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Best external hard drive
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Aug 17, 2019 22:00:26   #
Mr. SONY Loc: LI, NY
 
For $400.00 you can buy 4 WD 4 TB drives.
One for backup and the other three for backing up the backup drive.
Backing up is important and backing up the backups is more important.
You can never have to many backups but you can have to few backups.
It's your data so you decide.
Paying extra for a SSD isn't required.
There is safety in numbers.
The WD drives come in 2 year or some models with 3 year warranties.
Since backup drives are not used much as system drives they can last years.
I have a pair of 60 GB drives, 15+ years old and still work just fine.

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Aug 18, 2019 07:12:57   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
HGST Ultrastar.

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Aug 18, 2019 07:23:42   #
Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
 
Gene51 wrote:
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can be either a Toshiba or HGST Ultrastar - purchased as a bare drive. These are very robust drives rated for data center or enterprise use - and come with 5 yr warranties. You purchase a case that offers the fastest connection supported by your computer (Thunderbolt2, USB 3.0/3.1/C) and take the 90 secs it takes to install the drive in the case you will end up with something substantially better than the cheap pre-packaged, so called portable or external, consumer grade drives. If you open one of them you will find the mfgr's cheapest slowest drive inside. These represent a total waste of money.

If you are able to justify a much higher cost - an SSD drive is also a very good option, but don't think that because it is an SSD it will be much faster than the mechanical drive - it won't be because the speed is limited by the interface bottleneck.
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can... (show quote)


I forgot to include the link to the backblaze article on hard drives:

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/skunk-spray-tomato-juice1.htm

Purchasing a bunch of cheap, large-ish drives is less desirable to purchasing fewer, more expensive but clearly more reliable ones.

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Aug 18, 2019 07:41:46   #
DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX
 
jdm wrote:
Hi, Awesome Hogs!

Yup, it is tax free weekend in Massachusetts; I’m planning to buy 2 external hard drives to back up my LR/PP files, just under 10k images. I would love to get your recommendations on which ones you think are the best and why. (I did do a search and the posts were rather dated.)

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Regards,

JDM


Get a solid-state. If it rotates it breaks. I have eight (3 solid states). I put all of my finished files on DropBox and have for five years.

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Aug 18, 2019 08:04:58   #
jdm Loc: Cape Cod
 
Gene51 wrote:
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can be either a Toshiba or HGST Ultrastar - purchased as a bare drive. These are very robust drives rated for data center or enterprise use - and come with 5 yr warranties. You purchase a case that offers the fastest connection supported by your computer (Thunderbolt2, USB 3.0/3.1/C) and take the 90 secs it takes to install the drive in the case you will end up with something substantially better than the cheap pre-packaged, so called portable or external, consumer grade drives. If you open one of them you will find the mfgr's cheapest slowest drive inside. These represent a total waste of money.

If you are able to justify a much higher cost - an SSD drive is also a very good option, but don't think that because it is an SSD it will be much faster than the mechanical drive - it won't be because the speed is limited by the interface bottleneck.
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can... (show quote)


Gene, thanks for the great information!

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Aug 18, 2019 08:10:27   #
mborn Loc: Massachusetts
 
Gene51 wrote:
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can be either a Toshiba or HGST Ultrastar - purchased as a bare drive. These are very robust drives rated for data center or enterprise use - and come with 5 yr warranties. You purchase a case that offers the fastest connection supported by your computer (Thunderbolt2, USB 3.0/3.1/C) and take the 90 secs it takes to install the drive in the case you will end up with something substantially better than the cheap pre-packaged, so called portable or external, consumer grade drives. If you open one of them you will find the mfgr's cheapest slowest drive inside. These represent a total waste of money.

If you are able to justify a much higher cost - an SSD drive is also a very good option, but don't think that because it is an SSD it will be much faster than the mechanical drive - it won't be because the speed is limited by the interface bottleneck.
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can... (show quote)



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Aug 18, 2019 08:17:13   #
jdm Loc: Cape Cod
 
Gene51 wrote:
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can be either a Toshiba or HGST Ultrastar - purchased as a bare drive. These are very robust drives rated for data center or enterprise use - and come with 5 yr warranties. You purchase a case that offers the fastest connection supported by your computer (Thunderbolt2, USB 3.0/3.1/C) and take the 90 secs it takes to install the drive in the case you will end up with something substantially better than the cheap pre-packaged, so called portable or external, consumer grade drives. If you open one of them you will find the mfgr's cheapest slowest drive inside. These represent a total waste of money.

If you are able to justify a much higher cost - an SSD drive is also a very good option, but don't think that because it is an SSD it will be much faster than the mechanical drive - it won't be because the speed is limited by the interface bottleneck.
The "best" external MECHANICAL drive can... (show quote)


Gene, great information as always! Thanks so much.

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Aug 18, 2019 08:17:51   #
jdm Loc: Cape Cod
 
hammond wrote:
Seems the guy who wrote this report later clarified that this only applies to "end-of-life" SSDs stored in "abnormal temperatures"...

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2925173/debunked-your-ssd-wont-lose-data-if-left-unplugged-after-all.html

... still worth being aware of.


You bet! Thanks so much.

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Aug 18, 2019 08:25:01   #
mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma
 
I use WD Passports, I have a 1T and a 4T. Easy peasy!

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Aug 18, 2019 09:16:11   #
Bird Dawg Loc: Georgia
 
I purchased 2 G Technology drives to back up my LR catalog. Either 2 or 4 TB. ( not sure ) I read somewhere it was a good brand ( probably on HOG )

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Aug 18, 2019 09:18:00   #
JennT Loc: South Central PA
 
Lacie !!!

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Aug 18, 2019 09:22:47   #
NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC
 
Suggest you purchase external hard drive enclosures with fans and purchase the best hard drives separately. Installing the drives in the enclosures is simple. With ready made external drives you don't really know the quality of the actual drive and if the enclosure fails it's a pain to get the drive out. Do it yourself is a much better solution.

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Aug 18, 2019 10:12:46   #
applepie1951 Loc: Los Angeles,California
 
Only thing I can say after experienceing it myself is to stay away from Western Digital there drives are cheap and remember what they say —You get what you pay for—-they fail, trust me they fail, I’ve lost lost of pictures using Western Digital I would not use them again even if they we’re free, the best external drives I’ve found are LaCie, I travel with them over seas and has never had a problem and I travel two to three times a year with my external LaCie drives, Don’t Buy Western Digital.

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Aug 18, 2019 12:09:11   #
photoman43
 
The best external drive to buy is one that is "now on sale" and double the size you think you will need. I would not get anything under 2 TB, especially for a portable drive. For a drive for a desktop or one that remains at your desk, 4 TB to 8 TB. All should be USB 3.

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Aug 18, 2019 12:28:54   #
bigguytf
 
One consideration before you buy is will this drive on be used on one computer. I have both a desktop and laptop and I looked for a portable hard drive I could use that was light and could be swapped between the two.

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