external hard drives.

sam51

sam51

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sam
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can some one recommend a decent EHD,
to store my photos on, don't want to pay a fortune on one.
thanks sam.
 
It depends on what size of storage your usage requires, if it needs to be portable (can you cope with one that has a power supply), and what you consider a fortune.

Seagate do a good range such as this one
 
I got a couple of small toshibas, 1tb, usb connection. Got them from PCWorld for about sixty quid each.
I just found with the bigger main-powered ones we didn't backup often enough.
 
Storing your images on one single hard drive is risky. You need to have them backed up elsewhere as well.
 
that would do it :)
 
I've been using WD My Passport portable hardrives as backups to my main internal hardrive. I got them from amazon. I've not had any problems with any of them and I have a 500GB, 1TB and a 2TB.

Pookeyhead said:
Storing your images on one single hard drive is risky. You need to have them backed up elsewhere as well.
Click to expand...

Having a backup system is quite important, having at least two copies of data and preferably in more than one place. I have recently thought about my backup system for my iMac (maybe a little different to a windows PC), I wrote about it on my website here if it interests you. My biggest issue with backing up was me, now it's mostly automatic so it works much better now I'm hardly involved.
 
That's nothing mate. I take paranoia to a new level :)

Here's my system (created for a computer forum a while back). Back ups nice.... back up and redundancy is nicer :)

H6VYvmS.jpg
 
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There is no link... just a diagram embedded.
 
Pookeyhead said:
That's nothing mate. I take paranoia to a new level :)

Here's my system (created for a computer forum a while back). Back ups nice.... back up and redundancy is nicer :)

H6VYvmS.jpg
Click to expand...
I just want to free up space on my laptop. not set up mission control
 
rob-nikon said:
I've been using WD My Passport portable hardrives as backups to my main internal hardrive. I got them from amazon. I've not had any problems with any of them and I have a 500GB, 1TB and a 2TB.



Having a backup system is quite important, having at least two copies of data and preferably in more than one place. I have recently thought about my backup system for my iMac (maybe a little different to a windows PC), I wrote about it on my website here if it interests you. My biggest issue with backing up was me, now it's mostly automatic so it works much better now I'm hardly involved.
Click to expand...
ive looked at these wd my passports, they have good reviews.
how many photos can a 500GB hold.
 
sam51 said:
I just want to free up space on my laptop. not set up mission control
Click to expand...
LOL.. quite. I was replying to rob-nikon. I wasn't suggesting you go to anywhere near those levels. If you do get a back up drive, it makes sense to store it elsewhere though, as a break in and theft will result in BOTH copies being stolen if they are together.
 
sam51 said:
I just want to free up space on my laptop. not set up mission control
Click to expand...
See what you mean but Dave's just minimising the risk it's worth it if you've been doing it a while and have a lot of photos that are valuable to you
I don't use a set up like that, I'm a computer novice but I do back up to two other drives, one I keep at work and also have all my pics backed up online :)
 
I use 2 WD my book and a WD my cloud, they come with software that automates everything. Not the cheapest (£74.00 for 2TB from Amazon) but I feel the data is important so why risk a cheap and cheerful one. I used to use Toshiba, they were cheaper, and out of 3 drives, 2 failed just outside the warranty period, I purposely ditched the 3rd one as I had no confidence in the make. WD reviews are generally good, and a colleague has used them for years without a problem.
 
rob-nikon said:
Sorry David, I couldn't see the diagram for some reason hence thinking it was a link. Thats definitely a system that many don't need. I already had 3 hard drives hence I used them all. One hard drive and an off site backup is all many of us need.
Click to expand...

Nope.. you're right... they don't. Nor do I any more, as there's no live client work on the system. It gives me a nice glow inside knowing it's all safe though. If anything big enough to take out everything happened now... my images would be the last thing I needed to worry about :)
 
yep, cheap and i use my wd's only once until they're full (i read/write lots until its full) then just buy another. Its only working out about 2 a year for me at the moment, though I have shot a few live events in the last couple of months and it might be 4 a year soon :S

But it at least allows me to keep all of my raws (except the truly rubbish one's) and if I learn something new that I think I could put into an old image, I can do it, though I need some way of tracking it all. Hmmm.
 
Another vote for the WD Passport, I have the 1TB one, I also have an 'archive' computer in my parents house, not in David's league with regards to backup but it does me haha! :D
 
I have used a number of these caddies for putting an internal HDD into and they work very well with everything supplied.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004LX186C/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can get them as USB 2 or 3.

Nowadays I use the 4TB Seagate drives because they are more compact:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-STBV4000200-Expansion-External-Drive/dp/B00BP5RL10/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1392388245&sr=1-2&keywords=4tb seagate hdds

But the prices do go up and down - I bought 2 at £120 so good idea to keep a watch if you are thinking of getting any and they may be cheaper elsewhere.

Some people have reported problems with some external HDDs but I've had none so far although they are only plugged in when backing up so hopefully should last a long time.

I also use a surge protected power supply to plug them into.

And all my photos are also uploaded to Microsoft's SkyDrive as a secondary backup
.
 
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rob-nikon said:
I can't see a link, would be an interesting read.
Click to expand...
sam51 said:
I just want to free up space on my laptop. not set up mission control
Click to expand...
The link is in the word here in his post.

It's not about setting up a mission control, the problem with one hard dirve is if it fails (and it will one day) you lose everything, it's easier to have 2 so if and when one goes you still have your back-up, then you copy off the good drive onto and new one and carry on with your back-up.
 
If the images have any value to you, financial or emotional, then you MUST back up to at least two places, whether that's hard drives, on-line, dvd, combination of local/on-line, whatever.

EHD's are cheap(ish) - compare value on £/Gb - bigger is not always cheaper.
 
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