External HD Recommendations

[littleazn248]

I have a Segate 2tb drive that I use as a back up drive for time machine. Today is the third time the drive has failed or one of the partitions within the drive has (one of two partitions is not mounting). Knock on wood I have not needed any of the back up files from the drive.

The problem however is now that my picture and movie collection is growing my macbook can no longer hold all the pictures and movies. So I was going to store my pics on the external HD and have Aperture reference the pictures. However, with what seems like a very unreliable drive I have my doubts.

My question to you is what drive are you using? My budget is $230 which is close to double what I paid for the Segate but, if my pictures are gonna be on it better get a good one. I only have two requirements 1) USB 3.0 2) Be at least 200gb

I was thinking of:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Hype...id=1359534909&sr=1-17&keywords=ssd+hard+drive

+

not sure on enclosure

thanks

 

[PRND[S]]

I would go with some type of NAS box like a Synology or maybe a Drobo, something with RAID support for redundancy so that a drive failure doesn't result in the loss of all files.

I back up to a Synology DS411+ with a four-drive RAID5 array consisting of 2TB drives. This setup will tolerate a single drive failure and rebuild itself when the bad drive is replaced. It can also make backups to a cloud-based storage service so you have another off-site copy of your files in case of theft, fire etc.

 

[Do Work Son]

You want to use an SSD for a backup drive? Now I love the overkill you're shooting for but honestly another Seagate external will work just as well for your porn stash. I've had 3 Seagate externals and they all worked flawlessly, I think you managed to get the one unlucky drive in a whole shipment.

 

[littleazn248]

I would go with some type of NAS box like a Synology or maybe a Drobo, something with RAID support for redundancy so that a drive failure doesn't result in the loss of all files.

I back up to a Synology DS411+ with a four-drive RAID5 array consisting of 2TB drives. This setup will tolerate a single drive failure and rebuild itself when the bad drive is replaced. It can also make backups to a cloud-based storage service so you have another off-site copy of your files in case of theft, fire etc.

I have heard a lot about RAID before and its functions but, I am a total noob when it comes to setting one up. Where do I begin? I have looked at some setups like this

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HF...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1359564429&sr=1-1&keywords=raid

You want to use an SSD for a backup drive? Now I love the overkill you're shooting for but honestly another Seagate external will work just as well for your porn stash. I've had 3 Seagate externals and they all worked flawlessly, I think you managed to get the one unlucky drive in a whole shipment.

Yea I know its overkill to use an SSD for really anything but, a primary drive. I figure since its the only copy of pictures and HOME videos better make it super reliable. But yea I probably got a lemon, I have seen other mac owners that have issues with this drive not mounting though.

 

[SayaGTI]

I say go and get another seagate. They've done me fine for the past decade.

 

[troyguitar]

External drives seem to fail a lot. I plan to implement a 4-drive RAID5 solution like mentioned earlier. In my case, though, I just have the 4 drives installed in my desktop computer. At some point (probably next year) I'll grab a dedicated NAS-type box with another set of 4-drives to serve as a mirror for the array in the desktop.

 

[raaalph]

1. Get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392054 and two of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236380

2. Implement RAID1: http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-HowToSetupRAID.html

3. ????

4. Profit

 

[PRND[S]]

I wouldn't get a "Green" desktop drive like that for a RAID setup. It may work with some controllers / enclosures, but be disruptive with others due to the drive's internal error handling/retry behavior.

I'd get a Western Digital "Red" series drive instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236344

They are designed for 24x7 operations, have reduced power consumtion, and carry longer warranties. Obviously two of these drives break the proposed budget, but they also offer more storage so that's a tradeoff. There are smaller-capacity "Red" drives as well, but I feel that you can never have enough storage. I'm eventually going to replace my 2TB drives with 3TB drives.

 

[melancholygypsy]

1. Get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392054 and two of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236380

2. Implement RAID1: http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-HowToSetupRAID.html

3. ????

4. Profit

As long as you don't mind it being USB only and don't plan on taking it from place to place I would spend the little bit more and do something like this.

 

[raaalph]

I wouldn't get a "Green" desktop drive like that for a RAID setup. It may work with some controllers / enclosures, but be disruptive with others due to the drive's internal error handling/retry behavior.

I'd get a Western Digital "Red" series drive instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236344

They are designed for 24x7 operations, have reduced power consumtion, and carry longer warranties. Obviously two of these drives break the proposed budget, but they also offer more storage so that's a tradeoff. There are smaller-capacity "Red" drives as well, but I feel that you can never have enough storage. I'm eventually going to replace my 2TB drives with 3TB drives.

You cant get whatever drives you'd like...I'm just trying to point the guy in the right direction. Personally, I wouldn't even bother with a RAID1 setup (I'd go RAID5 or better), but it's the cheapest/simplest and OP seems to have no knowledge of RAID.

 

[PRND[S]]

Understood. I'm just saying that desktop drives with their retry mechanisms are not designed for RAID operations and can cause the array to enter a degraded state. You want the drives to not retry and report an error, and let the RAID controller deal with it -- that's what it is for.

If that happens to be a RAID0 array (hopefully not, since the OP is trying to prevent data loss), then the entire array will disappear. A RAID array with redudancy will come back but undergo lengthy rebuilding, and if a second drive has a retry during that time, then you're S.O.L.

 

[Zach84]

Time Capsule, or get another seagate. Mine (seagate) has been working flawlessly for the past 2 years...

 

[littleazn248]

Raid it is

 

[Rockchops]

I just got a 1TB Seagate 6GB/s drive today for $70. Grab two of those....

 

[littleazn248]

I just got a 1TB Seagate 6GB/s drive today for $70. Grab two of those....

Where?