I’ve forgotten . . .
Most drives are the cheap ________________ variety but which break down sooner.
An ?older? format variety of drive _______________?
is more expensive but takes significantly longer to break down on average.
What is that 2nd type HD?
What do you recommend about that?
Have lots of cheap ones redundantly backed up or have one of the more expensive older types as well?
Both, if you can afford it. I also remember reading about a study that found that drives that were in everyday use lasted longer than drives that were used infrequently.
Don't know about your other question about backing up your desktop settings. Perhaps saving the registry might do it, does win.ini even exist anymore?. Good luck.