New external hard drive?

jerry12953

jerry12953

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Jeremy Moore
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Hi, my internal hard drives are both close to full so i need to get a new external hard drive. I'm looking for suggestions!

The prices for brand-name (Tosh, WD etc) drives are higher than i expected, but what about the no-name drives available on amazon etc? Would they be reliable? Thanks.
 
To be honest I wouldn’t chance one of the no name ones, certainly to back up photos or anything important
I may well be wrong but would rather have peace of mind and pay a bit more
They are expensive now though I agree
 
Not too scary?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Portable-External-Drive-STGX1000400/dp/B07CRG94G3/ref=sxin_17_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?adgrpid=1188572968748399&content-id=amzn1.sym.eb8a2e41-041d-4ab3-bd78-08246275f894%3Aamzn1.sym.eb8a2e41-041d-4ab3-bd78-08246275f894&cv_ct_cx=external%2Bhard-drive&gb=2&hvadid=74286089906032&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=131704&hvnetw=o&hvocijid=16939871798650513603--&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-74285951161989%3Aloc-188&hydadcr=28154_2436151&keywords=external%2Bhard-drive&mcid=da4fc29ce0bd34b593f531ec65c5f141&pd_rd_i=B07CRG7BBH&pd_rd_r=5f77c891-d25f-4d1e-ab11-cc85d4a6b11e&pd_rd_w=okdrF&pd_rd_wg=5jerJ&pf_rd_p=eb8a2e41-041d-4ab3-bd78-08246275f894&pf_rd_r=F947PG4DPCRQYK1Q2MTM&qid=1784460953&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=1-2-ad3222ed-9545-4dc8-8dd8-6b2cb5278509-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.0fa28f01-6fca-4422-af4e-d52d5ad71bfe&aref=8nf9qlckPg&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1
 
The no name enclosures will still have name HDDs in them.
 
I've been successful with WD recertified drives. Used to be about £50 for 4tb.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I've been successful with WD recertified drives. Used to be about £50 for 4tb.
Click to expand...


Thanks. Is that like a refurb? Does WD have a refurb shop?
robj20 said:
The no name enclosures will still have name HDDs in them.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Is it possible to find out what make the HD is?

Mr Perceptive said:
Is this a laptop or a desktop? If the latter why not upgrade one of the internal drives to something with bigger capacity??
Click to expand...


Thanks. it's a small form factor desktop, so probably a laptop HD will be needed. It's certainly an idea though. I'll look into it.
 
I recently purchased one of these by sandisk that is a 2 TB of storage £269 from amazon

P1016323.JPG

SANDISK Extreme Portable SSD 2TB (up to 1050 MB/s read, 1,000MB/s write, NVMe SSD, USB-C, External Solid State Drive, IP65 rated for dust and water resistance, Updated Firmware) Black
 
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realspeed said:
I recently purchased one of these by sandisk that is a 2 TB of storage £269 from amazon

View attachment 488092




SANDISK Extreme Portable SSD 2TB (up to 1050 MB/s read, 1,000MB/s write, NVMe SSD, USB-C, External Solid State Drive, IP65 rated for dust and water resistance, Updated Firmware) Black
Click to expand...

Eeek! The price though........
 
Once you go over to SSD drive as shown you will never go back to the sluggish snail HDD types. huge advantage with a panasonic G9ii camera.it plugs in and records straight from camera memory storage either SSD or Hdd has gone through the roof price wise
 
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realspeed said:
Once you go over to SSD drive as shown you will never go back to the sluggish snail HDD types. huge advantage with a panasonic G9ii camera.it plugs in and records straight from camera memory storage either SSD or Hdd has gone through the roof price wise
Click to expand...
And yet SSD is such a poor choice for long term storage.
 
robj20 said:
And yet SSD is such a poor choice for long term storage.
Click to expand...

It's important to buy the tools for the job. Need fast backup on the go, work with files off external storage, SSD is the job. Want storage to last 10 years+? HDD is your boy.

At least we don't use tape these days. :LOL:
 
Personally I wouldn’t trust a no name drive. HDD and SSD prices are very high at present and from what I have read are unlikely to reduce in the near future.
 
ancient_mariner said:
It's important to buy the tools for the job. Need fast backup on the go, work with files off external storage, SSD is the job. Want storage to last 10 years+? HDD is your boy.

At least we don't use tape these days. :LOL:
Click to expand...
Tape is still widely used for long term storage. We still backup monthly to tape.
 
I use a Toshiba 4Tb external HDD. It's the second one I've bought after filling up the first one.
About £150 from Currys with 4 year maker's warranty.
I decided SSDs were priced too high at the moment.
 
ancient_mariner said:
It's important to buy the tools for the job. Need fast backup on the go, work with files off external storage, SSD is the job. Want storage to last 10 years+? HDD is your boy.

At least we don't use tape these days. :LOL:
Click to expand...

Yes, my thoughts too. SSD's do seem a bit volatile.
 
realspeed said:
I recently purchased one of these by sandisk that is a 2 TB of storage £269 from amazon

View attachment 488092

SANDISK Extreme Portable SSD 2TB (up to 1050 MB/s read, 1,000MB/s write, NVMe SSD, USB-C, External Solid State Drive, IP65 rated for dust and water resistance, Updated Firmware) Black
Click to expand...
I had this self-destruct on me. I hope yours works better.
 
Delphin said:
Welcome to the world of AI , sucking up all the storage and ram. Until that bubble bursts price will remain ridiculously high.
Click to expand...
In a normal world they would just make more of it and prices would start falling, except that neither is taking place. I don't get why...
 
LongLensPhotography said:
In a normal world they would just make more of it and prices would start falling, except that neither is taking place. I don't get why...
Click to expand...

I understand the manufacturing plants are running at full capacity and they simply can't produce more.
The big 3 are spending around $50 billion on more capacity, but this will take several years to come on stream .
 
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LongLensPhotography said:
In a normal world they would just make more of it and prices would start falling, except that neither is taking place. I don't get why...
Click to expand...
They are at max capacity throughout the supply chain. Manufacturers have mostly switched to making the higher profit modules, everything else is a second thought.
 
My IT guy has suggested the following - he seems to know his stuff:

>In terms of speed external drives are slower so best used for storage of finished projects. Anything being worked on is best to be on the SSD.
>It is recommended to have 15% free space on an SSD for 500 that would be 75Gb.

>So if you can move some files from the 2Tb drive to an external drive and some files from the SSD to the 2TB drive, that would be the most economical option.

It does suggest that I need a new external HD. (as opposed to putting a new internal drive in.)
 
Aye, prices are crazy. I just bought a Seagate IronWolf 4TB, NAS to replace an internal drive that must be about 10 years old now and it was £155, which I thought wasn't too bad, but it still hurt a little.
 
ancient_mariner said:
No longer as cheap as they were.

www.westerndigital.com

Recertified: Shop Recertified Digital Storage Drives | WD

With recertified storage drives, get top-quality devices for less.
www.westerndigital.com www.westerndigital.com
Click to expand...

But still good value, I followed the recommendation and bought 2 MyBook 8Tb and they were like new.

The supply issue simply persuaded me to do some 'house-keeping' on my various HDDs and was able to liberate quite a lot of space but I am getting to the point that I need to buy more before long. Even my portables have filled up with stored JPEGS but now that I have sufficient card capacity to cover me while travelling and without having to carry a laptop that isn't such a problem.
 
jerry12953 said:
Any thoughts folks?
Click to expand...

I’ve sold 2 Western Digital 3.5in Blacks (2Tb and 6Tb) on eBay, I rotate my business drives every 3-4 years as usually by then I need more capacity (and at that age they still have some resale value). There is always a risk with pre-loved equipment though.

The replacement drives were not cheap (Western Digital Gold 10Tb and 16Tb), bought earlier in the year just before the prices went super mad.

Personally I would never take shortcuts with my data so am happy to buy new. It’s a bit like putting secondhand tyres on a car, they may work fine or they may kill you
 
I think that I will tweak my workflow

I usually save all my raws, then review then in LR and delete those I don't want to process from the cloud only leaving them on my ssd. I think I may use the local function when reviewing and delete all raws that have no sentimental value and which I think are 1 star or below from local storage.

I reckon doing this will mean I delete a lot of raws
 
What size external HHD do you think you need?

Can you free up some space on your existing drives?

Do you have a reliable backup system?
 
robj20 said:
Flash based memory unless routinely powered will eventually lose your data. HDD will not.
Click to expand...
and some flash based memory will last longer than others.
SSD come in various ratings, consumer, commercial with price tags to match.
Just because it's called PRO does not mean its the best.
I only use Samsung for SSD, never had a problem, touch wood so far, other makes I have known to fail and you tend to lose the whole drive without warning.
HDD normally give an indication that they are going to fail, which will give you a short while to replace the drive with little data lost.
 
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