Backup drives

[glennk]

My current situation...just purchased a MacBook Pro with a 250gb hdd. I have a large amount of pictures/movies currently on my machine and would like to offload them to an external drive.

1. What brand of drive do you recommend?
2. Since I don't plan to keep a copy on my Apple, should i be looking at a RAID 1 drive?

 

[Tomorrow]

I have read good things about LaCie, Seagate, Western Digital, Iomega, Hitachi, and others. I have read bad things about LaCie, Seagate, Western Digital, Iomega, Hitachi, and others. 😎

Seriously, they all have their ups and downs. How do you plan to connect the drive (USB, Firewire, Ethernet)? What size are you looking for?

In response to your other question, if the external drive is your only copy then yes, RAID 1 will definitely give you some peace of mind - but at a relatively steep price (literally - an external RAID assembly can add a good amount of cost).

 

[elgrecomac]

They all have issues but...

LaCie seems to have a large group of followers. I happen to use a 2Tb Western Digital My Book attached via firewire 800 and it works great for me.

You know, motors burn out, heat kills electrical components and moving parts ...like disk heads are a problem waiting to happen. if you can afford it, the new SDD's are great and they eliminate the big issues with hard drives. Another thought is to set up a RAID array.

Lots of options with really no bad one. Good luck.

 

[glennk]

I have read good things about LaCie, Seagate, Western Digital, Iomega, Hitachi, and others. I have read bad things about LaCie, Seagate, Western Digital, Iomega, Hitachi, and others. 😎

Seriously, they all have their ups and downs. How do you plan to connect the drive (USB, Firewire, Ethernet)? What size are you looking for?

In response to your other question, if the external drive is your only copy then yes, RAID 1 will definitely give you some peace of mind - but at a relatively steep price (literally - an external RAID assembly can add a good amount of cost).

Firewire 800. Size wise...i'm not sure. I am thinking 500gb mirrored would be a good place to start. I was initially looking at a Western Digital set-up but RAID 1 was not recommended from reviews i've read. Looked at G-Tech's G-Safe. Its RAID 1, solidly built, 500gb set-up runs $380'ish but requires you to buy their drives if one fails. Not cool. Read up on Drobo. Its very cool, but costs too much and more than what I need.

What I intend to use the backup drive for:
Time Machine backups (or if a better backup software is recommended, i'd use it)
Offloading site for pics and movies

Thoughts?

 

[glennk]

LaCie seems to have a large group of followers. I happen to use a 2Tb Western Digital My Book attached via firewire 800 and it works great for me.

You know, motors burn out, heat kills electrical components and moving parts ...like disk heads are a problem waiting to happen. if you can afford it, the new SDD's are great and they eliminate the big issues with hard drives. Another thought is to set up a RAID array.

Lots of options with really no bad one. Good luck.

Thanks! I want a FW800 set-up. SSD is cool, but too damn expensive. I think RAID 1 is the way to go. Ensures that data completely offloaded isn't lost.

 

[Tomorrow]

Thanks! I want a FW800 set-up. SSD is cool, but too damn expensive. I think RAID 1 is the way to go. Ensures that data completely offloaded isn't lost.

FW800 is a bit pricey (as I'm sure you've found out) and not as widely available as USB or FW400, so it will limit your choices a bit.

I do agree with going RAID 1, but only if you're going to store these items ONLY on the external drive. For a Time Machine backup, consider that your computer's HD can actually be the backup for this external drive, in a sense - you'll still have your data on 2 disks, and the likelihood of both failing at the same time is very, very low. For Time Machine, I think RAID is overkill.

 

[glennk]

FW800 is a bit pricey (as I'm sure you've found out) and not as widely available as USB or FW400, so it will limit your choices a bit.

I do agree with going RAID 1, but only if you're going to store these items ONLY on the external drive. For a Time Machine backup, consider that your computer's HD can actually be the backup for this external drive, in a sense - you'll still have your data on 2 disks, and the likelihood of both failing at the same time is very, very low. For Time Machine, I think RAID is overkill.

Yeah, but i'm not plannin to keep the pics and movies on my MacBook... I plan to fully offload them to the external drive.