Portable Backup Drive-What size?

fcortese said:

I am thinking about getting a portable backup drive when I am out on vacation or shooting a lot of pictures when traveling. Assuming I am shooting all of the pictures in JPEG + RAW (since that will eat up the max amount of file space) what size drive do you think I should go with? I will more than likely have my MBP with me. Using Aperture 3 I would upload them to my MBP but I would want to do a separate back up as well. So 320GB? 500GB? Higher? I am thinking of using this in the field so to speak since I have Time machine and a 500GB Western drive at home. Any thoughts much appreciated.

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I'd get the largest you can afford / find / carry - I've never heard someone complain 'I've got too much free space on this disk'.

Obviously don't just get a 2TB drive because you can, look at the 'GB per $' and be sensible, but I don't think there's much point in buying small.

I would say to make sure you have a backup too, but it sounds like this will be your backup - I'd keep it in a different bag to your laptop, as if someone steals one you might get to keep the other! Nasty thought I know, but you'd kick yourself if you had your laptop bag stolen and lost your backup at the same time.

If you can get to wireless while you travel, make a copy on the net somewhere (I use and always recommend http://crashplan.com/ myself, but something like http://dropbox.com/ might be handy too) or if you're staying with friends ask them to download pics to their computer now and then - I've never heard someone say 'I have too many backups' either!

Mark

IIRC correctly, you are looking at about 25 MB/picture. How many pictures do you need to backup before you return home? It is pretty simple math.

Personally I use a 100GB hyperdrive when I am away (my shots are ~10MB each and I have never come close to running out of space). Having a laptop (and AC power) independent solution is very important for me. With the hyperdrive, you can backup as you shoot instead of waiting until you are stopped somewhere for the night.

I think 500GB is a bad idea for most people as they will get lazy and leave crap on it so the loss will be bigger if it disappears. Having a smaller drive helps you to keep it cleaned up and ready for the next adventure. Whatever you get, I would go for a 5400 rpm (or slower) drive to save power, for a backup drive the added speed of 7200 is not normally required.

Good luck.

fcortese said:

I am thinking about getting a portable backup drive when I am out on vacation or shooting a lot of pictures when traveling. Assuming I am shooting all of the pictures in JPEG + RAW (since that will eat up the max amount of file space) what size drive do you think I should go with? I will more than likely have my MBP with me. Using Aperture 3 I would upload them to my MBP but I would want to do a separate back up as well. So 320GB? 500GB? Higher? I am thinking of using this in the field so to speak since I have Time machine and a 500GB Western drive at home. Any thoughts much appreciated.

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I carry a 500GB G-Tech G-Drive Mini when I'm on the go, its USB/FW800 and built like a tank and stinkin fast.

Your camera is a factor here. You shoot FF and according to Canon specs a RAW+JPG file size is around 36MB. This will vary depending of the tonal range of the image. A 250GB drive will hold around 7,000 images. Whether you go with 250, 320 or 500 is your choice, but get a bus powered drive so you don't need to worry about more cords.

LaCie makes a couple of rugged drives mant for field use.

Look Here on B&H

Dale

fcortese said:

I am thinking about getting a portable backup drive when I am out on vacation or shooting a lot of pictures when traveling. Assuming I am shooting all of the pictures in JPEG + RAW (since that will eat up the max amount of file space) what size drive do you think I should go with? I will more than likely have my MBP with me. Using Aperture 3 I would upload them to my MBP but I would want to do a separate back up as well. So 320GB? 500GB? Higher? I am thinking of using this in the field so to speak since I have Time machine and a 500GB Western drive at home. Any thoughts much appreciated.

Click to expand...

Right now I think the 1TB size is the "sweet spot" where you get the most for your money. A500GB might be cheaper but for not much more you get twice as much.

If you are using Aperture then I assume this will hold one of what Aperture calls a "vault". Using a vault is a very safe way to backup the images.

Conciser buying two drives and using them in rotation. then do not keep all yur equipment in the same place. Theft is a major cause of data loss and you don't want to loose your backup and the computer. Drives are cheap enough now that you can afford to buy two of them. Aperture is good at keeping track of what needs to be updated in each vault and will sync them up quickly

Hello again. Here is a link to B&H that consolidates all of the devices I mentioned in my last PM.

Stand alone data storage

The lower priced devices don't have preview screens, so keeping everything on your CF card would provide a second back up. Take two or three and don't delete them until you have everything on your computer.

Dale

I use an older Lacie Rugged 160GB whilst away for extended lengths of time.

It's fast and bus powered over FW800, very convenient.
When I return to my desktop Mac I'll dump it all onto a larger drive.

Down here I've seen 750GB portable drives (USB only) for only $100.

Hi
Getting to the table a little late on this. I was just down at Best Buys and they had 1TB's on sale for $99. It is called Seagate free agent Goflex. It is Run off the usb port, and runs 3.0.
Their web is http://www.seagate.com
Erv

I got a Seagate Goflex HD for my MBA. 500GB for $80 at target. my MBA drive is only 120GB, so I have lots of flexibility in this drive. I use it for backup and storage of my pictures from my iMac when I am on the road, lots of room to play around with.

I also purchased a second drive I use for Time Machine for both this MBA and my wife's MBP.