External hard drive ?'s

Teller1900

Teller1900

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I am a dad!
So here's the deal, resident boffins. I'm running out of space on three difference computers AND my existing (very very old) external HD. So I'm finally looking for something in the TB range. Looking at NewEgg it seems like the leading brands they sell are Western Digital and Seagate. Is one better than the other? Anyone else I should look at?

Also, half of them are listed for USB 2.0/3.0. The other half say only 3.0. Is it safe to assume that a USB 3.0 HD is backwards compatible with my USB 2.0 computer?

And finally, is there any difference between the "portable" HDs and the "desktop" HDs aside from the power cord (which I'd like to avoid if I can)?

Thank you all.
 
My expensive IT consultant at work made me buy a Lacie. Super cool looking and has this heavy feel to it, and shiny aluminum case. Seems like it will last a VERY long time.
 
Teller1900 said:
So here's the deal, resident boffins. I'm running out of space on three difference computers AND my existing (very very old) external HD. So I'm finally looking for something in the TB range. Looking at NewEgg it seems like the leading brands they sell are Western Digital and Seagate. Is one better than the other? Anyone else I should look at?

Also, half of them are listed for USB 2.0/3.0. The other half say only 3.0. Is it safe to assume that a USB 3.0 HD is backwards compatible with my USB 2.0 computer?

And finally, is there any difference between the "portable" HDs and the "desktop" HDs aside from the power cord (which I'd like to avoid if I can)?

Thank you all.
Click to expand...


http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10036

I don't use the lacie drives all the time, but the rugged drives have been pretty reliable. I use the rugged safe for my work laptop's backup drive.

for my most reliable backups at home, I use a lacie's network RAID.
 
Wow. The "porsche" design on that site you linked too is even more sexy looking than the silver one we have at work.
 
Are your 'punters networked? If so, one of the networked drives may make sense. Make sure you get something to back things up.

I've gut a full RAID network storage box. Plus the storage in the computers.
 
Looks like the raids are coming way down. When I looked at the issue, raid vs ehd - the price jump was quantum, in order to get the increase in function. I think I'll do that next if I don't go to online backups.
I ended up with a pair of Fantoms. Still half the price of raid but klunky to use.
 
I'd buy Seagate any day over Western Digital.

Ask me how many dead WD drives I've replaced this year. ;)

LaCie just plunks any ol' manufacturer's drives in their fancy enclosures, so you can get good stuff or junk. Gotta open it up to find out.

I've had really good luck with buying my own $15 enclosures and stuffing Samsung drives in them for cheap.

Agreed with the idea of putting them on the network. Dragging them around just beats them up. That's what giant USB sticks are for. :)

Performance is something to consider too. USB 1/2 are really slow. USB 3 if your machine has it, better.

Lately the company laptops (HP) have been showing up with eSATA ports. Those are nice and quick.
 
Ya may as well learn 'bout local resources now Teller. Microcenter is generally competitive w/Newegg. If ya want something quick, they're the place to go in Denver.
 
Clark1961 said:
Microcenter is generally competitive w/Newegg. If ya want something quick, they're the place to go in Denver.
Click to expand...

But they've got that infernal mailing list, that sends trash to your mailbox every couple of weeks. I finally beat Radio Shack's list - but I still get MC's garbage addressed to some previous resident of my house (who hasn't lived there in 8-9 years).

Our local MicroCenter is OK (and the best computer store in the DC area), but NewEgg still has a better selection of some things.
 
Bob Noel said:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10036

I don't use the lacie drives all the time, but the rugged drives have been pretty reliable. I use the rugged safe for my work laptop's backup drive.

for my most reliable backups at home, I use a lacie's network RAID.
Click to expand...
Those definitely look robust. And the prices aren't terrible, either. Have you had any reliability issues with them?

kimberlyanne546 said:
Wow. The "porsche" design on that site you linked too is even more sexy looking than the silver one we have at work.
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Those Porshe ones look like they could be used as weapons, should your office ever be invaded by Russians. I know my toe would find one of those sharp corners in the middle of the night!

wsuffa said:
Are your 'punters networked? If so, one of the networked drives may make sense. Make sure you get something to back things up.

I've gut a full RAID network storage box. Plus the storage in the computers.
Click to expand...
They are, all wirelessly.

SCCutler said:
Matt:

If the unit is going to be staying at the house, I agree that a decent network-attached RAID box is the way to go. You will be able to access it from any of the computers on the network, and the "RAID" aspect means a single hard-drive failure will not cause your data to be lost (of course, you still have to not accidentally erase files...).

Good deal: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5077998&CatId=2671
Click to expand...
Question for you and Bill (or anyone else): with the RAID box on the network, do I have to publicly share the files on my computer than I want to send to the box, or is the data transfer done through a secure connection to the box? While my home network is, I hope, fairly secure, my laptop spends a lot of time on unsecured networks while I'm on the road. I'd hate to open myself up to data theft/corruption if I forget to change my folder settings every time I go on a trip.

Also, how easy are these things to put on the network? I'm a little more well versed in home networking than the average user, but not by a lot.

denverpilot said:
P.S. Build a cheap PC and put FreeNAS or OpenFiler on it.
Click to expand...
That might have to wait until after this kid comes along. My wife has given me permission to find a way to store and protect our photos/videos/my work stuff, but she has also expressly stated that I CANNOT get another new computer. :sad:

Clark1961 said:
Ya may as well learn 'bout local resources now Teller. Microcenter is generally competitive w/Newegg. If ya want something quick, they're the place to go in Denver.
Click to expand...

wsuffa said:
But they've got that infernal mailing list, that sends trash to your mailbox every couple of weeks. I finally beat Radio Shack's list - but I still get MC's garbage addressed to some previous resident of my house (who hasn't lived there in 8-9 years).

Our local MicroCenter is OK (and the best computer store in the DC area), but NewEgg still has a better selection of some things.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of MicroCenter. That may have to be one of my weekend projects. Do you know if they have a location up on the North side, Clark?

Hopefully if I go buy in person I can avoid the mailing list, Bill! Last thing we need is more junk mail. Whoever lived in this apartment before us must have subscribed to everything they could possibly find to subscribe to. NewEgg is always still a viable option, too. :yesnod:
 
The Microcenter in Denver is just north of the 225 & DTC BLVD intersection. Not up north by a long shot. It is pretty close to being on the way to/from KAPA for you.
 
Teller1900 said:
Those definitely look robust. And the prices aren't terrible, either. Have you had any reliability issues with them?
Click to expand...

Nope. But I don't use those particular drives 24/7. I connect them when I want to copy/transfer files, sometimes LARGE amounts of data (e.g., a VM's "hard disk")


Teller1900 said:
Question for you and Bill (or anyone else): with the RAID box on the network, do I have to publicly share the files on my computer than I want to send to the box, or is the data transfer done through a secure connection to the box? While my home network is, I hope, fairly secure, my laptop spends a lot of time on unsecured networks while I'm on the road. I'd hate to open myself up to data theft/corruption if I forget to change my folder settings every time I go on a trip.

Also, how easy are these things to put on the network? I'm a little more well versed in home networking than the average user, but not by a lot.
Click to expand...

The lacie Network raid was quite simple to put on my home network, which is a private network hiding behind a router. It is not available outside of my home network and is connected to my network switch via a Cat 6 cable.

The hardest part is deciding what kind of RAID to use. I ended up configuring it as a RAID 5, with a hot spare. That resulted in 2.5TB available.

I'm quite happy using the rugged safe drive as a dedicated backup for my work laptop. It has hardware encryption so it provides a measure of data protection and is powered via the firewire port. It also has USB ports, I assume these can be used to power it instead of a separate power adapter.
 
Microcenter rocks. 'Nuff said about that...

Way too easy to get there from home, too.
 
Teller1900 said:
Question for you and Bill (or anyone else): with the RAID box on the network, do I have to publicly share the files on my computer than I want to send to the box, or is the data transfer done through a secure connection to the box? While my home network is, I hope, fairly secure, my laptop spends a lot of time on unsecured networks while I'm on the road. I'd hate to open myself up to data theft/corruption if I forget to change my folder settings every time I go on a trip.
Click to expand...

No, you don't need to share anything on your computer. The network drive will just look like an additional drive to your computer (you'll map to a network drive). Depending on your firewall software, you may need to allow your computer to access the network drive, but that will be specific to your network and drive. It won't require opening any shares at all.

Also, how easy are these things to put on the network? I'm a little more well versed in home networking than the average user, but not by a lot.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you buy. Most are easy - they'll do a lot of self configuration. Because of my network configuration, I put mine on a static IP address & some other individualized configuration... but my home network is more complex than many smaller business networks.

Hopefully if I go buy in person I can avoid the mailing list, Bill! Last thing we need is more junk mail. Whoever lived in this apartment before us must have subscribed to everything they could possibly find to subscribe to. NewEgg is always still a viable option, too. :yesnod:
Click to expand...

The MicroCenter checkout drones will demand your name and address. The one here, many of the drones will tell you that "your warranty isn't any good unless you give us your name and address" or "we can't accept your credit card unless you give us your address", both of which are untrue. I know some folks that give well-known addresses (hmmm... what could those be? :devil: ) and fake names if they're pushed too hard. Like Radio Shack, MicroCenter seems to see wasting money on unwanted crap mail is an important part of marketing.
 
Clark1961 said:
The Microcenter in Denver is just north of the 225 & DTC BLVD intersection. Not up north by a long shot. It is pretty close to being on the way to/from KAPA for you.
Click to expand...
Easy enough, though, I suppose.

Bob Noel said:
Nope. But I don't use those particular drives 24/7. I connect them when I want to copy/transfer files, sometimes LARGE amounts of data (e.g., a VM's "hard disk")




The lacie Network raid was quite simple to put on my home network, which is a private network hiding behind a router. It is not available outside of my home network and is connected to my network switch via a Cat 6 cable.

The hardest part is deciding what kind of RAID to use. I ended up configuring it as a RAID 5, with a hot spare. That resulted in 2.5TB available.

I'm quite happy using the rugged safe drive as a dedicated backup for my work laptop. It has hardware encryption so it provides a measure of data protection and is powered via the firewire port. It also has USB ports, I assume these can be used to power it instead of a separate power adapter.
Click to expand...

wsuffa said:
No, you don't need to share anything on your computer. The network drive will just look like an additional drive to your computer (you'll map to a network drive). Depending on your firewall software, you may need to allow your computer to access the network drive, but that will be specific to your network and drive. It won't require opening any shares at all.



Depends on what you buy. Most are easy - they'll do a lot of self configuration. Because of my network configuration, I put mine on a static IP address & some other individualized configuration... but my home network is more complex than many smaller business networks.



The MicroCenter checkout drones will demand your name and address. The one here, many of the drones will tell you that "your warranty isn't any good unless you give us your name and address" or "we can't accept your credit card unless you give us your address", both of which are untrue.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks guys! Now I just need to convince my wife that the big number next to the "$" is acceptable. Sounds like the RAID is going to be the most versatile choice for us, though.

wsuffa said:
I know some folks that give well-known addresses (hmmm... what could those be? :devil: ) and fake names if they're pushed too hard. Like Radio Shack, MicroCenter seems to see wasting money on unwanted crap mail is an important part of marketing.
Click to expand...

1060 W. Addison St, Chicago, IL
 
I have been using a ReadyNAS Duo with mirrored 1 TB drives for about two years now and am very happy with it.

http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Ready...8YZK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332548351&sr=8-1

Not cheap but it has a lot of features like media streaming, backup, etc.

I use a number of different computers at home and am always tinkering with them so I keep all my files on the NAS. I can open TBird on any of my computers and access my stored email; I also map my doc libraries to the server. So I can lose a computer or reinstall an OS with no worries. And the mirrored drives provide redundant backup although important stuff is also burned to redundant DVDs (no BD burner yet).
 
There are big differences in NAS appliances (network attached storage) and they pretty much all support RAID configurations. There can be big performance advantages from one brand to another. Qnap seems to be the best bang for the buck in my opinion (this the brand that Cisco OEMs for their devices).

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-charts/view
 
SCCutler said:
Matt:

If the unit is going to be staying at the house, I agree that a decent network-attached RAID box is the way to go. You will be able to access it from any of the computers on the network, and the "RAID" aspect means a single hard-drive failure will not cause your data to be lost (of course, you still have to not accidentally erase files...).

Good deal: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5077998&CatId=2671
Click to expand...

This does look like a good deal. Pretty much what I have in the ReadyNAS Duo without hot swap capability and some other bells and whistles that are not needed for home use. If a mirrored (RAID 1) drive lets go just shut the unit down and replace it.

For $250, I would go with a unit like this rather than cobble together something on my own. My ReadyNAS just sits on a bookshelf and is very unobtrusive.
 
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alfadog said:
For $250, I would go with a unit like this rather than cobble together something on my own.
Click to expand...

There's a third option. Some of these are running Linux under the hood and are infinitely hackable. Can get the hardware and then make it do whatever you want. ;)
 
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