External hard drive recommendations ???

[Hertz van Rental]

You would be hard pressed to do better than these:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11023
Every input you could need, fast and secure with good bundled software.
You can daisy-chain them too.
I have two 500Gb linked.
Lacie do an excellent range of HDs and other drives - and they look stylish an' all!

 

[391615]

Firstly a bit of advice from one who has lost files from a hard drive. I spent a week on holidays travelled 2000 miles. I was stupid, and backed up all my files to hard drive, I was going to burn to DVD but I didn't. My hard drive crashed, and if I want the pictures back it will cost me $1500 + to get the data from the drive. I'm paranoid now.

1. I am in the process of getting two external hard drives. one stays in the house, the other goes in a safe in the garage.

2. I make two dvd copies, one goes in the safe, one goes to a second location.

3. I only store my raw files, and probably all edits that took hours to work on.

4. All of my absolute best shots, which for me is probably 1-2 per photo shoot, on a Solid state drive.

I'm paranoid, and don't want to lose hours and hours of hard work, so this is my plan of attack.

 

[Fiendish Astronaut]

I have a 500Gb Lacie external drive as my back up - no problems with it except the power lead connection in the back of the drive is extremely loose. It gets knocked out just when I knock it or shift the CPU around! Very annoying.

I also back up on DVD. I understand they aren't amazingly reliable, but it's a quick and easy way to add an extra layer of insurance.

 

[schuylercat]

Really, the only advantage is portability and no need for space: bus performance, read/write speed and such are slower even with Firewire (unless you have an external SATA connecter on your machine), and internal drives are cheaper.

You have a drive bay available? I'd recommend an internal...or better still: two. I have pair of a 500GB internal Western Digital drives I picked up at NewEgg, each of them cost $95 with shipping, after rebates. One is my primary data source, the other is a mirror.

Upside: cheaper, faster, more reliable (so they say, anyway), and as CanadianMe said: if you have the ability, you can make a RAID array and be even safer.

Downside: you need to have an open bay, both drives are in the same place so there's no DR (then again...isn't your external drive in the same space too, technically?).

Just a thought...good luck!

 

[TCimages]

While I agree adding another drive is good for extra drive space I personally don't think it's best for back-up.
It's on the same Internal power supply which means if there is a problem both drives could fry with your PC. Also, it's always powerd on and it's exposed to additional internal heat. I like an external back-up that always off and you turn it on only to add data.

I think a RAID configuration is best done with NAS.

BTW- this is my opinion only. Every option vulnerable

 

[Kentanner11]

I currently have a WD 500g my book that I purchased after my hard drive on my laptop died. It sucked! I lost everything! I was one of those I will back up tomorrow people. I wish I would have done more shopping around (nothing wrong with the one I have now) just wish I would have purchased something with RAID, which I am probably going to do.
I have been fond of this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822155003
... Wonder if I can free the hard drive in the my book so I dont have to buy 2 hd's.
Anyone know if the HD's in the My Book are SATA?

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Look up the specs of your actual model here:
http://www.wdc.com/en/

You don't need to buy a RAID array - just link several HDs and use software.
You can get stand alone software but often the software on your computer supports it.

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-0.4x-HOWTO.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/2001/09/06/raid_without_additional_hardware/
http://systemsboy.blogspot.com/2006/04/apple-software-raid-tests-or-what-to.html

Lots more with a Google.

 

[Kentanner11]

wow! didnt know that! I have some reading to do! Thanks!

 

[bhop]

I currently have a WD 500g my book that I purchased after my hard drive on my laptop died. It sucked! I lost everything!

The WD 500 sucked? Or it sucked that your laptop died?

I ask because i've been thinking of the WD 500 myself. It seems to have higher ratings than most on Amazon. My ex had two Lacie drives die on her. They both just stopped communicating with any computer.

 

[Kentanner11]

No the WD is great, not my laptop. I like the 500 bc/ it is silent and very dependable, just wish I had assessed my needs better. The prices sure have gone down!