External Storage recommendations...

[Flunkyturtle]

Currently have a 2011 iMac which i keep filling up with data.

I've got two external drives a 1tb which does my Time machine, and a 500Gb that does my itunes movies, all of my music and pictures are stored on the iMac so my drive is about 1/3rd full.

Now, my library is ever growing and rather that just keep buying overpriced external drives one by one i want to put everything into ideally 1 enclosure...

I'm not TOO bothered about speed so ignoring TB for now i'm after some recommendations for external store solutions.

not fussed if they come with drives but to give you some ideas of what i've been looking at..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

So i'm looking for a device that can take anywhere between 2- 5 drives
USB connection
Not a massive price tag
reliable
available in the UK without massive delivery costs.
Not NAS as i dont have access to the router and my wifi is dreadful



Thanks in advance

 

[miles01110]

Not a massive price tag

Instead of using subjective terms like this, how about you decide on a budget and let us know. It's hard to help you without that.

 

[theSeb]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

So i'm looking for a device that can take anywhere between 2- 5 drives
USB connection
Not a massive price tag
reliable
available in the UK without massive delivery costs.
Not NAS as i dont have access to the router and my wifi is dreadful

I own the 2 drive option that you linked to and I got it from Amazon last year.

It works as I would expect at USB 2 speeds, but it's absolutely dreadful in terms of noise. It makes a hell of a racket so I only switch it on for the moments that I actually need to copy data to it or off it. I assume that the 4 drive version in your second link will be similar. It also looks quite nasty. I am not normally one to care too much about this, but this enclosure looks like someone put it together with a hammer and some nails for £5. The pictures make it look ok, but it's not like that in real life. Most of is flimsy and every bit that should be aligned (like the doors to get the hard drives in and out), isn't quite right. You get what you pay for though.

For a 2 bay, I would recommend something like this

http://www.rentaraid.co.uk/stardom-...e-with-fw800-fw400-and-usb2-0-connectors.html

The FW800 interface will be a welcome addition.

But, I am not quite sure I understand your data storage strategy, but perhaps I am just not reading it right. I don't quite understand where you're backing up your data to?

 

[ThemacNub]

I would get a two bay external hard drive case along with 2 x 2tb western digital greens in RAID 1. This allows enough space for your library (2tb) and has the safety of redundancy in case a one of the drives fails, saving you the time of re importing and converting your media.

Two 2tb western greens are about $220/240
A two bay case supporting RAID around $100 for something reliable

Does that fall within your budget and storage space needs?

I would have separate drives (ie independent enclosures) for your OS back up and iTunes.