SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Gene, I looked up these drives, found them on B&H. The WD Black price for 4TB SATA is not bad considering it is a better quality. The 3TB WD Re is more expensive. The HGST 4TB, SATA is a bit higher priced than the WD 4TB and less than the Re 3TB. Question I have is, how are these attached into a desktop system? Also, do they need to be in a case, or can they be used as purchased?

Right now I am using a couple of 2TB Passport Ultras, and one 4TB WD My Book. As my library of images grows, I can see I will be outgrowing the 2TB devices before too long! So the 4TB WD Black looks like the way to go, as long as it is user-friendly for connecting it.

Susan

FotoPhreak Loc: Whittier, CA

In addition to backing up your photos, make sure you have a protocol to minimize the loss of your photographs due to theft or loss of baggage. I used to back up my photos to a backup device but stopped doing this after I purchased my Nikon D7100. It has slots for two cards and I configured it to write each photo to both cards. When the cards are full, I keep each of the cards in separate locations and usually I carry one set with me at all times and the other set in my baggage or in the room safe if the room has one. On the airlines, I may put one set in my checked baggage and the other in my carry-on baggage. The cards are small (perhaps too small) and light and the only electrical requirements you need to worry about is being able to recharge your camera batteries. You also don't have to worry if you drop the card (unless it is into the ocean). In the evening, I will frequently take the card out of the second slot and replace it with a new card and then set the camera up to copy all the photos on the first card onto the new card. That way I have a backup even if I were to be robbed the next day. Even the good quality SD cards are fairly inexpensive these days and I just stock up on the cards before I leave. I generally don't reuse the cards and keep one of the sets in a fire safe and the other in my safe deposit box. It's probably overkill, but I have never lost a picture yet.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Every manufacturer will produce "lemons" or a unit that does not function properly right from the start. A lot of people have very good luck with SD cards and backup drives, continuing to use them for years. It might turn you off if it happens to you, but one bad card or drive does not mean they are all defective.

Cheryle

I just wanted people to be aware of this specific problem I had with a WD hard drive, so it does not happen to other people, especially those of us who are photo enthusiasts. There was nothing on the box to indicate it encrypted data, so when I read the word "secure" I say no thank you! Great if you have a business and you need your data encrypted, but not so much for photo use. As it was external, I uploaded the photos directly from the cards after each event (I do a lot of sports photos) then left it alone until the next event, so it wasn't even an every day type use for me. This may become the industry norm, I don't know.

Cheryle

The hard drive drive worked fine throughout it's use. I only quit using it because it was getting full and it was also the beginning of a new year January 2016, so I just started using a new drive. Then 5 months later, my son was graduating and I was making a slideshow, and went to get pics off the drive and it was dead. No warning, no indication of a malfunction, worked fine, and nothing indicating a secondary encryption motherboard. That's all. I only wanted people to know that "secure" is not suitable for everyone and the problems that arose from that. I am new, I do not want to step on anyone's toes!

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Cheryle, you are expressing your opinions and feelings about what happened to you. This is not stepping on anyone's toes. We all learn from each other's experiences, both bad and good.

It is difficult sometimes to understand why a device that worked perfectly will suddenly stop functioning. I am glad you were able to retrieve the images and survive the frustration! This is only one of various types of occurrences that are the reasons why so many of us are paranoid about losing our images. You will hear it many times: Back up images, have multiple backups, plan for that one time when a device crashes or we push the wrong keys and everything is gone! Redundancy has its good points...

pmackd Loc: Alameda CA

My impression is that setting up encryption is an option you have when first using a WD external hard drive. I don't feel a need for such "security" for my photos so I never set it up. Avoiding encryption avoids the nightmare described here.

JCCharles Loc: Ormond Beach, FL

I want to thank everybody for their suggestions!!! I appreciate all the thoughts which did help me to make a decision.

I went with the 2TB WD MyPassport Wireless Pro drive. I uploaded the images to my iPad for initial processing and then popped the card into the WD. I then locked the card and put it away. (FYI, I don't use anything larger than a 16gb card as I have had card failures in the past.) It worked as advertised and I backed each card up every day. I also had a 20,000Amp/Hr battery backup pack for potential power issues.

The only major issue I had is that I shoot in Pentax Raw (PEF), which the software on the iPad doesn't recognize. I don't know if that it doesn't see RAW in general or just the Pentax version. I see the files are there, but I couldn't open them to verify! I planned on switching to Adobe DNG to see if that helped, but I never got to it.

The other issue I had had nothing to do with the WD Drive but Apple's system itself. I had hoped to download movies from iTunes to share with my kids when out of internet range (which was most of the trip), but I couldn't get that to happen. There may be a way, but I ran out of time before we left.

Again, Thank you all for your help!!