Computer components - Hard drives

Computer components - Hard drives - Printable Version

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Computer components - Hard drives - Maengelito - 04-22-2011

Hey MM
So lets say hypothetically you have $175 to blow on an external hard drive. Things it needs in order of importance:
-lots of space (I think for $175, we're talking about 2TB+?)
-high quality drive (so it won't crap out on me 2 years down the road)
-portability

I don't know if these things even matter anymore between manufacturers or which companies are considered high quality these days so I figured I'd ask the collective and very opinionated wisdom of MM.

$175, go!

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - .RJ - 04-22-2011

I've got a WD my book 2 TB drive - its 2 x 1 TB drives mirrored for backup, had it for about a year now - no issues.

I think its this one - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136837&cm_re=my_book-_-22-136-837-_-Product">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136837&cm_re=my_book-_-22-136-837-_-Product</a>

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Apoc - 04-22-2011

I generally go with Seagate or Western Digital, although I think you'd be hard pressed to spend that much money.

Are you looking for something with that massive amount of space or are you interested in the lower volume and less moving parts of an SSD?

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - BLINGMW - 04-22-2011

I'm happy with my WD mybook as well, mine's a 1TB. The mybooks aren't super small though, you might be able to find a 1tb drive that's half the size if that's a priority. I don't think SSD's going to happen. 1TB of that is like FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Maengelito - 04-22-2011

volume is more important, so I think a SSD probably wouldn't fit the bill.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Apoc - 04-22-2011

WD My Book if size is more important. 3 TB for $170.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Essential-Desktop-External/dp/B0041OSQBG/">http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Essential-Desktop-External/dp/B0041OSQBG/</a>

WD My Passport if portability is more important. 1 TB for $110.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSQ9S/">http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSQ9S/</a>

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Evan - 04-22-2011

get something with a mirrored backup (raid 1) like RJs. HDDs can fail pretty quickly. Ive had 2 drives fail this year, 1 was 3 months old and 1 was a week old.

a 2 drive raid-1 USB enclosure would be fine but a 2 drive NAS would be even better, this would allow for easily access from any computer on your network.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Mike - 04-22-2011

Evan Wrote:A 2 drive NAS would be the best, and would easily access from any computer on your network.

This. Any added cost will be worth it when one of the drives fails.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Apoc - 04-22-2011

RAID and NAS are pretty much anti-portable.

A good feature to have, certainly, but you're lugging around twice as much for the same space. IMO, you have to decide if you want true storage or a bunch of extra space you can take everywhere.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Evan - 04-22-2011

it is a bad idea to lug around an external drive with all your data on it.

external drives should be for backup and storage, and should stay put in your house.

maeng why are buying this drive? if you are out of space on your laptop's drive, you should replace the drive with a bigger one, not tack on an tethered external drive.
in addition, you should still have an external drive at home for backups archival and storage. off site backups / cloud backups like mozy are also a very good idea.

especially if you have lots of very important data (like schoolwork, PhD thesis etc) data integrity is NOT something to fuck around with.

even RJ has mirrored backups just for his prawnz collection

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Apoc - 04-22-2011

Evan Wrote:it is a bad idea to lug around an external drive with all your data on it.

external drives should be for backup and storage, and should stay put in your house.

Agreed. I figured he would be lugging around a bunch of music and pictures he had a copy of somewhere else. I would never trust a mobile external as the only source for data I actually cared about. Transporting prawns and muzak, sure... but that's about it.

I currently employ one primary/OS, a secondary internal drive and a tertiary networked drive for my back ups.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Maengelito - 04-22-2011

Evan Wrote:maeng why are buying this drive?

So the missuz is in charge of buying some equipment for a grant funded project. The external drives will be used to store a bunch of data (video observations and analysis from the field) hopefully for several years. I think the purpose of these drives is more about having a central location for all the data collected from several sources throughout the years.

The masses seem to agree that WD is the way to go. Anything wrong with this one?
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136749">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136749</a>

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Apoc - 04-22-2011

That drive should work but given the purpose, I agree with everyone else about getting a mirrored drive instead.

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Evan - 04-22-2011

[Image: HomerSimpsonFacepalm.jpg]

Re: Computer components - Hard drives - Mike - 04-22-2011

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136355">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136355</a>