“I have a 931g passport that is full. I cannot access individual files ,pics and folders at my leisure. The only thing it does is backup and restore period, Does the new 8T allow you to browse thru files and folders you've backed up and pick & restore?”
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Whether or not you can access individual files and folders is not a function of any particular drive. It is a function of the software you are using to back up your files with.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Yes, it shows up as one of your drives and you can view and or edit what you put on it.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Hello It is a matter of how you set it up. What i mean by that is if you use the Western Digital software (or Seagate software if it is a Seagate External backup drive) then you will be at the behest of the software and how it functions, IE: if it is "Backup software" than it will most likely just backup your data and that's it, you will be able to restore it if your main drive('s) that are being backed up fail but you "may not be able to access the files at your leisure" as you had mentioned. Now with that said it also depends on how you format the drive and if you are using it as a true "back up" or if you are actually using it as "external storage" for whatever reason, as if you use it for the latter than you will be "manually" coping your files over to the external drive and therefore will have the ability to access them as you wish, however you many get lax in your back up methodology and not backup your data consistently or fully so you must decide it it is 1. A Back up drive, or 2. A external additional storage drive. As for the drives, anyone that has ever taken one or more apart knows that the drives inside are identical to their "internal" drive counterparts, making many of us wonder how come the externals are more often than not less expensive than the internals? as they are in fact the same model numbers and specifications, in most cases. As for your problem specifically, I would purchase an additional drive, like the 8TB that is on sale, 1.Attach it to your computer, 2. Create a "New Folder" and name it "Back up Software" and then cut and past all software related to the operation of the drives auto backup features, 3.Create another folder called "1TB backup" and then copy, or "Backup" the data from your 1TB drive to that folder on the 8TB (If it not accessable anywhere else, if it is then simply copy and past all files, folders, etc into that folder and once everything is backed up then decide it you are going to keep the 1TB as a additional backup, or format it and create a new 931GB (approx) external storage drive. Good luck and remember....You can never have enough storage space, i have no less than 11 internal (six 4TB, and five 3TB in RAID as well as two 1TB SSDs) in addition to my two 24TB NAS boxes (4x6TB x2) giving my main system 47TB internal, and 48TB external and that's not even counting the two dozen 2TB, 3TB, 4TB and 5TB external drives so for the price you can't go wrong, $150 bucks for 8TB is a pretty solid deal, even though they had this drive for $130 just 2 days ago, however you could not buy it online (in store only) and apparently for me, no store within 250 miles of me had one in stock, yet today they are magically there.... Good Luck VipersHardware
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.You are able to access individual files and folders with your WD 931GB (1TB unformatted) Passport external drive ! But, You have already chosen to install the backup software that now exclusively provides access to that drive only in backup or restore mode. How restrictive ! There is no physical reason that the drive can't be used as an ordinary external drive. To wrestle control back from that backup software package you need to: 1- Get the backup program to "restore" [sic] the latest backup to temporary storage on a some hard drive; 2- If you intend to re-use that drive for individual file/folder access, reformat that drive (to NTFS format for any version Windows system); 3- Copy only the files /folders that you want to get individual access to onto that drive or some other internal or external drive. Now YOU are in control of those files. You are far, far better off doing backups with the free ("free" as in "beer" for individual use) Macrium Reflect backup and restore utility. You can do entire or partial whole physical drive backups (all partitions: C:\, D:\, etc) to single large files. To gain individual file access it's very easy to have Reflect "mount" the backup file as a "virtual drive" in which files, folders and entire folder "trees" can be dragged and dropped using Windows File Explorer to an actual drive. You must have discipline to regularly make system backups if you go the free-version route. Nothing else is this simple, reliable and fast for backing up your PC, restoring from a backup and copying files/folders from a backup image file ! If you are willing to pay about $80 for a 3-PC license, automatic daily and/or weekly and/or monthly differential backups can easily be set up for each of the 3 systems. The software is very easy to use and professionally written, even the free, non-automated version.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I have the easystore 8 tb ( the expensive one ) and after backing up i wanted to access the files . They were all there but i had to dig to find them by expanding folder/subfolders but they were there. If you back up thru windows exlorer they are easy to find. Difference is the software that comes with the drive is automatic once you set it up
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Yes, you can do it with your current one, you would have to reformat it though, and would lose your files transfer them first.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.When it comes to backup, i only COPY my data in the same structure that I keep on my Hard Drive. Files are files, not a backup 'Sync back free" does a great job in helping with this.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Yes - browsing your backups is a breeze
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.LOL. This question does not disappoint. This drive will only let you pick and restore files that are backed up on odd days of the month, and only if they were written using a Lenovo or Dell Desktop running with an i5 processor. If you have an i3, i7 or any other machine, or if it's an even day of the month, then you will only be able to delete the file, but not restore it. If it's raining this may cause problems as well.
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