External Drive (Page 2): Ditto.

anotherview Loc: California

Ditto.

CHG_CANON wrote:

Western Digital (WD) Passport, pick your size, pick your color.

ccook2004 Loc: Rockledge FL

Thanks. Yes this drive will be a back up to my computer and the cloud.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

mizzee wrote:

I have several WD Passport external drives and am quite happy with them.

Ditto.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've been using HGST Ultrastar for years - 4TB, renewed, from Amazon. The price is good, and they rate very high for reliability. I have at least four 4TB drives and one or two 3TB, and they just keep going. Another good choice would be WD Black.

This is an internal drive, so you buy an inexpensive enclosure of some kind to use it externally. I don't like buying those ready-made external drives with a mystery HDD inside.

https://smile.amazon.com/HGST-Ultrastar-0F18567-7200RPM-Internal/dp/B07NWF51FN/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3IPW5B8K1XJDJ&dchild=1&keywords=hgst+ultrastar&qid=1602339274&sprefix=hgst+ul%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzSTdEOU5HUFBQNFFIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzkyODk3MlFKSllCVVdJMTNMJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzOTQ2MDgxS1FWTDdBMFhTWTlWJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

photoman43

[quote=Gene51]I am not a fan of the cheap drives that are being suggested here. If you don't want to spend what it costs to get an SSD, a reliable alternative would be to purchase a datacenter/enterprise class drive and a drive enclosure. It will be more expensive but the warranty is 5 yrs as opposed to the 1 or 2 years you get with the cheap stuff. WD Gold, HGST Ultrastar, WD Black - are drives that have 5 yr warranties.

https://www.newegg.com/black-wd2003fzex-2tb/p/N82E16822236624

https://www.newegg.com/orico-3569s3-us-bk-enclosure/p/0VN-0003-00144?Description=3.5%22%20drive%20enclosure&cm_re=3.5%22_drive%20enclosure-_-9SIA1DS5V03624-_-Product

I also support Gene,s approach. For home use, I build my own external drives using hard drive enclosure cases and 3.5 inch enterprise drives. If the external drive is going to be on a lot, I use a case with a fan to dissipate the heat. The case I use With a fan is made by Rosewill and I got it at Newegg. Assembly is easy and fast.

For travel, I prefer the faster SSD drives. I build my own with an external case made of aluminum and a 1TB 2.5 inch SSD. I used to use seagate or WD 2 or 4 TB drives, but they kept failing on me for no apparent reason.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I have three G-Tech drives running externally. Just Google G-Technology and take your pick.
--Bob

ccook2004 wrote:

I need recommendations for an external drive. At least 2TB. Thanks

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

CHG_CANON wrote:

Western Digital (WD) Passport, pick your size, pick your color.

Nicholas J DeSciose

Get at least a 5tb-6tb They are very reasonably priced you won’t regret it

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Nicholas J DeSciose wrote:

Get at least a 5tb-6tb They are very reasonably priced you won’t regret it

Haha - the way I shoot it will take me ten years to even half fill a 5-6Tb drive.
By then the drive will be dead.

photoman43

Longshadow wrote:

Haha - the way I shoot it will take me ten years to even half fill a 5-6Tb drive.
By then the drive will be dead.

I have a 14 TB enterprise drive in one of my external drive enclosures. Just start shooting nature at 10 frames per sec or more and watch your space needs increase exponentially!

digit-up Loc: Flushing, Michigan

ccook2004 wrote:

I need recommendations for an external drive. At least 2TB. Thanks

I agree with THOSE that recommend “western digital” over seagate or OTHERS. I never had a WD FAIL ON ME, but seagate and others have. Buying the cheapest is hardly ever SMART!!..... RJM

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Gene51 wrote:

I am not a fan of the cheap drives that are being ... (show quote)

Exactly. Seems like you and I say the same thing every few days - maybe we should make a library of often repeated advice like this and then just respond: “see FAQ #14”

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

photoman43 wrote:

I have a 14 TB enterprise drive in one of my external drive enclosures. Just start shooting nature at 10 frames per sec or more and watch your space needs increase exponentially!

I have enough trouble having many images of scenes I take.
Can't imagine what I'd do with 3,000 pictures each of 50 birds, squirrels, etc., ten times a month.
Yet people do. Over 2,000 images of a bluebird?
I can think of a lot better things to do than go through a 3,000+ images from a week in Acadia.
(But I do seem to average maybe 400 a week.)
My main computer hard drive is just approaching using 20% of 2Tb.
(Been shooting since 1972, but not every day.)

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

srt101fan wrote:

Gene - you, TriX and others are down on the cheaper drives like WD Passport. How important a factor is usage? If you only plug in a Passport occasionally instead of 24/7, would that make a difference in your evaluation?

Nah. I can speak for myself. I've been in IT since 1983, and owned a computer business for 15 yrs. Seen a lot of hard drive mfgrs come and go - of the few that remain some make standout products or acquired companies that did, and others make turkeys. WD Green and Blue drives are known for poor reliability, due to lower costs and poor build quality. But the public wants cheap drives - and that's what drives the market (pun intended). However, datacenters, large corporations, etc don't buy that stuff for several reasons - performance, reliability, capacity. I have seen far too many cheap drives just stop working. Stiction - or inability to start spinning was a problem with quite a few drives, especially when they were infrequently used. So while I don't have a specific answer to your question, I can say, anecdotally, that saving money on hard drives is like buying really cheap tires for your car - not worth the risk.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I think that's for the spray and pray folks.
--Bob

Longshadow wrote:

I have enough trouble having many images of scenes I take.
Can't imagine what I'd do with 3,000 pictures each of 50 birds, squirrels, etc., ten times a month.
Yet people do. Over 2,000 images of a bluebird?
I can think of a lot better things to do than go through a 3,000+ images from a week in Acadia.
(But I do seem to average maybe 400 a week.)
My main computer hard drive is just approaching using 20% of 2Tb.
(Been shooting since 1972, but not every day.)