Attentio Computer Geeks - Any Suggetions for External Hard Drives?

[kundalini]

Got me to buy a UPS though!

That's on my list as well.

 

[Sideburns]

esata (e for external) is the hot port these days, not the same as the internal sata. But you probably do not have that interface.

Personally I always have at least two hard drives on my sytem (including laptop) and setup shortcuts to quickly copy data to the alternate drive (client files drive & personal projects drive) for live backups.

Also I prefer to use a couple of 250GB external USB drives rather than put loads of data on to the latest huge drive. This way if I loose a drive i have not lost everything, and it is a second back anyway.

I've done a few raid setups, but with power loss I would have to recall and tweak multiple settings (bios, etc) to get back online, and this rattles the nerves. Got me to buy a UPS though!

There are some nice 2.5 inch 7200 rpm external drives on the market now, and if you travel with a laptop these are an attractive form factor.

The freeNAS raid 1 suggestion is wise also, or pickup a NAS from Fry's if you got the bucks and want a smaller footprint.

-Shea

RAID is a lot simpler when you use an actual RAID card. Onboard RAID kinda sucks for data security. It's not true RAID.

I no computer geeks, because of my limitation of computer knowledge this thread is exactly what I'd like to hear. I also looking for one, I like Lacie's design but if it doesn't come with great durability then I won't consider it anymore.

LaCie is a very durable drive depending on the line you buy. Lots of pro photographers carry them around with them on the field along with their laptops...they get abused quite a bit. If you buy the ones made to take a beating, they are durable. Never move one when it's on, though.

 

[Ls3D]

Onboard RAID kinda sucks for data security. It's not true RAID.

That's just BS my friend, my Asus mobo supports several levels of RAID including performance and security types, JBOD, and even Raid 0 plus 1 & -combining the best of performance and security if you got 4 10K rpm raptors in the rig for example.

Raid cards do offer simplicity and large caches. I've got two raptors on ICH8 and large files do open and save fast, but like I said before it is hardly worth the panic should the power cut out without UPS.

I've been building workstations since the 386 processor running at an alarming 33Mhz.

-Shea