Reliable External HD
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- akrok0
i know you're in l.a. you can check out frys also.
- http://www.frys.com/…akrok
- True...they should have whatever I need. That store is a wonderland for nerd parts.CincodeMayo
- CincodeMayo0
Yeah, I didn't think online backup was the way to go. Thanks akrok. I'll check this one out and any other suggestions.
- stewdio0
G-Tech. More expensive but also way more robust. Multiple interfaces. Casing built to last. I've been very satisfied with these.
- formed0
Seagate - I've loved these and Maxtors, but the last one I bought did not come with backup software (the previous 20 drives I've had used Retrospect, which was simple and reliable).
It comes with Memeo and a bunch of useless other bloatware (other Memeo products). Reluctantly, I purchased it for $70 (making my drive overall price go from $120 to $190) as most will simply due to the convenience.
I hate Memeo, it won't let me schedule the backup times and you have to get the Pro version to even select the files/folders you want (there's a super expensive version that lets you choose the time of backups).
All of this Retrospect did for free, more intuitively.
So, for those reasons, I cannot recommend Seagate/Maxtor, even though I've been using them for 10 years with minimal problems.
I have WD and Lacie drives that work fine, also. All luck, I think.
Carbonite - I am a new member, so far it is very good. $50 or so for unlimited backup (I've got about 400 GBs backedup), great tech support (24/7 chat, that works). I had Mozy, but they cancelled the unlimited plan, making my $50/year cost go to about $1000/year.
God I hate it when companies change good policies/products to try to squeeze a few pennies out. They've lost me, surely they'll lose more.
- tymeframe0
= oxymoron. Just keep a backup.
- ESKEMA0
- I have the esata model, quite a disappointment. Mgmt software is terrible, written in java, looks 1995, crashes...raf
- The drive sometimes isn't recognized on start, have to boot it, wait a few secs, then plug into computerraf
- The fan is always on even when drives aren't spinning, no thermal sensor only manual speed controlraf
- It looks 'mac' and lures you into the illusion of good UX. My €20 noname Chinese enclosure is nicer to use.raf
- plash0
for the "important" stuff you should have a RAID system going.. everything else should be external (dont move or unmounted;hdd dont like it.. ) recently i've moved to this case..
Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition Mid-Tower Case (thanx Boz!)
allows internal drives to be docked externally. (supports labtop drives too)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pr…
loving it...- that blue port is usb 3plash
- i almost got that case but went with a silverstone ft02 with thermaltake dockdeathboy
- how do you like it?! L.O.V.E. my Thermaltakeplash
- so far i really dig it. lots of cable routing option. top usb i felt was a bit cheap and no direct usb3.0 accessdeathboy
- but it is pretty. stays cool. and since i dont have a usb3.0 thumbdrive i dont mind the lack of quick access so fardeathboy
- was looking it up.. how does the Thermaltake dock work?plash
- how bout thermal take. cant recall what made me change my mind on itdeathboy
- the dock works liek the top port. usb2.0/esata. 2 slots fits 3.5/2.5 drives like an external casedeathboy
- oh you're losing speed then. ThermTk is working directly to the motherboard.plash
- 3.5 gigs a sec. on usb 3, sata on docsplash
- Blazing fast. i can transfer a HD 1080p movie from HD to mem stick in less than 30 sec.plash
- i dont use it often. but i picked it up for 40 bucks because i liked the option to dock internals quick and easydeathboy
- and becuase my mobo/processor gave out on a project and need to yank drives for transferdeathboy
- tiger direct has this for 80 plus a 20 rebate,,(USD) credit goes to Boz; he knows his shit!plash
- im good for while i dropped 230 i think on the case i have. planning on it lasting for awhile. prev was a p180 but i gav eit to a frienddeathboy
- gave it away with the new mobo/processor to a buddy who was into takign pictures but didnt have a decent systemdeathboy
- its good to pass on your tools.plash
- plash0
basically when i get a new client; they buy a new 1 tb hd (in contract) when a contract is completed, i flash wherever storage i use to my cloud S3 (for internal bk) and my hands are clean. i hand them their web/print/ wheatnots.. (hdd) & if they lose it; i can change a premium (service). bee's knees ..
- moldero0
the other day i just took apart 2 separate wd 1tb's and just put the sata's directly into my mac pro in the extra blank bays, externals r a pain, wish i had more empty bays, i have 7 more drives.
- love it apple users take control; right On!plash
- i looked at my WDs but didnt see any access on the molded plastic? did u jsut break the plastic? i was thinkign of addign them to my internal in a possible raiddeathboy
- addign them to my internal and runnign a raid setupdeathboy
- i took apart wd's, i found a vid on youtube for a tutorial, basically get a screw driver, the cases pop apartmoldero
- i started from the top, the wd's were essential 1tb's, i have a 4 tb but that one comes apart differentlymoldero
- didn't take that one apart yet.moldero
- loljadrian_uk
- had to research like hell to make sure they were satas, couldnt find anything even on wd's site, that youtubemoldero
- tut helped because i could see the drive once it was outmoldero
- what was cool is i didnt even have to reformat the drives or anything. easy as shit.moldero
- formed0
Anyone noticing that HD's aren't shipping with software? I just got a new Seagate drive (my Maxtor's have always been great, got stacks of them), but it only comes with a trial version of Memeo, which is jus a horrible program, installed TONS of crap shit, just pissed me off (considering Maxtor drives used to ship with a simple version of Retrospect).
For drives, I've got Seagate, Maxtor and WD. I've had a few have errors, but more or less all have been fine (and inexpensive).
- Projectile0
my WD passport is so frikkin useful, been dropped a thousand times when I move my laptop around, my housemates are always stealing it and god knows what they do to it... and it still works fine 2 yrs later.
and not having an extra power source+wasting electricity is a massive bonus
- really? my WD usually just die for no reason.... they are like the cheapest brand on the market... maybe the quality control isn't there and the good one might be really good.pango
- there and the good is might be really good.pango
- I use this thing to death. had mine for almost 2 years, no problems, and I can literally fit it anywhere.RGB
- Worst of the worst - don't buy WD.d_rek
- i've had mine for 2 years now, 320gb and it's worked flawlessly.kona
- never had problems with my WD mybookgenfour
- I have a few of these, some work well others have usb plug problems. I'd recommend not using this one.spot13
- wd is shit. & kona. may work fine with 300+gb but you go tb and its sucks..plash
- don't buy WDjadrian_uk
- bjladams0
i've had 1 out of 4 western digital hds blow up - but the other 3 are still good. so, i guess i'd rate them 3 stars out of 4.
- randommail0
just be thankful it's not 10 years ago...
- vaxorcist0
I've had 2 of 4 LaCie drives stop working... one locked up and stopped spinning, the other just wouldn't be recognized by any computer, then it made grinding noises and smelled funny....
I've had better luck with:
1. buying seagate OEM raw drives, buying an enclosure and putting them together myself in 15 minutes with a screwdriver.
2. buying normal, plain old office-depot Verbatim drives... so far they work fine and are very cheap, if slightly slower than the 7200 RPM drives.
I've also found that some drives are Mac or PC, not Mac and PC. Some work with both no problem, some require reformatting to switch systems, erasing all the stuff on them.
Many consumer drives have irritating software that's supposed to backup your system but may just cause problems... I'd avoid or erase that stuff...
- Same here. I've had much worse experience with LaCie than WD.RGB
- FAT32 drives will work on Mac/PC. HFS+ only mac, and NTFS will read/write PC but read only macanimatedgif
- vaxorcist0
Some photographers I know use DROBO backup systems, quite complex and pricey, but supposedly very redundent.
- d_rek0
Seagate - been a loyal seagate customer for over a decade now and have not once had a seagate drive fail or die on me.
I started using them when I built my first PC - it was an old 3200rpm Barracuda drive, like 6gb or something. It lasted until I disassembled the machine.
I then built another PC with two internal seagate 7200rpm SATA drives. Again, never had any issue.
And more recently i've been using their external drives. I bought an external HDD back in 2006 and used it until 2010, when the 80gb just wasn't enough. I upgraded to a GoFlex 500gb drive with firewire and couldn't be happier. I also use a 1TB external HDD for backup for my home machine.
My *only* quip with their newer drives is they feel a bit too 'plastic' for me. They're sturdy enough but I liked them just a tad more when they were encased in aluminum.
- Your FIRST HD, over a decade ago, was a 6GB 3200rpm Barracuda? You fucking wish!monospaced
- oops...I totally read that wrong...disregard my commentmonospaced
- Uhm, yeah, I think it was like 1998 when I built my first rig. One drive was the barracuda the other was a used quantum fireball.d_rek
- I don't know if they sold GB drives back then. Maybe 600MBmonospaced
- 1998? C'mon dude.d_rek
- raf0
@ESKEMA
Check back my comments next to the IcyDock pic you posted.
I have to unplug this shit from the computer every time I want to start it, then plug back in. Otherwise I always get this:
