 Robert F. Wilson |
External Hard Drives I have a Western Digital external hard drive that is beginning to act up and am wondering what others are using. I have been hearing bad things about WD, but mine has worked for a few years but am looking for a different brand. Any Seagate users out there. Looking at the FreeAgent 500gb.
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Richard Lynch |
I've used a variety of drives and not to jinx myself I've never really had a problem. Good drives are mostly warranteed for 5 years, and while failures can be catastrophic, you should be able to get them replaced. I tend to get this type of component from eCost.com where the pricing is usually really good. I just bought 3 Western Digital drives yesterday for my new system (to use in a RAID) @ 250GB 7200rpm and $87. Apple wanted $350 each. I've used Maxtor, Seagate, Baracuda, Western Digital, and probably others...
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William Schuette |
I have used Maxtor, LaCie and WD drives without any problems. I recently purchased an HP Mediasmart server with a terrabyte of memory and have been impressed with its performance and capabilities. Not only does it hold all of my photos, it does auto backups of two computers, is expandable, can be accessed wirelessly over my home wireless network and can be accessed remotely over the web. Also, set up was a no brainer. It runs about $550 for 500G or $750 for 1 TB which is much more expensive than a simple external HD but with all of its capabilities it is definitely worth looking in to. Bill Bill
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Marianne Fortin |
If a drive fails under warranty what happens to your photos and data? I'm assuming that you send it back and receive a replacement. Where does the old one containing your data end up?
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Robert F. Wilson |
Marianne, I have heard it cost plenty to get your data off of a hard drive that fails. Not sure how much.
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Marianne Fortin |
Robert, I'm assuming that the external hard drive is a back up so you should still have your data/photos somewhere else. I'm more concerned about someone else getting your data from a failed external hard drive when you return it for warranty. Maybe I'm just paranoid!
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Robert F. Wilson |
Yes, But not as organized as the WD hard drive.
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Richard Lynch |
Marianne, One of the reason I use several drives in a RAID array is because I can store my work on two drives simultaneously -- if one of them fails, the other still has the information accessible. As long as I have backed up occassionally to my external 500GB, I generally don't worry about losing hard drive information -- even if I lose a drive. I use the RAID to store work only -- not system files or programs. Those can always be restored from installation disks. In other circumstances, where you are not running a RAID, you can send failed drives out for recovery, or have more stringent daily backups. The RAID is a great system for me...It is immediate. It will likely not be good for people who like to edit images on their laptop (I just can't...too much sacrifice). Recovery may depend on what actually happened to the drive. I talk a little about this in my blog on the ultimate system: http://insights.betterphoto.com/archives/2007/09/building_the_ul.html A few other tidbits there as well. ;-)
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Pete H |
Robert, If your drive is acting up, transfer ALL your files now to another drive or DVD! Like Richard, I also use a RAID array...It is basically TWO HD's that mirrors itself; so the odds of BOTH sides crashing are extremely rare. Yes; as stated, you can send a HD out for recovery, but you will find this is quite expensive if the platters have crashed. I hope you are not trusting your photos to HD storage only. Back up to DVD's as well and refresh the DVD's about every 3 or 4 yrs.
Pete
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Nobu Nagase |
I see Marianne's point. If you have a sensitive data such as your personal information (financial and private, and so on) and certainly your valued photo images, you would not want to send out for data recovery. Unfortunately, it is true that you really cannot trust people and services these days. So, you should have AT LEAST 3-way data (image) backups, two HD's and one removable media (CD/DVD). And when a HD crashes, do not send out for data recovery. Destroy it, instead, and immediately replace it with another. A Raid system is ideal for assuring your data redundancy. This system used to be used in the business environment before, but the prices have come down to be more affordable by consumers, although they are still higher than bargain HD prices.
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Oliver Anderson |
Earlier this year I had a Maxtor Hard Drive (less than a month old) die. The worst part was that it had 8 TV/magazine shoots on it at the TV studio. It cost $1600 to recover only part of the lost photos. I brought the drive to 3 locations to recover it and all 3 said the most reliable are Western Digital and Seagate. 2 places said they've had a lot of Maxtors failing at the time...NO KIDDING was my response.
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Marianne Fortin |
For the average user data recovery is not an option. Most people who have had a drive fail within a month would send it back for a replacement. The unit they send back still contains their data - it might have failed due to something other than the actual disk. After the drive is repaired your data could be read by anyone. I guess they should just destroy it and buy a different one. My reason for bringing this up is that I have been researching external hard drives and have seen a lot of reviews about premature failures. The best solution would be to set up a RAID system or a server, but we can't all afford that!
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Marianne Fortin |
Robert, You might want to check the reviews for external hard drives on Amazon.com. The popular units have at least 50 reviews so you get a good idea of performance and reliability. Of course, a few bad reviews can put you off. Like this one: QUOTE "The FreeAgent is everything great that NEW buyers say it is. Lots of storage and a snap to set up. The problem is (and I'm about to return my second one) - the defect rate is pretty high. After about six weeks of use (just sitting on my desk, not moved from computer to computer or handled), I got messages saying the device had malfunctioned and my computer no longer recognized the drive. I went through all of the troubleshooting procedures on Seagate's website and nothing worked; finally, when I called the vendor about it they offered me an immediate replacement. The tech support rep I spoke to had seen the same issue so often he issued me an RA and sent me a new one before I even sent the old one back. Unfortunately the same thing happened with the new replacement drive, after about two months. I haven't decided which product to replace this with, but my advice would be to not only find out about the bells & whistles but to ask about reliability and defect rates. Personally I was very troubled about sending back the drives just to get a refund when they have all my personal data on them." END QUOTE
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Oliver Anderson |
I got a Free Agent on my desk and one that goes on location with me...we swap back and forth between my XPS and my partners MAC...no problems so far and plus it looks really COOL on my desk so I'll keep it. I back up everything now.
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Richard Lynch |
"The best solution would be to set up a RAID system or a server, but we can't all afford that!" I don't know how you can afford NOT to. On Mac, you can just set up a RAID array without any additional cost using the built-in configuration utility. On PC, you may have to purchase software and maybe some type of controller...I've never done it on a PC...but for immediate protection over a loss of all your photos and work?!?! How do you put a price on that? The goal would be to avoid ever having to spend $1600 on data recovery. You could buy a whole second system for that much. I set up a RAID on my Mac for the cost of 2 drives and about 5 minutes of my time. $160. It is reliable and cheap, and I don't worry about sending my drives out for recovery. There must be a variety of devices that can handle this inexpensively: I don't know this device, but it is only $100...Even if others are twice the cost, it is a huge piece of mind.
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Marianne Fortin |
I will check it out Richard, thanks!
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Marianne Fortin |
Here is an article on how to set up RAID on a PC. http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/how-to-set-up-raid-on-your-pc/201889
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Nobu Nagase |
Good info on setting up a Raid System above. Robert, sorry I skipped to answer your question on Seagate. I would recommend Seagate. Maxtor and Seagate had been (past tense here) two of the most reliable hard drive manufacturers in the past, but Maxtor seems to have fallen in its reliability. I used to buy Maxtor until a couple of years ago. My new external Maxtor drive failed in less than 6 months and the warranty on this was only 90 days..., figure that. I didn't pay much attention in this short warranty period because in the past, they have been very reliable. I tried their support service but no luck due to the fact the warranty had expired. Now, as far as WD is concerned, I have not used their HD's yet but I heard they are good. WD's reliability was low before when Maxtor was good. It looks like Seagate and WD are the ones that come to the top of the list in the tech rating.
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Oliver Anderson |
Someone asked earlier how much is cost if the drive fails. I researched this plenty when it happened to me...the answer is they charge by the hour. You start with a simple downpayment of $500-$750 (more at some places) then the cost goes from there. That is why the data recovery places recommended I use 300gb hard drives since they'd save me a couple grand in recovery cost if it ever happened again. Mind you I was in the process of setting up my brand new XPS laptop, I was lucky that the drive didn't have but 1 months worth of data on it....that's why it was only $1600 if the drive was full it would have cost about $5,000...YIKES.
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KV Day |
Mine is a Seagate. Never any issue at all with it.
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