Good external HD? Also, problems with wired TM use?

Question

I have a multi part question here:
I recently got a new MBP and I want to get an external hard drive to use with Time Machine. Is there any sort of consensus on which external hard drives generally work well? I have a 500 GB Western Digital MyBook that has been a constant source of problems. I frequently am unable to eject it and have had to use Disk Utility many times just to get my (old Powerbook G4) computer to see it. I really don't want to get another WD product. Are there any consistently good products out there?
Also, I've just been perusing this forum. I see many people suffering with Snow Leopard and TM using wireless backup. Have there also been many problems with wired backups? I don't use wireless at home, which is where I will keep my TM backups.
Finally, I move my computer around a lot so I won't have it plugged into its TM drive most of the time. I plan on plugging it in each evening before I go to sleep. Is that an appropriate method of using TM?

Answer 1

Pondini wrote:
That's why I'd recommend backing-up more often, but if you don't, another app may be better.
CCC or SD are most often used to make full "bootable clones." When your hard drive fails (and
they all do, sooner or later), you can boot and run from them immediately; with TM, you need to
have the disk replaced (or have another external) to restore your system to.
If anyone is going to take action based on the advice above (or other suggestions) they will need to recognize there is a different set of risks.
When you make a clone of a machine you end up with a clone and you can boot from it.
If you then make a fresh clone a day later you really need to have a different disk around or you are taking a lot of risk. The process of creating the new clone might fail. If it does and you do not have a second drive then you have lost the previous clone while creating the newer clone. In other words you have no backup.
You really should have a series of disk drives so you can put a few good ones on the shelf while making a new copy. You might want to think about where you store them.
Even when using TM you have to think about what will happen if the TM device fails.
Conclusion?
Some people do not make backups.
Some people store only files they think are critical on a server in a cloud (like leaving emails on the Google server for gmail).
Some make a back up to TM under the assumption they are really protecting against a failure with their computer but not a fire or other site wide problem.
Some will use TM for backups and still use CC or similar to make a clone every so often. The failure states can vary so incremental backups make sense for some problems and a bootable close covers some other risks.
If a person is really worried then a series of backups are needed with off-site storage for some or all of backups. That way the computer's data is protected from a local problems and from a site wide problem.
Each person can choose what they want to do, what they afford and how they will contain or reduce the risks. Maybe not all risks are worth dealing with. Just think it through before you commit to a solution.
John