Question for computer boffs External HD's

[MCH]

A question for those of you that are more in the know about computers than I am...

I've got an external hard drive that I store my photo's music and films on but I am nearing the stage of filling it!

I've looked on and off at replacements (would transfer all my films to it so I have a dedicated film drive) but there is just too much to choose from and reviews vary...

I've been toying with the idea of getting a docking station rather than another HD

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sisun-Docking-St...drive+dock

But being not too clued up on PC's (I know a little) and the pro's/cons...
Is it worth looking at or just stick with a standard style external drive?

[Fooby]

All that Dock will do is take a normal internal HDD and make it external. No real issue with that.

You can get external caddies that take 2.5 or 3.5" drives (3.5" drive is what is pictures in there. 'normal size') 2.5" drives are normally SSD type sizes.

In terms of what you want to do its probably better buying a Western Digital or similar device. Like: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Desktop...l+external

[MCH]

All that Dock will do is take a normal internal HDD and make it external. No real issue with that.

You can get external caddies that take 2.5 or 3.5" drives (3.5" drive is what is pictures in there. 'normal size') 2.5" drives are normally SSD type sizes.

In terms of what you want to do its probably better buying a Western Digital or similar device. Like: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Desktop...l+external

Yeah I literally just want it for my films, I will occasionally take the drive out, as I normally pop to a mates and he copies whatever films he has onto it and visa versa... Other than that it just stays put...
I did get a new router recently with a feature to plug in a "media drive" and it will allow access remotely so I may start using that feature for my tablet

[Eeyore]

Whatever you do do not use SSD for long term storage of files. In my experience SSDs last about a year and a half and HDDs last about 6 years. Once its gone its gone. CDs and things will last 10 years plus but the best form of storage is tape which of course is impractical. My best advice would be to get 2x HDDs and run them in raid config so you have two copies. As soon as one breaks get another! Its unlikely both will break at once!

[MCH]

Whatever you do do not use SSD for long term storage of files. In my experience SSDs last about a year and a half and HDDs last about 6 years. Once its gone its gone. CDs and things will last 10 years plus but the best form of storage is tape which of course is impractical. My best advice would be to get 2x HDDs and run them in raid config so you have two copies. As soon as one breaks get another! Its unlikely both will break at once!

So would you recommend the above linked drive? the WD one?

[Eeyore]

Its all much of a muchness really. Western Digital is a decent brand though so yeh go for it. I would say it definitely wasnt along the budget line of things so should be fine.

[MisterGTR]

If you want to keep the data. Get a nas drive with 2 bays for running mirrored copies of files. I lost all my photos in 2003. Won't make that mistake again!

Buffalo and western digital make some decent cheap ones. They also have additional features!

You could still use a external usb hd for portability. And the data isn't critical.

[MCH]

Its all much of a muchness really. Western Digital is a decent brand though so yeh go for it. I would say it definitely wasnt along the budget line of things so should be fine.

So what is the SSD vs HDD thing then?

---

If you want to keep the data. Get a nas drive with 2 bays for running mirrored copies of files. I lost all my photos in 2003. Won't make that mistake again!

Buffalo and western digital make some decent cheap ones. They also have additional features!

You could still use a external usb hd for portability. And the data isn't critical.

so something like this?

http://www.dabs.com/products/d-link-shar...html?src=3

then 2 matched drives and just duplicate the data on both? in the hope if they fail only 1 will, then replace and re-duplicate

[MisterGTR]

Yeah that dabs would do. With 2 drives. I got two 3tb WD Red drives recently.

And yeah your right the idea would be to replace the failed drive with new one. And the mirror would rebuild. But in reality. I've not had a fail in ten years and drive space is getting cheaper and cheaper, so you'd probably just replace them both (doing one at a time, failed one first)

[Eeyore]

SSD is solid state disk. Its flash storage like a usb stick. It has fast access but deteriorates rapidly
HDD is hard disk drive. Standard disc which stores things magnetically. Lasts longer but not forever. Nice and cheap.

[MCH]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will do the mirror thing but perhaps change my plan from being just for films to everything except programs

[Fooby]

SSD is solid state disk. Its flash storage like a usb stick. It has fast access but deteriorates rapidly
HDD is hard disk drive. Standard disc which stores things magnetically. Lasts longer but not forever. Nice and cheap.

What world you living in?

SSD's don't deteriorate anymore. They last just as long, if not longer than mechanical disks now. Obviously it depends on the quality of the flash storage and the chip used.

[Eeyore]

SSD is solid state disk. Its flash storage like a usb stick. It has fast access but deteriorates rapidly
HDD is hard disk drive. Standard disc which stores things magnetically. Lasts longer but not forever. Nice and cheap.

What world you living in?

SSD's don't deteriorate anymore. They last just as long, if not longer than mechanical disks now. Obviously it depends on the quality of the flash storage and the chip used.

Are you kidding me? I have been through 3 SSDs in 5 years! All corsair kit that wasnt the cheapest I could find!

[HDi--Power]

SSD is solid state disk. Its flash storage like a usb stick. It has fast access but deteriorates rapidly
HDD is hard disk drive. Standard disc which stores things magnetically. Lasts longer but not forever. Nice and cheap.

What world you living in?

SSD's don't deteriorate anymore. They last just as long, if not longer than mechanical disks now. Obviously it depends on the quality of the flash storage and the chip used.

Are you kidding me? I have been through 3 SSDs in 5 years! All corsair kit that wasnt the cheapest I could find!

What do you do to your ssds? the good ones even have minimum 5 year warranties

[bigcheez2k3]

The SSD is my new build was going to be Corsair...maybe I'll rethink that. I've been informed that you have to go for one with TRIM support as it helps with the lifespan.

[Niall]

Ive got a Samsung SSD in my laptop. Still going strong after 2 years so probably doing better than you rowell!

[Eeyore]

I think these had a 2 or 3 year warranty and they all managed to just outlive the warranty... What i do is use a SSD for the OS and programs. All files are then on HHDs in RAID. If the SSD dies I can simply replace and reinstall.

[MCH]

only drive I recall having fail is a Hitachi Deskstar 80gb and it just started clicking but wouldn't boot up... it was dead and was told it was toast so cracked it open and plugged it in and the arm was defective...

[Ruan]

SSDs do deteriorate rapidly - it's the reason they are now 120GB rather than 128GB and 240GB rather than 256GB... They're leaving that room available for bad sectors. Reason they've become usable in MLC format is because of their disk controller that monitors bad sectors and removes them from use.

They are not as reliable for long term storage as HDDs, especially when heavily used, you can throw them off a cliff and will still work, but write to it lots, it'll eventually die. It's the major disadvantage of MLC (Multi Layer Cell) technology. SLC is much better in terms of longevity, but offers less storage space and a significantly higher cost.

I wouldn't trust them with data that was genuinely important, I've seen enough fail (in a production environment...) to know they're not there quite yet!

[Eeyore]

SSDs do deteriorate rapidly - it's the reason they are now 120GB rather than 128GB and 240GB rather than 256GB... They're leaving that room available for bad sectors. Reason they've become usable in MLC format is because of their disk controller that monitors bad sectors and removes them from use.

They are not as reliable for long term storage as HDDs, especially when heavily used, you can throw them off a cliff and will still work, but write to it lots, it'll eventually die. It's the major disadvantage of MLC (Multi Layer Cell) technology. SLC is much better in terms of longevity, but offers less storage space and a significantly higher cost.

I wouldn't trust them with data that was genuinely important, I've seen enough fail (in a production environment...) to know they're not there quite yet!

So Ruan... would you say that fooby was wrong? and that they still do deteriorate?

Glad that someone agrees with me. In my eyes the whole point of them is faster read and write times so having a faster OS and having to replace the disk every few years isnt the end of the world. Windows should be re-installed anyway to keep it fresh so essentially it just forces me to do that.

[MCH]

hmm its not helping with my confidence that I'll buy the correct thing...

[Eeyore]

hmm its not helping with my confidence that I'll buy the correct thing...

buy the one you linked and you will be fine.

We have just hijacked your thread to talk about a different kind of storage device. As I said before all the HDDs are much of a muchness and you will be fine with Western Digital stuff.

[mackat]

Here you go fella: https://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?id=10601



As for SSD's, most I see mentioned are consumer drives not enterprise. Personally I'd have a nice fat cached RAID card with 5+ 15k SAS drives

[MCH]

Here you go fella: https://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?id=10601



As for SSD's, most I see mentioned are consumer drives not enterprise. Personally I'd have a nice fat cached RAID card with 5+ 15k SAS drives

woah that's a bit over the top lol £769 is a little more that I was looking to spend

[silverzx]

So on topic, if and when my primary device (SSD) fails, will all my photos, films, videos, etc that are on my 2TB secondary HDD still be accessible when I replace the primary and reinstall Windows?

[bashbarnard]

Yeah will be fine. I run ssd for windows then 2 1 tb hardrives one for gaming one for other shit. Ive killed the ssd once and it was fine. Also killed the motherboard once and still the stuff is in tact. They run separate

[Eeyore]

So on topic, if and when my primary device (SSD) fails, will all my photos, films, videos, etc that are on my 2TB secondary HDD still be accessible when I replace the primary and reinstall Windows?

yes it will be fine. Same setup as what i have.

[silverzx]

So on topic, if and when my primary device (SSD) fails, will all my photos, films, videos, etc that are on my 2TB secondary HDD still be accessible when I replace the primary and reinstall Windows?

yes it will be fine. Same setup as what i have.

So when I reinstall a new drive, I don't touch the secondary at all when it comes to "partitioning" the drives.

[Midnightclub]

It might auto-detect it, you might just have to add it in disk management if not

[Ruan]

Because Windows is a sack of shit, make sure that your SSD (or whatever your operating system boot drive is...) is the FIRST drive on the controller on the motherboard.

I.e. ensure the SSD is in the port labeled sata0 or sata1 and make sure that your data drive is in a port higher than that (i.e. sata2, sata3 etc). This is because the "bootloader" (the bit that tells the computer where to find the operating system) is forced onto the first drive detected by the Windows installer. That way if you ever remove your data drive for some other reason, your computer won't boot anymore... Nice one Microsoft!