Hello all !
I'm sure many of you have had the issue that the photos are beginning to take more and more of my hard drive space. In some discussion I read that some of you use an external hard drive and that sounds like a great idea.
I was hoping you all could advise me on how much memory is necessary, what brands are respected, anything I should avoid?
I appreciate any advice, recommendations, instruction you might have to offer.
there are quite a few brands out there Hope, prolly best to just buy from a reputable dealer to which if you ever have problems, you can always return too.
In regards to size, I started off with a 500Gb external and have slowly worked on filling that up, that I have now got a 1Tb drive which should do me for a little while. Today I would buy 2Tb which are a good price and readily available today. If you can get bigger, then cool.
I actually have two externals which have only my photos on. One is at home and the other is at an another location which I update from time to time, for security reasons.
If you store raw image files, and take a lot of them, you'll fill up an external drive quickly. In other words - if you're anything like me. Most people probably aren't (I have 280 000 images in my Lightroom library), but if you are .....
I use a Drobo S, 5-bay enclosure, with dual-drive redundancy. Using 2TB drives (5 of them) it gives you about 6GB of storage (the unit can handle up to 16GB), with the ability to lose any two drives simultaneously (a rare situation, but it can happen) without losing any data whatsoever. You can also hot-swap drives (pull one out and replace it while everything is switched on and running) and it will just sort itself out, by itself. It will tell you when a drive is having problems, allowing you to replace it before it actually fails.
I use that, an internal backup drive, and two normal external backup drives, as well as keeping any "current" photos on my main internal data drive. Paranoid much? Yes, yes I am.
I have the 500 GB and it holds about 2000 songs and all my photos (but now I will do a backup tonight). It also comes in a 1 tetra size (twice what I have) and well, you can never have enough memory, but look to see how much your photos take up now and multiply that by about 5 times.
I would go for 500Gb portable drives (just connect the usb - that's it!) and just like @jinximages, add redundant drives in case of hardware malfunction. Normally, 2-3 redundant 500Gb would do but the amount of raw and files (jpeg) accumulating over would fill them easily. So, I think 3 500Gb portable redundant drives working on let's say your pictures for years 2011-2012 would be fine. Then another set of 3s once you are low on memory.
I would recommend 1Tb - 2Tb hard drives only if you don't move a lot and pick those that have their own power cords (not portable drives). Again, if you could afford 3 redundancy drives, it will save you from any emotional fit.
Downside of having more memory is that they take too long to reformat but other than that, they'll be fine. Now for the brands -
Buffalo, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Western Digital (WD) - been around for too long in the industry and they are well respected brands and provides what you paid for.
Samsung (new guy on the market) - cheaper and haven't really been tested for too long.
Iosafe - can handle rugged environment (military or in my case mountaineering)
Seagate, Lacie - same with the first 4 manufacturers above but I wouldn't place both on the same pedestal because of seasonal break downs.
Gtech - Macs
I have used at some time those brands I mentioned and experience taught me well :D
500GB drives are particularly good value in a lot of places as 1TB have become the standard big drive, though if it's just for photos then 250GB would likely do just fine...
If you're savvy, installing an internal second harddrive is cheaper, though more costly if you need to have someone do it...
Thank you so much everyone. You've given me the info I was hoping for. I feel more confident now about getting a external hard drive that will meet my needs.
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In regards to size, I started off with a 500Gb external and have slowly worked on filling that up, that I have now got a 1Tb drive which should do me for a little while. Today I would buy 2Tb which are a good price and readily available today. If you can get bigger, then cool.
I actually have two externals which have only my photos on. One is at home and the other is at an another location which I update from time to time, for security reasons.
I use a Drobo S, 5-bay enclosure, with dual-drive redundancy. Using 2TB drives (5 of them) it gives you about 6GB of storage (the unit can handle up to 16GB), with the ability to lose any two drives simultaneously (a rare situation, but it can happen) without losing any data whatsoever. You can also hot-swap drives (pull one out and replace it while everything is switched on and running) and it will just sort itself out, by itself. It will tell you when a drive is having problems, allowing you to replace it before it actually fails.
I use that, an internal backup drive, and two normal external backup drives, as well as keeping any "current" photos on my main internal data drive. Paranoid much? Yes, yes I am.
I was just looking for one for my husband yesterday. This one caught my eye.
http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Portable-External/dp/B0044DEEV0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
This is the model I have and love it because it fits in my computer bag, is completely portable and has not one power cord. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/external-hard-drive/portable-hard-drive
I have the 500 GB and it holds about 2000 songs and all my photos (but now I will do a backup tonight). It also comes in a 1 tetra size (twice what I have) and well, you can never have enough memory, but look to see how much your photos take up now and multiply that by about 5 times.
I would recommend 1Tb - 2Tb hard drives only if you don't move a lot and pick those that have their own power cords (not portable drives). Again, if you could afford 3 redundancy drives, it will save you from any emotional fit.
Downside of having more memory is that they take too long to reformat but other than that, they'll be fine. Now for the brands -
Buffalo, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Western Digital (WD) - been around for too long in the industry and they are well respected brands and provides what you paid for.
Samsung (new guy on the market) - cheaper and haven't really been tested for too long.
Iosafe - can handle rugged environment (military or in my case mountaineering)
Seagate, Lacie - same with the first 4 manufacturers above but I wouldn't place both on the same pedestal because of seasonal break downs.
Gtech - Macs
I have used at some time those brands I mentioned and experience taught me well :D
If you're savvy, installing an internal second harddrive is cheaper, though more costly if you need to have someone do it...
Thank you so much everyone. You've given me the info I was hoping for. I feel more confident now about getting a external hard drive that will meet my needs.