I would suggest avoiding Seagate as they currently have the highest failure rates. Hitachi is actually the most reliable by far with 2% failure rates. Western Digital comes in a distant second. I use Western Digital drives mostly and they have been reliable. So has my hitachi drives. I have an old Lacie 2 drive raid array with hitachi drives that is still churning along just fine and filling in as part of a bigger soft raid array. I did have to replace the power supply because their power supplies are garbage and fail, but that happens. How much storage would all of your files take up currently? For the cost I would suggest 4tb externals over 2tb because they aren't really that much more for 2x the storage. I currently have my whole catalog stored on a Western Digital Elements 2-drive raid array. It wasn't exactly cheap, but I did get a decent deal on ebay going with one with two refurbished drives. I think they are $350 or so new. They use USB3 and actually have three USB3 ports on the back which is super nice for plugging more externals in. Whatever you get, do yourself a huge favor and at least get an external 4tb drive as a backup. I have a regular 4tb Western Digital Elements drive and for a brief time I used that to store my catalog and it was reliable. I think I paid $125 or so for it. Two of those would likely serve you well and be large enough to cover your data needs for some time. Just a suggestion really.
On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 6:39 PM, David J Brooks <pentko...@gmail.com> wrote: > oh another question. Am i getting into any troubel if i go more then > 2TB for the drive, say a 3 or 4. its an older computer, 2011 iMac > 21.5" with OS 10.11.6 > > Dave > > On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 6:33 PM, David J Brooks <pentko...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Good ideas Igor. I have always used Seagate HDD's but never really >> looked at reviews. I'll do that >> >> iMac is USB 2 >> >> Just wondering now if i should copy them to my HD then to the new >> external that way they will be on my time machine drive aswell (ie 2 >> drives). I have alwasys in the past had two externals hooked up to the >> computer, plus i will still have the CD/DVD's >> >> Dave >> >> Daev >> >> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 1:13 PM, Igor PDML-StR <pdml...@komkon.org> wrote: >>> >>> Zos said what I was going to say. >>> You will not feel a difference between 7200 and 5400 rpm drives in the >>> transfer rate when you are backing up photos. >>> >>> The main situation when you feel the difference is in the "random access", >>> when the system/program accesses many small files. (E.g. in case of a LR >>> database.) >>> >>> Something else to add to this: >>> 1. I would rely on a reasonable HDD much more than on a flash thumb drive. >>> 2. HDDs (especially the cheaper ones, low grade "consumer" models.) still >>> have a good chance to fail. So, if some photos are really important to you, >>> you might consider having an additional backup copy. >>> 3. When you are choosing the HDD model, - take a look at the reviews on >>> Amazon or Newegg.com - some HDDs have higher rate of failures, including >>> DoA. Read the lowest ratings for the contender HDD, and see what are the >>> problems that people are complaining about. >>> Note, that you will find negative reviews for ALL HDDs, it's the percentage >>> of those that matters. >>> >>> 4. IMHO, the "sweet spots" (price-wise) for the HDDs are now at 5-6TB, and >>> also for some drives at 2-3 TB. >>> >>> 5. While people have mentioned that CD reading rate will be the limiting >>> factor, - in the future, you'll continue using this HDD for backups. >>> So, - if your computer supports USB 3.0, I'd highly recommend buying a USB >>> 3.0 HDD. >>> [If your computer doesn't have a USB 3.0 port, - it might be worth >>> considering options of adding a USB 3.0 controller to it.] >>> In my experience, even with a USB-2 controller, USB-3.0 external HDDs get a >>> slightly higher sustained transfer rate. (Though the difference is not as >>> significant, as in case of a USB 3.0 controller.) >>> >>> >>> Igor >>> >>> >>> Zos Xavius Thu, 08 Dec 2016 08:28:55 -0800 wrote: >>> >>> The CD is going to be slower than any drive you connect it to. Don't >>> worry about rpms. Most externals are 5400 anyways. You'll spend a >>> premium to get a 7200rpm drive that is external and it won't really >>> gain you much in transfer speed though your random seek times will >>> improve. Something that doesn't matter when transferring large files >>> really. >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 11:09 AM, David J Brooks <pentko...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> thanks, never thought to look at rpm's >>>> >>>> Dave >>>> >>>> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 10:46 AM, Paul Stenquist <pnstenqu...@comcast.net> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Almost certainly better transfer rate to an external skinny drive. Make >>>>> sure >>>>> it’s a 7200 rpm Seagate. And thumb drives seem to fail frequently. At >>>>> least >>>>> in my experience, although that’s based on use of recycled thumb drives >>>>> that >>>>> I’ve gotten at press conferences. >>>>> Paul >>>>>> >>>>>> On Dec 8, 2016, at 10:38 AM, David J Brooks <pentko...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> I have decided, now that i have the time, to transfer all of my CD and >>>>>> DVD back up photo disks to an external HD, I need a new one anyway and >>>>>> Staples has a nice Seagate 2tb on sale. I also have a number of 32 gig >>>>>> thumb drives i thought might also do the trick. Just curious would the >>>>>> transfer rate be better from the CD player to externals as opposed to >>>>>> thumb drives.? >>>>>> >>>>>> Dave >>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> PDML@pdml.net >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> >> >> -- >> Documenting Life in Rural Ontario. >> www.caughtinmotion.com >> http://brooksinthecountry.blogspot.com/ >> York Region, Ontario, Canada > > > > -- > Documenting Life in Rural Ontario. > www.caughtinmotion.com > http://brooksinthecountry.blogspot.com/ > York Region, Ontario, Canada > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
