Best external HDD?

[george-brooks]

I am a photographer and filmmaker so I need a lot of external drive space and speed and reliability are very important. I am currently using an older Western Digital MyBook 2TB RAID drive but it is over 80% full and I have been unhappy with that drive's performance, so I am looking to upgrade and use that drive as a backup.

Ideally I am looking at getting two 2TB Glyph GT-050Qs. Everyone I have talked to says these are hands down the absolute best drives for intense video work and their warranty is fantastic. However, as I am sure you know, these drives run about $100 over their competitors and are just a bit out of my price range. I am also considering G-RAIDs and OWC Mercury Elite Pros. I have a rackmount setup and would ideally like something that is rack mountable but can be fairly easily removed, too (like the glyph). eSATA I/O is essential.

So does anyone have any suggestions for affordable but high quality and dependable hard drives for a filmmaker/photographer? Or are the Glyphs REALLY worth the extra money?

 

[emt1]

Do you have the version that supports firewire 800? If not, you really need to go that route. Even the WB MyBook with firewire 800 has great reviews on Amazon.

 

[sampers]

Hi,

I use a Lacie D2 quadra (I TB version) these have multiple connectors like usb, firewire 400, 2 x firewire 800 (to daisychain, also rack mountable).
and a esata connector.

I've never used esata, but it already works great on firewire 800 for video editing,

now there are some other equivalent drives from lacie, like the thunderbolt little big disk, ...

so the Lacie D2 type is certainly worth a look at

 

[george-brooks]

Thanks. I had 2 of the older version of that disk before I got the WDs, but I had problems with a power supply failure about a year after I got the disk and other various problems. But that was 4 or 5 years ago. Have you had any issues?

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I'm not really interested in paying extra money for Thunderbolt at the moment, given the huge cost difference and the fact that I will be using this mostly on a mac pro.

 

[george-brooks]

I looked up the Lacies and actually, at the capacities and speeds I am looking to buy (at least 2TB 7200) they are almost twice the price of the G-Drives and actually more expensive than the glyphs. Since I will be buying 2 to 4 of these, price is definitely a concern.

Any other suggestions?

 

[TjeuV]

why not take the newer WD mybook ? I thought it's something like $200 for 2TB with firewire 800 if I'm not mistaking.