External hard drives

[J_Gasper]

[J_Gasper]

Active member
Well, i just reached my 500 gb of internal memory and have a few projects coming up pretty soon here. Used the searchbar a bit, didnt really find much useful info. I need at least 500gb, but preferably 1TB or 2TB. This will be used for my Imac. Dont really wanna break the bank, but defiantly need something reliable.

What are some good ones people like? I have heard some things about rugged or somthing.

Help me out quick! I need something right away. +K for help
 
I have had good experiences with the Weston Digital Passports. I have the 1GB version, and its been great for about 2 years now. No problems at all and its pretty fast i was actually able to work off it quite a bit without having to copy the files to the computer.
 
had one of these spinning almost 24/7 for the past 3 years, never given me a problem. has firewire which is nice for your imac, and you can chain multiples together
 
i have a seagate 2TB external drive that has held up pretty well for me. never had any corrupt files or anything major but sometimes its like it decides to take a nap on me or somethin then when i go to save somethin again it gets all tempermental and stalls to where ill have to remove it unsafely and plug it in again. sometimes not a huge deal but others it pisses me off. might look into somethin else for my next one when i run out of space on here. its not bad but not amazing
 
Thanks for the help guys. Balto: do you have to transfer the files to your computer everytime or can u edit strait from that? Also, would it be better to get 2 500gb so i dont have all my eggs in one basket just incase one fails? Or are they reliable enough?
 
usually you can edit straight off the drive. thats what i do and im assuming that one balto posted might even be a bit better than mine. depends on the speed of them tho. faster rpm better it will be for editing and such. that one is rated at 7200rpm and 5Gb/s write speed so thats pretty good.
 
^ word. What do you think the minimum specs are to edit strait off the drive? Thats a huge thing for me. I have a seagate 500gb right now, but it like wont let me put files on it from my mac, only my PC. Im leaving for CO in a couple days, and if i cant get a new one by then, i need to find a way to make this work for my mac. If anyone knows how to. Help me out here
 
that one, like lots of the good ones, are compatible with both operating systems. then its like anything, once you hook it up and format it, it will run smoothly on that system. some might work well on both but some might not run cross platform until you re-format it and lose all of the stuff you had saved on their anyway
 
^ shit. Alrighty. Thanks for the help. +K for everyone. How do people like the rugged ones? Seem very similar to the one balto posted
 
they are really similar, but i think the rugged isn't a 7200 rpm drive, so it will be slower (don't take my word for that, specs aren't listed on amazon).

do you need to be able to take it places? then the rugged

if not, then the one i posted would be more logical + you can get more without using extra ports
 
Yeah this will be on my desk on my mac pretty much all day all the time. Im gonna us my other one that is conformed for PC's for my laptop when im out of town, then pit those on the mac. So i guess the rugged does not seem logical.
 
Looked around a little bit more. Seems like people like the lacie d2, the western my passport, and the g-tech. Will probably end up going with the d2 because it seems like the most bang for your buck. Still open to suggestions if anyone has some
 
I have 3 2tb LaCie d2's and they have been great. I have had them for a couple years, I edit off of them so they have had a lot of use. They never get scary hot, they are not that loud and most importantly they work great. They are not that expensive either for the options that they come with.

OWC is another company I would look into. Unlike LaCie, which doesn't specify what type of hard drive is inside their unit, OWC uses Hitachi drives in almost (if not every) one of their units (unless labeled otherwise). I have an OWC 4-bay RAID and it is one of the best build and working things I have ever used in terms of external harddrives.

Oh and in terms of connections, don't use anything other than Firewire 800 unless it is eSATA (amazing).

On another side note: G-tech is also something I would recommend.

I hope this either gave you some other ideas, or reassured you of what you may have already been thinking.
 
that helped a lot man. i have heard some people on dvx user saying even firewire 800 isnt to great to edit right off of. can i get some truth factor to this?

also, out of all of the ones you have listed, what would you take? between the d2, g-tech's, and OWC.
 
It will be the fastest connection you will get without some sort of adapter. That is of course unless you have a brand new mac and have the ability to use Thunderbolt.
 
Seagate stay away from. My whole schoolers sever crashed which were all seagate, even the back ups... weird stuff.

Everyone speaks good about LaCie, but I have had terrible luck with them.. warranty.

Western Digital is what I have had the best luck with the past 4 years. Never had 1 crash or any problems. The western digital elements drives are sick if you only need usb 2.0. Only 100 bucks for 2tb. If you editing with the drive I would get a firewire 800/400 (depending on what kind of computer you have)

Of course this is only my opinion. There's no real right answer for this kind of stuff..
 
My dad gave me a Western Digital Passport 2TB for Christmas. I really like it's compact size and the reviews are outstanding. Great price on Amazon.
 
For desktop, get a dual toaster slot with firewire 800/eSATA, and load up on internal drives. This is the cheapest way to get storage, and you have backups of everything. If I remember correctly, I got the entire configuration + two 1TB hard drives for around $150.

If you're travelling, the 500gb G-Drive Mini is unmatched. I have one and it's flawless. The firewire 800 is faster than the eSATA on my toaster configuration, and you can daisy chain them without any external power supply. I use it to edit straight off the drive when I'm travelling.
 
or you can buy an external that has reliable drives in it from the get go

the problem with the dock style set up is the drives can be easily damaged as they are not protected in any way

i still stand behind what i first recommended
 
I agree with laCie rugged drives being great (they are on a to-buy list of mine once my current two drives fill up)
 
The toaster configuration is definitely not as durable as an enclosed external, which is why it only works for desktops. What i like about the system is that you can keep a library of drives in a pelican case and it will transition to a RAID array system down the line. Overall, its best for getting the most storage fir the buck. But if you can afford external drives (with full backup), definitely go that route.
 
ruggeds are my favorite drives for sure, the firewire 800 version is so convenient. I just got a rugged XL 2tb esata drive and so far I love it.
 
I know you could do better quality wise but I have a seagate 1 TB hard drive that I got for about $50 and I've had 0 problems, it's fast and I love it.
 
Yea you're right, but i mean it really can't be beat for $40 , and well it's faster than many other usb models cause of "usb 3"
 
Thanks for the help landis, jamie, and balto. Dont really know what route to take at this point. As said before, i will get more bang for the buck with the toaster config. So do they corrupt or fail easier the. Real external drives such as a d2 or rugged?
 
and since it is just for his desk, why not save money and get the d2, which allows for future expansion

the rugged does not make any sense for him, he is not editing on a laptop that he is carrying around everywhere
 
lol nooooo, WD is crap, i would never trust important files on their shitty drives (had 3 fail on me)
 
Western Digital is garbage. Every single one I've encountered has had a completely software crash within a couple months. They're cheap and "trendy" looking for a reason.
 
For sure he could... I just love not having to plug my HDs in and being able to take them anywhere. Unfortunately with my new hd I had to sacrifice this, but i dig the portable HDs.
 
Will be ordering the d2 soon. Seems like the best option for me. If i get a laptop, then i will most likely get a rugged as well. Thanks for the help everyone!
 
http://www.wired.com/reviews/2011/11/buyingguide-hard-drives/?pid=1754&utm_source=Contextly&utm_medium=RelatedLinks&utm_campaign=Previous

"Which brand to buy? Everyone has a horror story about a drive from Company X or Company Y going south on them, along with a warning to steer clear of everything with a particular brand name on it. But the truth is all drives fail at some point, no matter who makes them. Your primary concerns should be the size of the actual drive and the warranty period. 500GB and 1TB drives have been around for a long time and are well proven. 2TB drives are newer but are now considered by most consumer watchdogs to be just as reliable as 1TB drives. Stay away from 3TB drives for the time being until they've been proven in the field. A 2-year warranty is standard for most hard drives, but 3-year warranties are quickly becoming more common."
 
depends how it crashes, sometimes it is just an enclosure failure, so you can rip the drive out and it will still work fine (has happened to me)
 
Yeah, had this happen to two "rugged" lacie drives in one day. If it is corrupted, you can sometimes use a data recovery software to get it all back. I suggest you get more than one HD and keep a backup HD.
 
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