External Hard Drive

[Naicidrac]

Hello,
I have been filling up my large hard drive and am shopping for an external hard drive just for photos. I look in the Sunday newspaper ads and see all the external hard drives, but I wanted to ask you guys which ones you prefer. As far a size goes, I will have to think about how much I want to spend, but I just wanted to ask you guys if there was a brand that you thought was better than another. I have heard that some are noisy and some are quiet, etc... I really don't think I will need a smaller portable one, but just one to sit next to my PC. Thanks for any help that you guys can offer me.

 

[ReKooH]

I have a 90gig Seadisk Isnt really that load or i haven't noticed it yet .. Can't remeber how much i bought it for but i picked it up for cheap i sorta wish i got a 200gig

 

[droyz2000]

I have a Western Digital MyBook and I really love it. I have had it for 8 months and have not had a single problem with it. Western Digital, Maxtor, and Seagate are some very reputable names in the hard-drive industry.

 

[Alex_B]

maxtor does not exist anymore i thought.

i mostly go for seagate... also for the really large ones beyond 500 GB never been dissappointed in the last 10 years.

 

[Alex_B]

oh, and best buy some external harddrive case and then buy the drive and mount it yourself ... much more fun, cheaper, and you know what drive you bought and installed

 

[droyz2000]

Alex you are right, Seagate bought out Maxtor. My bad.

 

[sfaribault]

This is what I have been looking at....

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10594


Steve

 

[Alex_B]

but do you need ethernet for that purpose?

do we know which brand harddisk they use in there?

 

[fmw]

Mine won't appeal to you because it goes on a network. However, I will say that it is quite slow - even when compared to hard drives in other computers on the network. It is a 2 drive unit (HP Media Vault) with a pair of 300GB SATA Seagates mirrored on a 100bps ethernet. The mirroring probably contributes to the slow speed. But be prepared for significantly slower performance than you have with your internal drive. Not a big deal for archiving but it is if you plan to use the drive a lot.

The alternative is to replace your internal drive with a larger one or add a second one. Much cheaper and faster.

 

[usayit]

My rule of thumb.... Always plan on purchasing TWO drives for archival use. As fmw does... mirror.. Drives go bad all the time and usually unexpectedly.

If you choose not to mirror, plan on a backup strategy and routine to another media... tape, archival quality CD-Rs / DVD-Rs.

Large externals like 500GB or 1TB usually have two drives installed inside. Many have software and hardware to support mirroring. Look for those features to simplify the whole process.

If you run Mac OS X, the operating system itself has the ability to mirror and stripe drives. Works pretty easily.

If you use network attached storage, don't plan on it being your main working area. 100bt ethernet is pretty slow and even worse if you are running over wireless.

Firewire is faster (but a little more expensive) than USB. Firewire 800 (usually on large externals) work fine as workspace. To run firewire on PC's you'll most likely have to buy a firewire adapter and install it. Most MACs have USB and firewire preinstalled. SATA is faster than both USB and Firewire.

If you have an older machine that only has USB 1.0. Forget about running external storage on that port.... You'll be old by the time the files transfer. For USB, USB 2.0 is the minimum.

Don't forget about UPS..... if you have it... make sure you install the software to safely shutdown machines when a powerfailure is detected.

I like seagate and western digital brands although it is not unusual to get a bad batch of drives from either. I've had problems with Maxtors which are still sold under their own name still. A Samsung drive failed intermittently on me within a few months. Acomdata externals are very cheap and usually undercut other brand's price points. I was hesitant but I have two 250GB external firewire drives from them that have been working fine for about 1 year now. I have them mirrored simply because I don't trust any hard drive... from any brand. BTW... customer support from Acomdata is horrible.

If you don't mind additional work on your part, buying a case and installing the drive is a very good option. Remember... any brand of external drive that is not Maxtor, Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, (am I missing any others) are just manufacturing the external case. What is inside is actually one of those brands.

 

[Nekoism]

oh, and best buy some external harddrive case and then buy the drive and mount it yourself ... much more fun, cheaper, and you know what drive you bought and installed

Alex_B has the right idea. I received a computer from my sis when she bought a new one. I took out the hard drive and bought an enclosure for it. I then formatted it using mac OS X. Works flawlessly and if I ever decide that the capacity I have is not enough I can always buy a new hard drive and drop it in place of the existing one.

 

[usayit]

Alex_B has the right idea. I received a computer from my sis when she bought a new one. I took out the hard drive and bought an enclosure for it. I then formatted it using mac OS X. Works flawlessly and if I ever decide that the capacity I have is not enough I can always buy a new hard drive and drop it in place of the existing one.

If you have an old or dead external drive, you can rip out the drive inside and replace it with something bigger as well.

 

[dewey]

Just remember to always duplicate your images - external drives fail... alot.

My important images are always on 2 external drives and on DVD... I think it's better to buy 2 250gb, or 2 500gb rather than 1 500gb or 1tb drive. I have several lacies and they have been good so far, but the big TB lacies have a bad rep for failing. Since I keep the drives in a "poor man's RAID" config when a drive fails I simply format it and dupe it again. If you're not in photography commercially 1 drive should be fine, but at least keep a closed DVD copy as well. DVDs are cheap.

I'm at the point now where I think I may just setup 2 servers with a big ole database... it'd be easier to manage than a room full of externals. I'm keeping my eye on the classifieds for server racks. :lmao:

 

[usayit]

..... DVDs are cheap....

If DVDs is the path you choose, don't go cheap.. unknown branding...
DVD-Rs are known to fail and deteriorate over a short period of time. CD-Rs of the same quality are relatively better than their DVD-R sibling. Storage is key with optical media too... use jewels not sleeves... keep in the dark and dry.

I'm at the point now where I think I may just setup 2 servers with a big ole database... it'd be easier to manage than a room full of externals. I'm keeping my eye on the classifieds for server racks. :lmao:

Once you are talking server racks of storage... there's nothing better than regular old magnetic tape. LTO1, LTO2, DLT8000, AIT3, DDS etc... I'm on a DLT8000 Compaq TL891 - two drives with 4 10slot mags.

 

[dewey]

There's a fungus amoungus? Sorry 9th grade science teacher joke.

I meant cheap relativly speaking... I use name brand and they are kept in jewel cases - sleeve holders are BAD. The DVD's are the backup to the backup of the backup, so I feel safe.

And I agree about the tape drives... they rock. I keep looking for them at a surplus store... I come from a tech background so I guess I always wanted my own server room.

I'd like a couple of Dell Power Edge servers with informix databases backed up on tapes and running in dupe rep... oh right, the damn $3000 in lenses I just bought... okay so Lacie drives it is for now!