Thanks James and to all the previous contributors, sounds like a a HDD should do the job then. Network Attached Storage sounds a bit tech for me and I've no idea what RAID is, but sounds amazingI agree with John. If you are only using for backup and not actively using the files, a HDD would be a cost-effective option. You may want to consider a Network Attached Storage to allow any machine to connect to. Some have options for RAID so if a drive fails, the others are backed up and the failed drive can be replaced.
.Thank you for the advice, I think HDI use a SSD for Windows & all my photos & programs. Boot is extremely fast compared to HDD.
If you're just going for storage then a HDD is enough.
You'd have to ensure the HDD can be read on both Windows & Mac by formatting the drive as exFAT
Thanks for the useful advice, HDD it is I reckon.I prefer mechanical hard drives for backups but something to consider, all means of backup use hardware that is expendable. No matter what, it all wears out and fails eventually.
So, checking storage health over time is a good policy.
And using more than one backup for important data is wise.
Wow thanks Peteroz, loads to think about! A little daunted but really appreciate the advice and so glad I stumbled across this site. RegardsI would have 2 hard drives one for Windows and one for Mac. The Mac will run Time Machine which is pretty bullet proof. For windows I would not use the inbuilt Windows backup. I have seen too many failures with the Windows one. As stated either type of drive will do Just make sure you replace them regularly.
I have had brand new drives die within six months so healh checks are a must. So if it is important to you I would look at a NAS drive.
Plenty of people here can help you set it up it is not as hard as it sounds basically follow the bouncing ball.
The advantage of at least a 4 drive NAS as James pointed out the data is spread among the 4 drives so if one drive dies then there is enough data on the other drives to rebuild the dead drive. Cost wise a 2 bay drive would work but you are talking about data you can't afford to loose. The money spent now doing it right is a lot cheaper then spending money later on data recovery. Data recovery companies are really a hit and miss it can cost BIG money and still no result.
Cheers
Peteroz
Fab many thanks, idiots guides are perfect for me!This article explains why you need to format the drive to use the exFAT file-system so you can use it for Windows and Mac at the same time :- https://www.anysoftwaretools.com/format-usb-for-os-compatibility/
Not trying to overwhelm you and I am not one to think the government is out to get everyone but hackers are.We have a bit of Cloud storage, some offered as part of our broadband package (never used) and also there's iCloud. My wife has recently also started her own business and so we feel we need to get more savvy to secure both personal and business storage.
