'Off-board' storage options?

[Sburrows87]

Good evening,

I recently got the 256GB rMBP '15 for christmas. It replaces a '10 21.5" iMac with a 500GB HDD. Basically, my dilemma is that I have quite a large (130GB) iTunes library comprising of both music and movies. I also have a photo library of around 45GB too; so making a total of 175GB.

I don't really want to use all of the space available on my rMBP to store these items and I don't need constant, mobile access to these libraries.

Currently, I have an old 1TB drive connected to my network through USB on an airport extreme where I store this stuff and then access it through Wi-Fi at home. However, I would like to draw on your extensive knowledge/ experience for suggestions on an alternative; I am concerned about data security because the drive I have is quite old (5/6 years) and I would like to keep this data relatively safe.

Ok, with that said I have considered a couple of options - an SD 'drive' (i.e. transcend Jetdrive Lite, etc.) or a dedicated NAS drive. I don't really want to drag a mobile drive around with me or have a traditional SD card sticking out of my rMBP. Ideally I would like RAID for my NAS but I doubt highly this will be possible with my budget.

Here's the fun bit (where would the challenge be otherwise?!) - I have a budget of around £100/ £120 maximum for this (that's around $140 - $170).

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate your input and I hope the question makes sense.

(Mods if this is in the wrong section please feel free to move)

 

[Algus]

If the network drive is working for you, leave it. Get an enclosure and toss another 1 TB drive in it to backup the data on your network drive. I wouldn't spend a ton of money unless you're looking to upgrade to a larger/faster solution.

 

[Spudlicious]

You won't get a reasonable NAS solution within your budget, and I personally don't like the Jetdrive idea although I know they're selling fast and furious. Really I have to concur with Algus, another drive, ideally an SSD, in a USB3 enclosure. You just can't have too many copies of your precious files, it's the only way to feel secure.

 

[pseudoware]

Similar situation. The Jetdrive has been an excellent sol'n for me. Sure, the space is limited, but the portability trade-off works for me. YMMV.

 

[Neodym]

What happens to the iMac? Do you sell it to cover the costs for the rMBP? If not, why not set it up as server at home? You can connect multiple inexpensive hard drives (e.g. those for £40/each) and have them soft raided by the OS, then share them in your home network. Well within your budget.

Another option may be this raid housing for your Airport, but together with the required hard drives you'd end up a bit outside your budget with about £160 (including 2 drives).

And what about doing an online backup of your trusty 1TB hard drive (depending on your network speeds of course)?

 

[Sburrows87]

Thanks for all the replies, it's given me food for thought. I do like the idea of the jetdrive lite I must admit.

Neodym the iMac has indeed already been sold.

 

[cerberusss]

I also have a music library and since my drive is even smaller (120 gigs), I got a Nifty Minidrive knockoff called DoSeen Disk:

http://www.dx.com/p/doseen-disk-nifty-minidrive-sd-card-adapter-for-macbook-air-black-264600

There's also another knockoff called the BaseQi. You can find them on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=baseqi

 

[skaertus]

I am in a similar situation. I have noticed there are some options available: Nifty, Baseqi, Transcend, lots of them. I wonder if there is a better or preferable solution. Ideally, I would like to have a fast drive, perhaps something the same speed as an HDD, or even more. Is it possible to install the Bootcamp partition on such a drive?

 

[cerberusss]

Is it possible to install the Bootcamp partition on such a drive?

Perhaps it's possible, but really it'd be dog-slow. These solutions all rely on (micro-)SD cards and I'm not aware of any that have read/write speeds equaling even an old-fashioned spinning harddrive.

I have however had great success with an external SSD, connected over USB3, and running Windows as a virtual machine in Parallels.

 

[skaertus]

Perhaps it's possible, but really it'd be dog-slow. These solutions all rely on (micro-)SD cards and I'm not aware of any that have read/write speeds equaling even an old-fashioned spinning harddrive.

I have however had great success with an external SSD, connected over USB3, and running Windows as a virtual machine in Parallels.

Thanks for the answer. I am really looking for a permanent storage solution. I have a 256 GB SSD and it cannot handle my files anymore. I don't have to install Windows on it, but at least keep some files to free up some space on my SSD.

 

[leman]

If you are concerned about data security, your only real option is to buy some storage with a reputable storage provider (e.g. Amazon, iCloud, Google, Dropbox). Any cheap home solution can fail. And even if you have a RAID array, that too needs to be backed up regularly. For example, 200GB with iCloud is £30 per year, so your budget will suffice for at least 3 years (after which I am sure you will have another £30 to invest in the safety of your data). Of course, this presupposes a decent internet connection.

Other than that, a second/third backup disk with data copies is the best you can do. But I certainly would't call it 'reliable'.

Edit: it seems my suggestion was premature — I though that iCloud Drive allows you to download the data to your Mac on demand. It doesn't seem to be the case yet. However, other storage providers might be more flexible in that regard. I do know that iCloud Drive allows you to offload your picture to the network drive at least.