I have what is probably an unorthodox method or working and backing up files because I do about half my work at home and half at my office. What I do is use an external as my master. When working I duplicate that drive to an extra internal drive as a backup. When I go to my store office I bring that external with me each day in a briefcase and plug it into my desktop there and duplicate it to the internal there too. Now I have 3 copies of my files in two different locations. I also occasionally dupe that drive to another external in case there is some corruption that I duplicate to all drives. That makes 4.
My current drives are getting toward 75% full and I'm looking now for externals for transport and internals of approx 500GB to hold me for a bit longer using the method that has been serving me well for a few years now.
I have had very few drive problems using this method even with all the travel.
I'm familiar with the Buffalo units etc but single large capacity drives in multiple locations is simpler and this method has safely been working for me for years.
My thought is to just put a 500GB internals in each desktop and one good external 500GB, whether that be a case with my own drive or a ready made one for back and forth.
I remember hearing good things about the Hitachi 400's a while back but not much about them since. Anyone have experience with these newer higher capacity drives and suggestions for specific models?
I don't have any drive recommendations for you, other than I have had good luck with Western Digital. I do wonder about your workflow though. Why would you want to carry around a 500GB extrenal drive? That sounds like you are asking for trouble.
External drives should be in no way confused with portable drives. Read the manual, usually moving an external drive around will void the warranty. They aren't equiped with the same safety measures that a portable drive is. All you have to do is drop one and you will find out how secure they are, by comparrison my ipod has taked dozens of spills, including concrete, without a glitch.
Second if it would ever get lost or stolen, you have 500GB of personal data and images floating around out there somewhere. . .
Why not just get a good portable drive, or keep using what you have as a transport drive. You mirror that drive anyway to your internel drives, so why risk that much data? I work between multiple systems too, but use a much smaller portable drive to transport only active files.
Thanks Rob but I've been doing this for years and it has served me well. I've not had a drive failure yet.... except for one that was in my desktop actually, but I'm totally prepared should one happen...... or I should say when it happens. You are right though that they are not as durable normally. I've made panic stops and had the case fly off the seat into the dash with no problems but I do now make sure I put it on the floor now!!!
I have only images on the drive.... no personal info and it goes into my briefcase which has a foam cutout for it and pretty much never is out of my hands in between so I'm not concerned about loss. This way I have access to everything at anytime. I never know what files I will be working on or need (and I spend hours every day working with them) so updating what I did to both computers would get more confusing and a greater chance of user error on MY part in backing up if I only had pieces with me. I totally realize this method may not be for everyone but I'm sort of a creature of habit and well.... so far so good. Just a little more space for now would make me a happy camper.
Posted by Rob Coomer on March 15, 2006 at 10:38 AM
I've carefully moved some of my external drives back and forth to work before, but it has always made me nervous. But then again, I don't have a padded case setup either. I have always wondered about the photojournalists traveling with the stacks of externals, but I bet they are using padded Pelican cases to protect them. I use my laptop for most of my work, and keep live jobs on it and everything else on 3 externals. But like you said, the file I really want is always at home on one of my externals. . .
Posted by Garth McElroy on March 15, 2006 at 10:47 AM
Considering Maxtor actually makes a carrying case for it's external drives they obviously expect the drives to be used as portable devices. That's probably why they're built so well. As long as your really not banging them around a lot your most likely going to be fine. I have no reservations or problems transporting my 300gb One Touch II around.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on March 15, 2006 at 7:35 PM
Hitachi makes a 500GB internal drive (Deskstar 7K500). I've seen positive reviews of this drive in CPU magazine.
Another option that you could look at is to set up a different type of disk array. A JBOD array would allow you to add a second drive of modest size to your existing drives in your desktops. A JBOD array is where multiple drives are grouped together into one virtual drive. It doesn't solve your 500GB external drive issue, but it may be an inexpensive way to increase your drive space in your desktop. You'll probably need a RAID controller to setup a JBOD array, but it isn't a RAID type.
Thanks Mel, That's an interesting option that I should look into.
Posted by Walter Rowe on March 17, 2006 at 2:18 PM
I always check for updated reviews at Tom's Hardware. They do quite a bit of storage benchmarking. Some of the new, higher capacity drives are actually quite a bit slower than their slightly smaller predecessors.
Discussion
8 repliesMy current drives are getting toward 75% full and I'm looking now for externals for transport and internals of approx 500GB to hold me for a bit longer using the method that has been serving me well for a few years now.
I have had very few drive problems using this method even with all the travel.
I'm familiar with the Buffalo units etc but single large capacity drives in multiple locations is simpler and this method has safely been working for me for years.
My thought is to just put a 500GB internals in each desktop and one good external 500GB, whether that be a case with my own drive or a ready made one for back and forth.
I remember hearing good things about the Hitachi 400's a while back but not much about them since. Anyone have experience with these newer higher capacity drives and suggestions for specific models?
I don't have any drive recommendations for you, other than I have had good luck with Western Digital. I do wonder about your workflow though. Why would you want to carry around a 500GB extrenal drive? That sounds like you are asking for trouble.
External drives should be in no way confused with portable drives. Read the manual, usually moving an external drive around will void the warranty. They aren't equiped with the same safety measures that a portable drive is. All you have to do is drop one and you will find out how secure they are, by comparrison my ipod has taked dozens of spills, including concrete, without a glitch.
Second if it would ever get lost or stolen, you have 500GB of personal data and images floating around out there somewhere. . .
Why not just get a good portable drive, or keep using what you have as a transport drive. You mirror that drive anyway to your internel drives, so why risk that much data? I work between multiple systems too, but use a much smaller portable drive to transport only active files.
I have only images on the drive.... no personal info and it goes into my briefcase which has a foam cutout for it and pretty much never is out of my hands in between so I'm not concerned about loss. This way I have access to everything at anytime. I never know what files I will be working on or need (and I spend hours every day working with them) so updating what I did to both computers would get more confusing and a greater chance of user error on MY part in backing up if I only had pieces with me. I totally realize this method may not be for everyone but I'm sort of a creature of habit and well.... so far so good. Just a little more space for now would make me a happy camper.
Another option that you could look at is to set up a different type of disk array. A JBOD array would allow you to add a second drive of modest size to your existing drives in your desktops. A JBOD array is where multiple drives are grouped together into one virtual drive. It doesn't solve your 500GB external drive issue, but it may be an inexpensive way to increase your drive space in your desktop. You'll probably need a RAID controller to setup a JBOD array, but it isn't a RAID type.