Hard Drive.....

andyd55

andyd55

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Andrew
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Does it count as equipment? Maybe? Any way I am thinking of getting a uber big hdd, 500gb or 1TB for keep all my photos on rather than burn them all to discs just a pain! So what does anyone recomend? Thinking of a external with RJ45 connection so I can view them over network in my house? :p
 
I think you'll think it much more of a pain when the drive fails and you lose a terrabytes worth of images! Stick to burning them to dvd and make copies if the images are important to you.
 
I`d still have back up DVD`s on top of the hardrive. If you have a failure there a possibility you`ll lose the lot.

Mind you, Id be interested in what`s suggested as I`ve nearly filled mine up too!
 
As an aside, what software do you guys use for copying to a DVD. My operating system is Windows XP which as we all know doesn't support writing to a DVD without some help. I tried Nero but it always seemed to end up locking the computer or conflicting with my modem (or mouse, or CD drive, or sound card or.............).

(sorry , not trying to hijack the thread)
 
what version of nero was it? I never have any problems with nero using the burning rom program to back up data
 
What's wrong with both DVDs and a uber big HDD? A good backup solution has more then one element to it.

If you are going for a big HDD setup and want data security look for a RAID-5 NAS (network attached server), it allows you to have big storage and the safety If one drive in the box dies you can replace it and by cleverness no data is lost, the box will recreate the data on a new disk from the others. However, you will loose the capacity of one of the drives e.g. 4x 500GB gives you 1.5 TB in a RAID-5 setup. They aren't cheap but they are accessible across the network and are the bees knees.
 
I have a Western Digital My Book 500gb external firewire drive, it backs up everything automatically ( Mac) and for burning on a PC I always use Nero, never had a problem with it. Make sure, if you carry on using Nero, that it is the latest version. I believe there were some problems with XP and some early Nero versions.
WD also do a Network drive ( My Book World Edition) in 500gb and 750gb flavours. Probably bigger too.
Not sure how good these are, I think there were teething troubles when they first came out.
Raid is probably the best, but can be complicated and expensive.

If you do go for the single drive solution, there is always the chance that it could fail ( you could be burgled and your Raid setup stolen too :suspect: )
If it does fail, there are plenty of programs out there that will recover your data, so, its not a big deal.
Allan
 
Nero here too, it never fails.
 
SimonTALM said:
What's wrong with both DVDs and a uber big HDD? A good backup solution has more then one element to it.

If you are going for a big HDD setup and want data security look for a RAID-5 NAS (network attached server), it allows you to have big storage and the safety If one drive in the box dies you can replace it and by cleverness no data is lost, the box will recreate the data on a new disk from the others. However, you will loose the capacity of one of the drives e.g. 4x 500GB gives you 1.5 TB in a RAID-5 setup. They aren't cheap but they are accessible across the network and are the bees knees.
Click to expand...

I can only assume that they are VERY expensive!!! :thinking:
 
fraggle101 said:
I can only assume that they are VERY expensive!!! :thinking:
Click to expand...

They are about £370 without any drives (linky). However you can upgrade these as an when larger hard drives become available and some (like the one linked) can have mini server funtions as well.

I supose whether you perceive this as expensive depends on what value you give to your data...
 
We have one of these at work http://www.netgear.com/Products/Storage/ReadyNASNVPlus.aspx it's superb and it gives you RAID, you can start with , say, two drives, and add additional ones as required.

It can serve music, can be accessed remotely (if required). If you've got more than one user on your network it can be shared between users, with individual space and/or shared area. I've coveted one for home, but can't really justify it currently although I'm sure the price will come down
 
I'm using Nero 8 on a Vista laptop - no problems :)

I've heard so many horror stories about hard drives crashing and lost images that I burn all my pics in RAW format to CD-Rs. My system supports recordable DVD, but I prefer CD-R as it's meant to be more robust and long-lasting. I expect to be able to read the CDs in 30-40 years time, assuming I'm still around then :eek:

Loading RAW files off CD can take a while using Lightroom etc., so I copy them to the hard disk before working on them.

A.
 
I'm with the CD brigade - put your best shots on to them, and the rest onto HD. I use a combination of CD, DVD, flash memory and hard drives because any one of those systems can fail! The very best ones get printed and put into a fire-proof box ;)
 
I use two external 500gb WD HDs. One backs up from PC using ashampoo and the other uses allway sync.
 
I always use 2 external drives for my data, both CD and DVD have a very limited life after burning, can be as low as 2 - 3 years before they are unreadable. We have lost some complicated design files which backed up to high quality DVD 5 years ago. What ever solution you choose take at least 2 copies of any important files
 
Possible LAN RAID solution here. I haven't tried this particular setup but do use them for external disk drives both at home and at work.
Cheers,
Nigel
 
Graham_P_Clarke said:
both CD and DVD have a very limited life after burning, can be as low as 2 - 3 years before they are unreadable.
Click to expand...

Some CD-R vendors advertise their CD-Rs as being archival quality, i.e. lasting 50+ years if stored correctly. I suppose you have to take this with a pinch of salt :D The dyes used in today's CD-Rs are meant to be more stable than those used around 10 years ago.

I'm starting to think a combined CD-R/hard disk solution might be best. Archive the RAW files on to CD-Rs, which can then be stored in a fire safe etc., but keep them on an external hard disk for day-to-day use. One can be used to restore the other in case of failure.

A.
 
RAID is NOT backup!!

I keep my pics on one of the HDD's in my PC (I have a 160GB, 400GB and a 500GB) and back up my pics (originals, edits, the lot) to 500GB WD MyBook. If a disc fails, I buy a replacement and create another copy from the remaining drive.

I may sound paranoid, but I've never had a HDD crash on me yet, guess I'm just being careful;)
 
andyd55 said:
what version of nero was it? I never have any problems with nero using the burning rom program to back up data
Click to expand...

It was Nero Express. It came with an LG DVD rewriter I bought when my CD rewriter died. I might reinstall it and have another go to see what happens.
 
I stopped using DVD's long ago. All my pictures are on a 500Gb hard drive on my PC. A NAS drive has a backup copy and is accessible from any PC on my home network so pictures can be viewed anywhere. A plug in USB drive gets updated with a copy from my PC every week or so as a second backup.
 
Steep said:
I think you'll think it much more of a pain when the drive fails and you lose a terrabytes worth of images! Stick to burning them to dvd and make copies if the images are important to you.
Click to expand...

I'd rather trust a hard drive (actually 2 or more hard drives) than DVDs. I have a mixture of internal and external hard drives. I keep all my pictures on 1 of the internal hard drives and back up to 1 or more external drives.

The only pictures I have lost in the last 4 years have been some RAW files (fortunately not important ones) that I entrusted to DVD.
 
I've given up with DVD's too much hassle.

What I've got now is:
- Primary Photo drive (on main machine), 2ndary USB drive on main machine. Linked/synchronised with Microsoft SyncToy (its free dontcha know and great!).
- Shared network drive that has the facility to back itself up to another USB hard drive. Again synched with SyncToy.
- USB hard drive that backs up said network drive. Normally it lives in my desk at work, but once a month it makes a trip home to recieve a backup.

I'd consider that pretty safe.
 
I currently keep all my files on hard discs in my PC and backup to http://www.carbonite.com/, (if you like the look of it PM me and I'll send you an invite, that way I think we both get free months).

Carbonite unfortunately only backs up files on internal hard discs so it's a back up solution not an archive one. I'm still lusting after a RAIDED NAS drive for archives - I've had too many CD/DVDs fail on me.
 
Graham_P_Clarke said:
both CD and DVD have a very limited life after burning, can be as low as 2 - 3 years before they are unreadable.
Click to expand...

I've just thrown out a pile of data cd's dating back to 1999, which were all perfectly readable (what was on them was junk). None of them were classed as 'archive' quality abd they were not stored in any particular way. Upshot, I'd still rather trust my backups to them than a hard drive.
 
Think I will got for a couple of smaller hdd drives in some external network unit which along with a copy on my machine should suffice possibly? Cant be bothered with the hassle of discs?
 
Photos are just data, and so should be treated as such. If you want to be serious about backing them up then you could go to extreme levels.

Data Server with a Raid5 Setup, this is then setup to copy its self to an external HDD, easy to setup if you know how, but expensive.

Whilst Raid5 is good its expensive due to the number of HDD you need to get it to work 3 or more and then you loose the space of one of the drives, also all the drives have to be the same so that can be a hassle.

I would recommend a Raid 1, this means you get 2 drives and the data is copied to both at the same time, mirrored.

All this talk of raid and incompatibilities is not entirely accurate, I want to get one of these:

http://www.drobo.com/

You can put all different types of drives in and it will work out the size available etc and make it redundant.

You could also try a services such as www.humyo.com, free unlimited online storage, and as most data centres have redundancy in you can be confident they will be ok, the only downside is the transfer time.

Also with regards to a NAS Drive, maybe something like this would suit you:

http://www.tagan.com/index.php?c_id=37&products_id=185&p_cata_id=112

It also allows for Raid 0 and 1 Setups. I was thinking about getting one of these as they are much cheaper then a Drobo.
 
fraggle101 said:
I can only assume that they are VERY expensive!!! :thinking:
Click to expand...

If you have an old PC lying around then just install Linux and get a full software RAID solution for next to nowt. Plus, being a software solution, you're not tied to a single hardware vendor should anything break.
 
im presuming most of the people needing the big hds with duplicates are professionals making money out of the pictures, cause i can only think of about 15-20 pics that i personally would want to be as backed up as possible..:lol:
 
blinkerz said:
im presuming most of the people needing the big hds with duplicates are professionals making money out of the pictures, cause i can only think of about 15-20 pics that i personally would want to be as backed up as possible..:lol:
Click to expand...

Was thinking the same thing myself.

Can perhaps see the need (want) of keeping personal or family type shots safely backed up, general stuff like landscapes, buildings etc can just be taken again if needed.

How many of you have hard copies of your favourite shots? Surely that would be a good solution to the fear of drive failure!

That's how i see it anyway.
 
Home server does all of this and is £90 for the software.

It'll do block-level backups of all your PCs automatically and keep an almost infinite history, provide normal server style shares, web interface (including free domain name and SSL certificate) to all your files stored therein, remote-control any home PC that's on as well from anywhere, and file shares also have version copies meaning if you delete or change something in error, even a few weeks later, you can get back the correct version. And of course it'll do media streaming and all that kind of thing.

Backup uses de-duplication technology, so any block that's the same as on another computer takes up no space. They cite 10:1 compression typically with serveral computers connected.

No need for RAID - connect up more than one hard disk to your server and it will automatically replicate areas you define to be replicated. They if you run out of space, just plug another one in, that's it! If you wanted to take out an old one (to make room for a larger drive), just remove it from the pool, wait for the storage balancing to complete, and take it out again. All through a whizzy and very simple to use wizard type interface.

Also keeps track of hardware health of all connected machines, telling you if there's a problem.

You can also get add-ons for it - document archiving, numerous media thingies, off line backup etc etc.

If you or anyone else is seriously interested in WHS, it is available as either a pre-configured physical unit from HP or OEM software from ebuyer, who also have some proper HP server hardware very very cheap:

WHS: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

HP Server: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140153


Sounds a bit like a sales pitch - honestly, I have no commercial interest in it - just a keen user!

Here's the front page of mine, TalkTalk line permitting:

http://sittingbourneSPAMerver.com/
 
pearce_jj said:
Home server does all of this and is £90 for the software.


WHS: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

HP Server: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140153


Sounds a bit like a sales pitch - honestly, I have no commercial interest in it - just a keen user!

Here's the front page of mine, TalkTalk line permitting:

http://sittingbourneSPAMerver.com/
Click to expand...

Seems a tad expensive for just 250gb of back up disc! Pretty comprehensive bit of kit though.
Allan
 
reddeathdrinker said:
RAID is NOT backup!!
Click to expand...

People should not get confused about this. RAID arrays as a stand alone storage solution is not a "backup". Granted. However, aside from RAID 0, RAID IS more secure than a single hard disk. If you have data on a single hard disk, and it fails, you loose the data (you don't technically, as you can usually pay rediculous sums of money for people to rip the raw data off it. However as this tends to cost so much money, let's ignor it for now). If you have the data spanned across say 4 disks in RAID 5, you now have a tollerance for up to one disk to fail (as part of a healthy array) and for your data to remain intact.

If you store your data on a local hard disk, and then "Back it up" onto an external RAID array, this IS a backup, and is a more secure solution than simply storing it on a single local disk and a backup on a single external (USB say) disk.

Ideally, I personally would store all my data on a local RAID 1 array, and have a further backup on a RAID 6 NAS setup. But then again, I'm not made of money. Though it is worth remembering at this stage, that Hard disks have a far longer powered down memory retention than optical media.
 
Western Digital have just launched a new My Book external HDD with upto 2TB on it. It is confifured for Mac's but can be reformatted for PC's. It comprises 2 drives either 2 500GB or 2 1TB drives. You can configure it to Raid 1 (Mirrored) so as you save to one it backs it up onto the mirrored drive. Should the worsed happen you will always have a backup disk. Raid 0 (sstriped) is useful for speeding things up but makes no sense from a backup point of view. This new drive is pricey but will no doubt come down. I always back up my HDD files to DVD but currently do not have an external or a second internal drive as a backup. I also back up using the heart internet free storage service. You can upload files to this for FREE! It's slow to upload but then you're not paying for it. My final backup solution is to print my favourite pics onto proper photographic paper that way I can at least hold my favourite pics in my hand even if I lose my files.
 
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