Need suggestion/recommendations for portable external HD

[astigtigas]

Just got a new MacBook pro. I need suggestions/recommendations for portable external HD for back-up and storing all my photos/videos and other files. what do you guys use and recommend?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mike Boreham]

Just got a new MacBook pro. I need suggestions/recommendations for portable external HD for back-up and storing all my photos/videos and other files. what do you guys use and recommend?

Thanks in advance

I use Samsung T5s for everything I use day to day and Lacie Rugged 5TB for Archive and second backups.

 

[green86]

I use Samsung T5s for everything I use day to day and Lacie Rugged 5TB for Archive and second backups.

Like Mike said, the T5's are generally highly regarded.

 

[jerryk]

Another vote for the T5. Small and rugged. And USB C port.

 

[JTToft]

The T5 is probably great. However, it isn't a hard drive, which is what the OP asked for. Although the "HD" part may not have been on purpose.

Hard drives are all pretty much identical in quality, so I tend to recommend picking by what design and connector one prefers.

Also, to the OP, doing backups and primary storage on the same drive is rarely a very good idea.

 

[artfossil]

I'm cheap, so for my portable hard drives I use the OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini. Bus powered and goes up to 4 TB. There are SSD options, but I don't need to pay for that.

For backups I use the OWC Mercury Elite Pro. Goes up to 10 Tb.

And I agree with @JTToft: Don't archive and back up on the same drive.

 

[astigtigas]

The T5 is probably great. However, it isn't a hard drive, which is what the OP asked for. Although the "HD" part may not have been on purpose.

Hard drives are all pretty much identical in quality, so I tend to recommend picking by what design and connector one prefers.

Also, to the OP, doing backups and primary storage on the same drive is rarely a very good idea.

so its ideal to have a separate drive for back ups and archiving?

 

[jerryk]

so its ideal to have a separate drive for back ups and archiving?

Definitely is for me. I use backups as a means to recover day to day work I might have accidentally deleted. I use archiving to store data I would lock away in a drawer or safe (wedding pictures, kids pictures, signed contracts). Preferable some place physically distinct from where the backup and computer are located.

 

[astigtigas]

Definitely is for me. I use back ups as a means to recover day to day work I might have accidentally deleted. I use archiving to store data I would lock away in a drawer or safe(wedding picture, kids pictures, signed contracts). Preferable some place physically distinct from where the backup and computer are located.

thanks

 

[Painter2002]

Add one more vote for the Samsung T5, it’s super portable, smaller than a standard external drive, affordable (for 250-500, 1tb and up is a little more pricey), and most of all insanely fast through usb-c.
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Definitely is for me. I use backups as a means to recover day to day work I might have accidentally deleted. I use archiving to store data I would lock away in a drawer or safe (wedding pictures, kids pictures, signed contracts). Preferable some place physically distinct from where the backup and computer are located.

I do the same with my photos. I have a traditional external hard drive for secondary backups of all my photography (amateur nature photographer) as I’ve heard that on rare occasions the new SSDs can fail and require a reformatting to work again.
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The T5 is probably great. However, it isn't a hard drive, which is what the OP asked for. Although the "HD" part may not have been on purpose.

Hard drives are all pretty much identical in quality, so I tend to recommend picking by what design and connector one prefers.

Also, to the OP, doing backups and primary storage on the same drive is rarely a very good idea.

I think a lot of people unfortunately say “HD” even though they just mean an external “drive”, be it HDD or an SSD. It’s kind of an ingrained habit for a lot of computer users as that is one of the key words in computer lingo for like the first 30 years.

 

[JTToft]

so its ideal to have a separate drive for back ups and archiving?

- Yes. Otherwise you run into complications with figuring out how you should then backup the archive data on that same backup drive. You'd need to do that to a second drive. But when you already have two drives, then why not just use one for storage and one for backup of that storage?

 

[Painter2002]

- Yes. Otherwise you run into complications with figuring out how you should then backup the archive data on that same backup drive. You'd need to do that to a second drive. But when you already have two drives, then why not just use one for storage and one for backup of that storage?

I second this, always, always use a separate external drive for backups only, and another for extra storage if need be, it’s a lot easier to manage and less prone to issue if one drive (either the backup drive or the extended storage drive) fails.

It might sound silly or paranoia but all drives can fail, even backup drives, so it is always better to have drives separated in two distinct groups, your extended storage drives, and your backup drive(s).

 

[artfossil]

so its ideal to have a separate drive for back ups and archiving?

Your workflow is going to have its own needs and characteristics, but for me, my "archives" are years of images and files which I need to access from time to time.

I backup that archive the same way I back up other important data. So, a drive or drives for archives and then a separate drive to backup those archives.

And remember, ideally a "backup" is two copies of your data, preferable in different formats/different locations. For me, I use cloud backups as my second copy.

 

[haruhiko]

I bought SanDisk's 1TB Extreme USB-C SSD for just $199 on Amazon Prime Day, it has the same small size and ruggedness as the Samsung T5 and the same transfer speed (500MB/s).

 

[jerryk]

Your workflow is going to have its own needs and characteristics, but for me, my "archives" are years of images and files which I need to access from time to time.

I backup that archive the same way I back up other important data. So, a drive or drives for archives and then a separate drive to backup those archives.

And remember, ideally a "backup" is two copies of your data, preferable in different formats/different locations. For me, I use cloud backups as my second copy.

Agreed. I backup locally and then on occassion upload to the cloud.

 

[mr.anthonyramos]

I currently use 2TB of iCloud space for documents and what not for my back up. I only have around 400GB worth of files to back up. I would though like to buy an external HD to use Time Machine with.

I have two questions:

1. I can't afford the 2TB Samsung T5, well I can, I just can't imagine spending 600 bucks on that. So any other suggestions? I've used Lacie Drives and still do but are there any other suggestions for me?

2. Time Machine...I've been a Mac user for over 10 years. Should I use Time Machine?

 

[Painter2002]

[doublepost=1532625835][/doublepost]

I currently use 2TB of iCloud space for documents and what not for my back up. I only have around 400GB worth of files to back up. I would though like to buy an external HD to use Time Machine with.

I have two questions:

1. I can't afford the 2TB Samsung T5, well I can, I just can't imagine spending 600 bucks on that. So any other suggestions? I've used Lacie Drives and still do but are there any other suggestions for me?

2. Time Machine...I've been a Mac user for over 10 years. Should I use Time Machine?

If you are ok with the slower speeds I’d suggest getting an external HDD drive, not an SSD one. You can get a two terabyte one for a lot less.

As for suggestions, I’d really look around and read reviews and lookout for anything with a high failure rate.

Heck you can get a 4tb HDD for only $125-150: https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Por...sb-c+drive&dpPl=1&dpID=41u14pVvuiL&ref=plSrch

Also I use Time Machine with no problems. Some use other backup options but it is really a matter of preference. Time machine is simple and is a full image copy of your machine.

 

[Standard]

What would you guys recommend to use as an External Working Drive? If I cannot afford > 1tb on a new MBP, but I need more storage, where I will actually work off the drive in realtime, is the T5 fast enough or should I be looking at getting M2 SSD's with an external enclosure? Keep in mind some of my files will be 1-10gb.

I found this drive but I do not understand...it says 5GBS for speed? https://www.lacie.com/ca/en/products/porsche-design/porsche-design-mobile-drive/#specs

 

[Painter2002]

What would you guys recommend to use as an External Working Drive? If I cannot afford > 1tb on a new MBP, but I need more storage, where I will actually work off the drive in realtime, is the T5 fast enough or should I be looking at getting M2 SSD's with an external enclosure? Keep in mind some of my files will be 1-10gb.

I found this drive but I do not understand...it says 5GBS for speed? https://www.lacie.com/ca/en/products/porsche-design/porsche-design-mobile-drive/#specs

The T5 is probably the fastest “affordable” SSD you can get. I have one and through the USB-C ports on my MacBook Pro I average 400-500 mb/s sustained transfer read/write speeds. To give you an idea of real world time, I transferred 140gb of photos in a touch over 18 minutes from an old external drive (HDD) to the T5. If it was transferring from the Mac itself over it would have been even faster. The same transfer on an older 7200 RPM HDD would have taken me about 1 1/2-2 hours. So if you can afford it, it’s a fantastic drive.

So the 5GB/s a second only refers to what the data transfer speed that the USB-C 3.1 and the Lacie hard-drive case can handle. But this is a HDD drive so you are highly unlikely to see any sustained transfer speeds higher than 40MB/s, significantly lower than the 5GB/s they quote. The actual drive is what limits the transfer speed.

As far as the actual drive goes, I don’t have any experience with Lacie products, but they always seem overpriced for being standard HDD. As I posted earlier on this thread, you can get decent models on Amazon for quite a bit less.

 

[Standard]

The T5 is probably the fastest “affordable” SSD you can get. I have one and through the USB-C ports on my MacBook Pro I average 400-500 mb/s sustained transfer read/write speeds. To give you an idea of real world time, I transferred 140gb of photos in a touch over 18 minutes from an old external drive (HDD) to the T5. If it was transferring from the Mac itself over it would have been even faster. The same transfer on an older 7200 RPM HDD would have taken me about 1 1/2-2 hours. So if you can afford it, it’s a fantastic drive.

So the 5GB/s a second only refers to what the data transfer speed that the USB-C 3.1 and the Lacie hard-drive case can handle. But this is a HDD drive so you are highly unlikely to see any sustained transfer speeds higher than 40MB/s, significantly lower than the 5GB/s they quote. The actual drive is what limits the transfer speed.

As far as the actual drive goes, I don’t have any experience with Lacie products, but they always seem overpriced for being standard HDD. As I posted earlier on this thread, you can get decent models on Amazon for quite a bit less.

Thanks for the info! Currently I have a Samsung 850 Evo in my PC. It has the same speed of transfer as the T5, by the looks of it. So theoretically, if I am working off the T5, I shouldn't really notice a difference as I currently work with my PC?

I guess the only way to increase speeds, (if I get a new MBP, is to replicate an M2 externally)?

 

[Painter2002]

Thanks for the info! Currently I have a Samsung 850 Evo in my PC. It has the same speed of transfer as the T5, by the looks of it. So theoretically, if I am working off the T5, I shouldn't really notice a difference as I currently work with my PC?

I guess the only way to increase speeds, (if I get a new MBP, is to replicate an M2 externally)?

I don’t know your full setup, but comparing specs side by side, the 850 EVO and T5 should be fairly comparable. Ultimately what slows down drives being used as an external “working” drive (I am assuming you mean installing the OS on the drive) is the interface that they are being plugged into. So you can have the T5 plugged into a USB-C and get speeds like I was listing above, but you can also plug it in through USB-A, but the drive will be throttled to whatever speed the USB-A port can handle.

So there are a lot of variables obviously but spec for spec, those two drives are pretty comparable

 

[JTToft]

I found this drive but I do not understand...it says 5GBS for speed? https://www.lacie.com/ca/en/products/porsche-design/porsche-design-mobile-drive/#specs

- Those are just regular hard drives. The 5 Gb/s (Which is not the same as 5 GB per second) is largely irrelevant, as it's just the maximum speed of the USB interface it uses. The hard drive itself cannot nearly reach speeds that high.

But this is a HDD drive so you are highly unlikely to see any sustained transfer speeds higher than 40MB/s, significantly lower than the 5GB/s they quote.

- Modern hard drives via USB easily reach 100 MB/s in sustained sequential transfers.

As far as the actual drive goes, I don’t have any experience with Lacie products, but they always seem overpriced for being standard HDD. As I posted earlier on this thread, you can get decent models on Amazon for quite a bit less.

- Purely excellent experiences here with LaCie. Though I've only had one drive, but it has worked flawlessly for 7 years running for nearly all waking hours of the day for Time Machine.

But those in the link are obviously "design" drives with a fancy finish, which will be reflected in the price. I'm sure they function well.

 

[Painter2002]

Modern hard drives via USB easily reach 100 MB/s in sustained sequential transfers.

- Purely excellent experiences here with LaCie. Though I've only had one drive, but it has worked flawlessly for 7 years running for nearly all waking hours of the day for Time Machine.

But those in the link are obviously "design" drives with a fancy finish, which will be reflected in the price. I'm sure they function well.

I must just be unlucky with my drives (or the I/O ports on my achines) as I really get anything above 60mb/s on any of my traditional HDDs, haha.

This is good to know, I was always curious about the quality of build on the Lacie brand, but never bought one because of the pricing. Granted I only buy SSDs now.

I still use my two old HDD drives, but personally I always buy the 2.5” drives themselves and throw them in hard drive enclosures, because in my experience usually the harddrive enclosure goes bad first, and it’s a royal pain if you want to take apart pre-enclosed harddrive to save the drive itself.

 

[Standard]

I don’t know your full setup, but comparing specs side by side, the 850 EVO and T5 should be fairly comparable. Ultimately what slows down drives being used as an external “working” drive (I am assuming you mean installing the OS on the drive) is the interface that they are being plugged into. So you can have the T5 plugged into a USB-C and get speeds like I was listing above, but you can also plug it in through USB-A, but the drive will be throttled to whatever speed the USB-A port can handle.

So there are a lot of variables obviously but spec for spec, those two drives are pretty comparable

Ok thanks. So basically this is what I am looking at doing. Getting a new MBP but with limited storage. OSX and Windows 10 through Bootcamp will be installed on the MBP, along with software that I use. Modo, Unity, Unreal Engine, zBrush, Substance Painter/Designer, Photoshop, etc.

However, the files that I will be working on with these programs will be saved and worked on in realtime through the external SSD. Some of these Substance files are in excess of 5 GB and the same goes with Unreal/Unity. They can > 20 GB.

Hopefully this will explain things properly, if I left anything out, just let me know! Thanks for your help!

 

[Painter2002]

Ok thanks. So basically this is what I am looking at doing. Getting a new MBP but with limited storage. OSX and Windows 10 through Bootcamp will be installed on the MBP, along with software that I use. Modo, Unity, Unreal Engine, zBrush, Substance Painter/Designer, Photoshop, etc.

However, the files that I will be working on with these programs will be saved and worked on in realtime through the external SSD. Some of these Substance files are in excess of 5 GB and the same goes with Unreal/Unity. They can > 20 GB.

Hopefully this will explain things properly, if I left anything out, just let me know! Thanks for your help!

If you can afford the Samsung T5, I’d get that. It will be probably the fastest option you can get without completely breaking the bank. It would more than suffice for what you need.