will work just fine. Heck I am considering picking one up myself.

[mckerney]

No problem. It works fine for me, and although it may be a little bigger than you're looking for, it's only $150 after mail in rebates so price shouldn't be too big a concern.

[sterlingice]

I don't know much about USB hard drives, but an external CD-RW costs about $100 and a spindle costs maybe $5 after rebate. It's more flexibility but I suppose you have to have someone who knows what they are backing up as you can't just back up everything at once.

SI