jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I remember when a 1GB drive was a big deal.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

HAHA - I was ELATED when I got a new 100Meg hard drive for my XT which replaced a 25Meg drive!
It was only $275.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

When I ordered an XT, I ordered it without the 10MB drive, and I bought a huge 20MB drive. I was just looking at InPixio, and it requires 100MB of disk space.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yup. Most programs were under 1Meg in size back then. There were some that came on three 1.44Meg floppies, huge programs for the time. Now programs require space in the Gigs.

CryptoDS

Doesn't make much difference whether you go with SSD or disc,like any storage device,rule #1 is 'backup,backup'

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

Get two 1TB solid state drives, like a Passport. I use a backup app to frequently to make an identical copy so I don't lose anything if one of them gives up the ghost or in case of "human error". The internal drive in my computer only has the operating system. No need to worry if the computer dies. I have used only about 15% of my 1TB SSDs. I can't imagine anyone creating 2TB of data, but no harm in having that size. If your computer doesn't have enough USB ports, get a powered USB sharing switch. You can use extra ports on the switch for a flash drive and to charge up devices.

srt101fan

Thank you Gene!

srt101fan

Thank you TriX!

11bravo

1. Use: Home or portable?

A. For home use, I use the Rosewill RX-358 that comes with an internal fan - you supply the 3.5" drive of choice. For archival storage, like others have said, I use enterprise drives (HDST Ultrastars):

https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rx-358-u3c-blk/p/N82E16817182247

https://www.newegg.com/hgst-hus728t8tale6l4-8tb/p/1Z4-001J-004Z9?Item=9SIA9948WN9223

An 8TB ultrastar is approximately 1.6 times the cost of a WD Red Plus 4TB drive. For everyday "stuff", I use the Red Plus's (they use CMR, NOT SMR), so stay away from the "plain" SMR Red's. My understanding is other drive manufactures are also moving to SMR in some of their HDD's, so be cautious.

https://www.servethehome.com/wd-red-smr-vs-cmr-tested-avoid-red-smr/

I just provisioned 2 8TB Ultrastars in the RX-358 enclosures - with 24 hours of continuous access, temps never went above 100 degrees (ambient temps 75 - 85).

The advantage of building your own, you can buy an enclosure that has it's own cooling, and you can pick the drive inside.

B. Portable: I use several HGST Touro's 2.5 external drives, unfortunately no longer available. Be careful of certain manufacturers (Toshiba comes to mind) that use NON-standard internal connectors on the 2.5" drives inside (thus, you can't pull the drive to connect with another case or cable in case something goes wrong with the enclosure.)

Non-standard connector in Toshiba
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UTowCeFLyw

"Bare" 2.5" external enclosures are made allowing you to chose the drive inside. The nice thing about these are you can leave them open (top off) to help control heat.

==========================
Regardless of the external drive, I strongly suggest you monitor drive temps (and health). I've used a Windows paid program, Hard Disk Sentinel, for over a decade. The Pro version allows you to set temp thresholds and specify actions when those are reached (audible alarm or even computer shutdown). Nice when you can leave the computer on its own and not have to worry about "cooking" a drive. A MUCH better deal then a single Pro license is the Pro pack for 5 licenses. Even if you don't have 5 computers, a license makes a nice gift to someone. Author is responsive, program is well maintained, and I can verify about the lifetime license (author once helped me when I wanted to move a license from a dead notebook). This is one of those programs I have on every computer.

https://www.hdsentinel.com/store.php

I'm not a shill for hdsentinel - it just works for me. I have a Buffalo external HDD, no ventilation in a plastic case, which would overheat. My solution was to position one of those clip-on desktop fans above it to provide cooling. Sufficient, unless I forgot to turn the fan on. Hard Disk Sentinel's alarm alerted me to my mental failure.

Finally, provision your HDD's before use.
1. LONG format, not Quick
2. Full checkdsk drive_letter /x /v /f /r /b
3. I use another paid program, StableBit Scanner, for another surface check, and to automate periodic surface scans.

https://stablebit.com/Scanner

Another well maintained, author responsive program.

HD Sentinel Desktop temp display


Alert Configuration

RS Bandit

I agree! They fit your pants pocket, too.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

My suggestion is to get at least 2 external hard drives. External hard drives will die on you. I've had three die during my computer life. When one drive fails I always have the other with which to transfer my files to the new drive which I promptly buy. I have four external drives, two of which are used exclusively for my photos.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Solid state hard drives will fail without warning an a 0% chance of recovery. Have more than one back up.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

But failures from reputable, experienced SSD manufacturers are rare. In the early days of SSD, that was the argument, but that’s very old news. To wit, I have been operating Intel SSDs for 8 years - I have 8 in service 24x7 with zero failures so far. The fact is that recovery of data from failed HDs by a professional service is so expensive (easily $1,000), that typically only businesses ever actually do it. BUT, as with any storage system, you should have a local backup and an off-site disaster recovery copy of your data.

HDs have had a great run, but the slow but steady end of rotating media is in sight.

therwol Loc: USA

Apparently you don't shoot any video.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

"TRIX" I have been taking pictures seriously (not saying good) Since I was stationed in Libya about 70 years ago. I was saving my pictures on external drives, and I only had one fail and that was 15-20 years ago. And do you know? I lost then all. I was told it was about one thousand dollars to TRY with about a 10% chance . That is why I have 2 of all men drives, My point on solid state came from a guy that runs a Tech Company. He said "we love the solid state drives to work with but, not to store on as the fail with out warning and can't be retrieved."
You are going to do what ever but good luck. Drives don't last for ever.