Any suggestions for external harddrive?

[LoriKelso]

I wasn't certain where to post the question, but this forum seemed the most likely place to find those that have already purchased an external harddrive. I prefer the voice of experience when looking to purchase technology related items. I'd appreciate any advice you have as far as which brands are most reliable.

[spphoto]

Stay away from a brand called Western Digital, I lost all my files by putting them on one once. They were corrupted beyond recognition. Luckily I was able to recover them off my old HD.

I've had the best experience with Maxtor and Lacie, you pay more for them, but you know what you're getting is good.

[LoriKelso]

Thank you, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'm torn between whether to pay more for a TB now, or just start with say 500 gigs and wait for the prices to come down in future.

[gjl711]

There are many options for off line storage. 2.5", 3.5", enclosure and your own drive, networked storage for multiple PCs, an all in one out of the box ready to go drive, and more. The simplest is an off the shelf product like a Seagate FreeAgent 320GB external drive or a WD Passport 120GB 2.5 drive. The WD is nice because it is so small and quite and usually sells for under $100. Contrary to the previous poster, WD makes some of the best, fastest drives out there but if you stick to any of the big names, Western Digital, Maxtor, Seagate, or Hitachi you'll not go wrong.

[LoriKelso]

How long does it typically take to fill up say a 320gb drive when saving RAW files, and PS'd images? I tend to shoot a lot as I'm still in the learning stage. I've discovered it's much better to only save images I feel are good enough to work on in PS, but still have pretty much run out of room on my laptop. I just purchased 2 gigs of RAM, trying to improve the speed of my computer, but feel like if I could move most of my photo's to external storage, I'd gain even more speed, not to mention room, but I'd hate to be stuck with two or three extenal drives just to store everything.

[Ultimate CC]

See I have always run western digital (5 years now) and have never had an issue with them and they got beat up in travel...of course I always have two, one that is active and a second that stays in the closet that I back up to every so often...

[Mario.]

I swear up and down by Western Digital. Have used them for over 10 years with no problems. As long as you have multiple copies and locations, then it's not a problem even if a drive does fail.

[Mario.]

How long does it typically take to fill up say a 320gb drive when saving RAW files, and PS'd images? I tend to shoot a lot as I'm still in the learning stage. I've discovered it's much better to only save images I feel are good enough to work on in PS, but still have pretty much run out of room on my laptop. I just purchased 2 gigs of RAM, trying to improve the speed of my computer, but feel like if I could move most of my photo's to external storage, I'd gain even more speed, not to mention room, but I'd hate to be stuck with two or three extenal drives just to store everything.

And this depends on the RAW file size? Each RAW file is about 1MB per 1 megapixel. So my RAW's from my 350D (an 8MP camera) are about 8MB each. My PSD files are typically 40-100MB depending on how many layers and such. This is my personal workflow though, yours may and probably will differ.

[Electric Monk]

Seagate all the way, best, most comprehensive warranty for HDDs I've ever seen. My advice would be to get the hard drive & enclosure seperate, tends to be cheaper plus when you upgrade later you've already got the enclosure handy, just need the new drive. I'd stay away from the 1tb externals like the WD simply because your getting 1tb through raid, and if one of the drives goes all your stuff is screwed.

[gjl711]

How long does it typically take to fill up say a 320gb drive when saving RAW files, and PS'd images? I tend to shoot a lot as I'm still in the learning stage..... Might be worth your $$$ to invest is something like this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3176017&CatId=136
There are others like it out there but a 1000 gigabytes holds a whole lot of pictures.

[P51Mstg]

I've used them all. I've built them (go to Geeks.com for cheapest parts) and bought a few.

Here goes: Easiest way, go to Sam's Club and buy a Seagate Free Agent 500GB ($150) or 750GB ($210)drive. External USB 2.0 ready to go, no formatting, etc. (if I recall right). AC adapter is small, cable is long enough too. One of my homemade drives (the case actually) croaked on a trip (drive was OK). SO I went to Sam's in TX somewhere and bought one. Pretty good deal and a really nice looking unit too.

If you build your own. It takes a small phillips screwdriver and a few minutes to do it, Then you need to partition and format it. Simple actually (my XWIFE could have actually done it). I can say DO NOT BUY THE CHEAPEST EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE THEY HAVE. Why? That was the one that broke on me. Also cables seem to be too short. Geeks,com has one called a METAL GEAR BOX. I've got 2 of those and they are nice..

Size. get something that is reasonable for the price. 1TB drives are a bit expensive right now. Also with that much data you want an enclosure that allows you to use USB 2.0 and Firewire 800. Put a Firewire card in your machine the speed gain is amazing............. (Card is $35 or less for a cheap one).

For the desktop at home, I don't store any data in the machine. Why? Internet crap and the computer doesn't start and you are screwed. I have a Lacie 2TB external which is an enclosure that has 4X 500GB drives in it. USB 2.0 and Firewire 800 too. Really fast, and holds a lot (YUP its almost full too). You can't back it up on DVDs (I have about 200 I made before I gave up) so I bought another Lacie 2Tb to back it up on. I keep that one put away and not hooked up to the computer. Drive costs about $700.

I use "Alway Sync" to keep them synced up and its easy to use and fast. Well worth it (Maybe $50 or so?). Tell it whihc way you want to copy and it will copy new files, updated files, or deletions (deletes them on backup if you deleted on the original). So it saves lots of headaches and if the originial dies, you plug in the other one, no trying to "restore it". To extend the life of the drives, I keep them shut off unless I am using them.

Also I have a Maxtor 1 TB (2x 500GB) external USB 2.0 hooked up with about 500GB on it. I back it up on a 750GB external (I need bigger drives when it gets full).

Finally how much space do you need? Buy 500 or 750 GB and you shouldn't have problems. Better yet get 2 to back each other up on. Then how many pictures do you take? At big airshows, I carry 3x 16GB and 8x 8GB cards, and also have 2X 8GB SD cards. I've actually filled most of them up so 100GB in a day is not a real problem and I could shoot 300GB in a 3 day weekend. So its a lot of cards (the Canon Mark III is darn fast, but uses lots of cards). Consider that.

If you have questions, PM me.

Mark H

[GTriever]

Full sized (3.5") drives, Seagate and Maxtor. Laptop sized (2.5") drives, Hitachi and Toshiba. For lots of big storage, A RAID system rather than trusting everything to one drive. Western Digital sometimes doesn't like to play nice with other brands, so unless I'm using them exclusively in a system I don't recommend them. JMO...

[amfoto1]

A little something to think about:

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/12/maxtor_infected_hdd_updated/ (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/12/maxtor_infected_hdd_updated/)

I've used Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital. In fact there's one WD, a Seagate and four Maxtors in this computer I'm using right now, if I recall correctly. The WD drive is about five years old and still working great, knock on wood.

I've had them all crash on me eventually. (There are four dead drives sitting on a shelf in my office, for wiping before trashing them.)

Seagate and Maxtor are now the same company, by the way.

[cdifoto]

I'm using a Western Digital Caviar 7200RPM SATA 500GB in a Venus DS3 SATA enclosure. A little more expensive than the MyBook and similar offerings, but at least I know what I have in it, and it's SATA.

[huskyrider]

i would check out www.caldigit.com with esata kit you are cooking with gas!

[Bootsie]

A few weeks ago I got a Seagate 500GB Free agent for $92, so far I really like it. Use Snyctoy to back-up, and I don't have to worry about it.