External hard drive recommendations ???

[domromer]

Thanks for all the recommendations. I ended up getting a western digital 500g from b&h.

 

[TCimages]

I know you might think it's more hassle than it's worth but if you have a large enough drive on your PC leave them there and use the external drive as a backup.

If (sorry WHEN) the drive fails you do not want to lose everything do you?

I speak from experience and now have a total of 9 hard drive devices at home ranging from 500Gb (external Seagate Drive) to 40Gb (Epson P-2000).

Back up: backup: back up: backup: Back up: backup: back up: backup: Back up: backup: back up: backup:

There are a couple reasons I normally don't recommend saving your images on your Primary drive. The biggest being that it's more susceptible to viruses and second it's the drive that's constantly being accessed and under much heavier use.

I personally save nothing on my primary drive. All my files are saved on external drives. This gives you great flexibility when you have PC problems and have to rebuild.

 

[EOS_JD]

TC I agree with ytour comments but if there is no other back up solution, then I would not hesitate to have them on my primary drive (just in case)!

I bought a hard drive not long ago. Worked on it for a week and it failed on me luckily I had everythig backed up.

To the OP - remember we told you....

Back up: backup: back up: backup: Back up: backup: back up: backup: Back up: backup: back up: backup:

 

[_SnapShot_]

Dvds are not stable don't trust your photos to dvds.

RAID dual drives with two drives are the most secure externals. If you only have one drive and it goes bad, you have nothing.

Best backup is off site on the web that you can get for $10 a month. Your computer can get struck by lightning, burn down in a fire and have the firemen put it out with a hose and you still have all your photos.

 

[BAB]

Dvds are not stable don't trust your photos to dvds.

This is absolutely correct, they are very unpredictable to trust storing valued images, data etc. Sure better than no back-up, but it definately is in your best interest to back-up on extra internal or external HD's or remotely as has been suggested.

 

[TCimages]

one thing that never gets mentioned in these back-up threads is validation. Always, go through your images to validate the back-up on whatever media you chose. Nothing worse than doing the right thing only to find corrupt files when you need it.

 

[snra786]

I bought this. Great price for 500gigs, and am happy with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rives+-+External-_-Western+Digital-_-22136025

 

[Atropine]

I bought this. Great price for 500gigs, and am happy with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rives+-+External-_-Western+Digital-_-22136025

That's the one I have too, but I really don't like it at all. Beside the noise issue, it lacks a hardware switch. This means it always starts when you start or reattach your computer. Stupid solution imho. As I wrote earlier, I really wouldn't recommend this drive.

 

[f8lranger4x4]

Just got a western digital 500 and can't wait to try it on the road!!!

 

[Chibamonkey]

I have been using a LaCie Rugged 160 gig USB for a while. Has a toshiba hd in it, and has been an extremely excellent unit for me. In the market of a 500 gig to back up it and my laptop, and will be looking at another LaCie.

I have heard both the good and the bad about LaCie, and our IT guys recommended it wholeheartedly....so that is why I went w/ LaCie.

 

[Alex_B]

i just wonder, does design play a role for you? I mean, most external HDs which you buy look kind of horrible and bulky, and often they come in shapes which take a lot of space when you try to lock several of them away, as they often cannot be stacked.

This would be one more reason to buy a nice housing which suits your needs and then buy the drive and assemble it.

 

[CanadianMe]

I use Lacie external drives, never an issue with them.

 

[f8lranger4x4]

The my book looks just like the name says it looks like a black book.

 

[MichaelT]

I use a Snap Server 4100. It's called Network Attached Storage. It's basically a box of HD's that's connected to an Ethernet plug. It shows up on the computer as another HD and can be used by any computer on the network. This setup keeps clients work very organized, as anyone at any workstation can access a client's folder to work on their images.

I bought mine used on ebay for $450, and have used it for 4 years without a glitch. Since it's Raid 5, if one of the drives ever quits, you just pop in a new one and it rebuilds the data from the other drives.

I do have external HD's for archiving jobs after they are done, as the Snap Server is just for current work in progress.

 

[CanadianMe]

I always try to tell people this, buy two, set yourself up a raid backup. Everything should be replicated on a second external drive. HD's have a life expectancy like anything else. I have seen people lose a life's work over a $150.00. The Second hard drive is only ever fired up to back up the back up, maybe once a week or so, and I keep a copy of all my computer and photos on a third that is in my saftey deposit box. It may seem extreme but I work from home and my life's work is on my computer and what I need to make an income. I use 3 external HD's, the one in the Safety Deposit Box comes home for an hour or two once a month, backs up my back ups and put in storage. A house fire, flood or any other catastrophe may occur, are you willing to lose everything? just a word of Advice. You may think it won't happen to you, but for the cost is it not worth thinking about, you put all your photos on a HD, turns out you get a defective one, a month later it just crashes taking all your files with it, you may be able to recover some but that can be a very costly procedure. I prefer mine on separate cases, I know what the dual are supposed to do, but I have seen them fail horribly. Again just my opinion.