Replacement external hard drive (Page 2): Yes, meant to say RAID 1, thx...

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

TriX wrote:

Why do you run RAID 0 (striping) - for speed? Or did you mean RAID 1 (mirroring) on the two disc array?

Yes, meant to say RAID 1, thx

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I just purchased a G-Technology 4TB drive for my iMac. It's pretty much a plug and play setup.
--Bob

mrtkarlin wrote:

Any suggestions for a 4 or 5 Tb Thunderbolt /USB portable hard drive. I’m on a Macbook Pro, mid 2014 with Thunderbolt 2 ports. I use Lightroom to process pictures. I use the hard drive for storage of photos. I’m running out of room on a Seagate 2Tb. Thank you.

szoots

I use two Synology units with 4, 4TB Western Digital drives each. One of the units is in my home, the other is in my sister’s home on the East Coast. Everything mirrors in real time. Backs up everything, mostly photos, on demand or scheduled weekly.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I have the exact same set up! Just got a WD Passport 4T external drive. Do go to their website to help with the install; which is easy but not intuitive. I already have the 2T and wanted a back up for my back up.

df61743 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

When exploring your options for external disk storage, don't overlook the benefits and advantages of wireless drives. An example would be a WD 4TB My Passport Wireless Pro USB 3.0 External Hard Drive, available at B&H for $197.99.

It can be USB connected to your MAC or PC and used a a regular USB attached drive, plus it can be used in the field without a computer. It has a USB port on it that you can connect your camera to, and transfer the contents of your camera to the Passport, or you can plug your camera card into the included SD media card slot and it will automatically transfer the contents of the card to the passport. If you plug a flash drive into the USB port, it will copy the contents of the flash drive. It has enough brains, that it ignores any files that have been previously transferred and only copies the new files. While in the field, you can Wi-Fi attach to the drive with your smart phone, tablet, or computer if you have one, and browse the contents of the drive. The built in battery is good for about 10 hours of use, and recharges via a conventional USB cable.

Besides being able to back up my camera photos in the field, I also use it when I travel. I can copy movies, TV shows, books, music, etc to the drive, then stream them to my Android tablet while on the plane. It can also be set up as a "hotspot" so it can simultaneously stream to multiple devices.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

Mike Adams wrote:

In addition to the regular drive, I suggest a 3TB Air capsule to provide the security of a Time Machine backup.

Best buy one soon, Apple just announced they are discontinuing their Time Capsules and Airport routers. I have a Time Capsule that I purchased a few years ago that's been a simple to use and very reliable network backup for me. Someday I'll likely swap the drive for a larger one.

Most other NAS devices offer Time Machine backup functions as well.

mrtkarlin Loc: Ashland, Oregon

Thanks for all the input. Backup strategies are crucial. My 2 Tb Seagate is my main photo drive and has been for the past four years. No problems, just running out of room. I have a 5Tb WD on my desktop, and back up periodically to that. I also use CrashPlan for daily backups to the cloud. On shorter trips I don't take my 5 Tb, and since I'm not connected to the cloud, I don't get that trip's pictures backed up till I get home. On longer trips I take both hard drives, but since they're in the same vehicle, they're not perfectly safe. I do have the pictures on my SD cards until I run out of room (not often), so there's some insurance there. It sounds like a 5 Tb WD for travel may be the answer. Small and lighter is what I'm looking for so probably no RAID or fans. LaCie caught my eye because of durability and size, but I didn't see too much mention of that other than Seagate bought them out. I'm thinking of Thunderbolt 2 compatibility because of transfer speed, but I've not really had a problem with USB. I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

szoots wrote:

I use two Synology units with 4, 4TB Western Digital drives each. One of the units is in my home, the other is in my sister’s home on the East Coast. Everything mirrors in real time. Backs up everything, mostly photos, on demand or scheduled weekly.

My sister across town has my off site Synology back up and I have their off site backup for their CPA business. I always thought that was a good separation distance until the Santa Rosa fires last year. I suppose you can second guess what is safe, but at some point, paranoia would set in. Maybe I can set up another back up with my other sister 2 hours away...

mrtkarlin Loc: Ashland, Oregon

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mrtkarlin Loc: Ashland, Oregon

Thanks for all the input. Backup strategies are crucial. My 2 Tb Seagate is my main photo drive and has been for the past four years. No problems, just running out of room. I have a 5Tb WD on my desktop, and back up periodically to that. I also use CrashPlan for daily backups to the cloud. On shorter trips I don't take my 5 Tb, and since I'm not connected to the cloud, I don't get that trip's pictures backed up till I get home. On longer trips I take both hard drives, but since they're in the same vehicle, they're not perfectly safe. I do have the pictures on my SD cards until I run out of room (not often), so there's some insurance there. It sounds like a 5 Tb WD for travel may be the answer. Small and lighter is what I'm looking for so probably no RAID or fans. LaCie caught my eye because of durability and size, but I didn't see too much mention of that other than Seagate bought them out. I'm thinking of Thunderbolt 2 compatibility because of transfer speed, but I've not really had a problem with USB. I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

mrtkarlin wrote:

Thanks for all the input. Backup strategies are cr... (show quote)

As mentioned by another, I also have a Passport wireless pro on hand when on shooting assignments. I download the SD cards to it so when I leave, I have 3 copies of the raw files in hand. The original SD card, CF card and the Passport. On vacations or extended trips, I also back up to a LaCie rugged drive which my wife carries.

I might revisit using cloud back up for those extended situations.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

szoots wrote:

I use two Synology units with 4, 4TB Western Digital drives each. One of the units is in my home, the other is in my sister’s home on the East Coast. Everything mirrors in real time. Backs up everything, mostly photos, on demand or scheduled weekly.

Good plan, and she can mirror her data to you for her DR - smart. More and more companies, especially with large files like hospital imagery are finding that it makes more sense to mirror two sites back and forth in real time or close to it (each has a mirror of the other’s site) rather than try to backup huge amounts of data - a very similar challenge to what photographers face.

Tommy II Loc: Northern Illinois

rfmaude41 wrote:

I use two different RAID arrays; one is a 2TB Two disc RAID 0, the other is a 4 disc, 4TB RAID 0+1 (some call it RAID 10). All of the drives are Seagate (enterprise) drives, have been running for more than 4 1/2 years, no failures, no problems.

Personally I wouldn’t use a Seagate external drive if it was given to me. Both of mine, plus another owned by a friend failed. After reading reviews, I saw that it was a very common occurrence, but hey, it’s your money, and your photos. Knock yourself out.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

TriX wrote:

With respect, I will have to disagree. While LaCie... (show quote)

11bravo

I've been very pleased with 4tb HGST drives, years ago "plain", now NAS type drives. Some of my "non-photo" HGST's run 24/7/365. I always make sure they are kept cool (for external drives, I like Newegg's Rosewill RX-358 hdd enclosures, which have an internal fan that does a great job of keeping the drive cool).
https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16817182247

Before using any hdd, I provision it (I know you have a Mac, below are for windows, but Mac must have similar). I run these sequentially, one after the other:
1. Do a LONG format, NOT a quick format.
2. Run chkdsk dr_letter: /x /v /r /f /b
3. I use StableBit Scanner to run another disk scan. Takes up to 24 hours total, but now I have confidence in the drive as every sector has been checked several times.

I also use StableBit Scanner to periodically scan drives for health. I also use Hard Disk Sentinel to continueusly monitor hdd temps (also monitors health). It will sound an audible alarm and even automatically shut down the computer on hdd over-temps (user configurable values). I have a large number of hdd's collected over the last decade, and the above works well for me.