 Joan E. Herwig |
External Hardrives I need advice on buying external HD. I usually shoot both jpeg & RAW. I have a D2Xs, so my files are large. I have a MAC Pro, but already the HD is filling up faster than I thought, plus I know I need to get my act together in terms of safe backup for my photos! I'm considering getting 2 identical one T hard drives so if one of those crashes I have the same photos saved on another--leaving my computer HD for operating programs. Is this a good idea? What brand is best? I was thinking Lacie d2 Quadra 1 tera, but it seems that all reviews I read run the full gamut for excellent & terrible reviews & that all HD's no matter the brand fail at one time or another. I welcome any opinions! Joan
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robert G. Fately |
Hi, Joan - I can recommend the OWC (Other World Computing) external drives (not sure if they have a 1TB model yet, but they probbly do). I will advise you to stay away from the Western Digital "MyBook" stuff - mine seems to go into some sort of semi-permanent hibernation mode frmo which it is a pain to emerge. I essentially have to unplug it from both power and Firewire to get it going again (there's no simple power switch on the unit). You are correct that with hard drives, it's not a question of "if" but rather "when" they will fail, so maintaining redundancy is a good idea. So-called RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) are pretty much that, using various schemes to clone data from one platter to another (or others) for failsafe recovery. You might also want to consider a drive to back up occasionally and then remove from the premises - in case a disaster destroys the office or house your files will (hopefully) be safe elsewhere. At least that way you won't have lost everything...
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William Schuette |
Hi Joan, I have both Lacie and the Western Digital and have not had any problems with either. Bill
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Richard Lynch |
Joan, I'm a Mac user with a Mac Pro desktop. Are you using a desktop or a laptop? The desktop has 4 internal drive bays and you can just add a drive or three. I run my mac with 4 internal drives, 1 for the system, 2 for work set up as a raid (writing simultaneously to the drives), and a dedicated scratch disk (and backup drive for the raid should one drive go). Then I have a large FD external drive that I use for periodic backup (scheduled). I also write archives to DVD. If you have a laptop, the problem is you won't have the space for an internal drive. I have used all sorts of drives and rarely had a problem. Mac uses Western Digital Caviar out of the box. I've not set up an external RAID, but they do have boxes for that. Check out ecost.com -- I've often gotten great deals there. Richard lynch
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