Need to Purchase a New External Drive

[hobot]

Thanks all for the info. My old laptop had 35K stored pictures when the black screen of death descended upon it.

It might have been noticed that I mostly stick to ten posts (30 pics) at a time when working on the Pic Thread, I've been utilizing my phone for all this work and as I post along I create an E-Mail to myself where I attach the posted pics to and then delete them afterwards from the picture folder so in a weird way I'm using Gmail as a cloud storage service.

I like the idea of two storage devices as I have future plans for the last several years worth of work and having everything stored in a brick just makes more sense for working/organizing content. The downside of using my phone is that I don't know what the "size" of the pic is (see top of page #35501 as an example), it all looks good on a phone.

My biz requires me to take before and after pictures, the 8 year old storage device I've been utilizing is pretty full, with the purchase of a new laptop I don't want to make the storage mistake again so just know I really appreciate the supplied info and if there's any other thoughts out there....keep them coming!!  

*edit*  Laptop with Windows 10 and we use a wireless modem from xfinity.

 

[Mr. Squirrel]

I have a WD 4TB drive as primary storage device and it seems fine.  I also use Acronis Cloud for backups and then I have a Samsung T5 1TB SSD for backup of the super important shit.  The T5 is insanely fast and after a couple years you copy everything to a new drive and give the old one to the kids or bin it.

MS

 

[Meat Wad]

Thanks all for the info. My old laptop had 35K stored pictures when the black screen of death descended upon it.

Make sure you take those old laptops apart and salvage the drives. The can make good devices to use or give to the kids if you get a case for them.
I have a Yoga 900, about 4 years old with a 256 ssd. I am thinking of opening it up to a 1 Tb and have another external. With a new grand kid, family photos are taking lots of room.

 

[RImike]

I recommend a network storage drive. This is the best way to store content as you can back up your phone directly to it wireless though port forwarding. This is much better than connecting a USB cord to a computer and then networking the drive. You can connect a USB based external HD to a router but it needs to have a USB port for it but remote access isn't as easy.I have a Buffalo NAS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JY4QJZ8/ref=twister_B07Y2MN5FF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 and depending on the level of security/redundancy you can either have 8TB configured without internal backup or 4TB where one HD mirrors the other and encase there is a corrupt file on one the other is able to repair it. 

 

[Meat Wad]

I recommend a network storage drive. This is the best way to store content as you can back up your phone directly to it wireless though port forwarding. This is much better than connecting a USB cord to a computer and then networking the drive. You can connect a USB based external HD to a router but it needs to have a USB port for it but remote access isn't as easy.I have a Buffalo NAS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JY4QJZ8/ref=twister_B07Y2MN5FF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 and depending on the level of security/redundancy you can either have 8TB configured without internal backup or 4TB where one HD mirrors the other and encase there is a corrupt file on one the other is able to repair it. 

That is funny, I was just looking at that exact device just now.. With the Raid 1 you get Mirroring which is good as long as both drives do not fail at the same time. At $298.00 4 Tb usable is pretty good with the Raid 1

https://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-LinkStation-Private-Storage-Included/dp/B00JY4QJZ8/ref=zg_bs_13436301_40?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=8PB8AZR33ZM66RN2QJRW&th=1

 

[RImike]

I've had a drive failure and RAID 1 saved everything, I've also had had a drive failure in RAID 0 and didn't do a backup yet on it and I lost lots of data during the recover. While the Buffalo remote access web portal is simple and somewhat clunky in design I do like the ability to remotely access the drive from either my cellphone or computer. I will say, these drives like to be cool so ensure there is airflow and the internals are cleaned often. 

 

[yoyo]

I have had good luck with Synology NAS with two WD Red drives set in Raid 1 mirroring (I probably just jinxed them).  But after learning the hard way ---- important backup also needs to be off-site.  The unexpected (theft/flood/fire) and they are gone.  So critical stuff is also backed up on the cloud.

 

[Locus]

This. Have WD dual drives in a raid 0 configuration 4tb ea. Plus cloud backup. Both safe and can access from anywhere via the web. We now have 3 I'm the house, master with all shared stuff one for my wife and one for my son. Those 2 backup to the master which backs up to cloud. Easy to setup and manage. 

 

[hobot]

Easy for who? I might as well be trying to learn Greek!

:mellow:

So where do I learn of this stuff?

 

[Meat Wad]

I have had good luck with Synology NAS with two WD Red drives set in Raid 1 mirroring (I probably just jinxed them).  But after learning the hard way ---- important backup also needs to be off-site.  The unexpected (theft/flood/fire) and they are gone.  So critical stuff is also backed up on the cloud.

I've heard good things about Synology but never actually known anyone who used it. A bit pricey for home but probably good for business??????

Always have an off site back up for critical data.

Easy for who? I might as well be trying to learn Greek!

:mellow:

So where do I learn of this stuff?

I hate to say it, but it is called LIFE. Time, some $$$, listen to those who are commenting here.

Yea, get your feet wet and take the plunge.

BAM you only learn by doing. That's how I got good at sailing and programming. It's called experience and Local College. Damn, look what it got me, I should have become an attorney.

 

[yoyo]

Easy for who? I might as well be trying to learn Greek!

:mellow:

So where do I learn of this stuff?

Yeah the NAS was a bit more work to set it up than a stand alone backup HD.  Main reason I went with a NAS was I wanted the mirroring so if one HD fails the other one should be fine.  I also needed to have remote access to files when I travelled for work.  There were a bunch of how-to videos from Synology and youtube and I got it done without too many headaches.  I only use for backup and remote (personal cloud) access.  Its capable of doing a lot more than that.

Today, if it wasn't work related I would just get the fastest external drive setup that will work with my PC/laptop.  I would also make sure everything I don't want lost is also safe on the cloud.  One nice thing about the cloud is that it offers you easy access to your files from anywhere as long as you have internet.

 

[Que]

Easiest cheap answer is likely a single drive attached to a router.  If your ISP supplied router doesn't have a USB port, you can install an off-the shelf router as a client on your network and be off to the races.  This allows access to the drive from any LAN attached PC and doesn't keep your laptop tethered to a desk.  The down side of this is backup capability.  You may decide to have a second drive that you temporarily plug into your PC once a week and manually copy info over.

Cloud is a great option and gives you reliability, but if you go this route, pay to get the right solution for you.  That old warning comes to mind...if you're not the paying customer, you're the product being sold. 

An elegant/cheap option is to deploy your own cloud service.  I used an old POS netbook PC that I had on a shelf (atom processor, made back in 2011) and threw a linux distro on it.  A USB hub and a few drives set up to mirror using logical volume management and my nextcloud server (similar function to dropbox) has been very reliable.  Total cost was the drives and the hub.  This is relatively easy to setup and there are a lot of internet resources for guidance, but it is not totally intuitive.  In short, if you have an interest in building something like this, it can be learned and set up within a week.  If you don't have interest in the technical side of a server (no judgement, simply a statement here), this is a non-starter as it will frustrate the hell out of you.

Elegant/easy options are the "NAS in a box" options described above.

 

[Locus]

Easy for who? I might as well be trying to learn Greek!

:mellow:

So where do I learn of this stuff?

We use Synology NAS at work. Very capable, but pricey and way more complex to setup and manage. WDD and Buffalo do a much better job with their NAS software. 

Ours is more complex than average for sure.

But the WDD stuff is actually really simple

1. Buy a drive with the capacity you need.

2. Plug that drive in to the USB and connect to the setup utilities. Follow the steps. All in English rather than Tech speak for the basics

3. Detach and plug the drive into your router using a ethernet (network cable)

4. Access the settings using a browser. Address is provided by the drive during setup. 

5. Setup shared folders that your windows will be able to map permanently.

With WDD you also setup a mycloud and there is a switch in the drive to backup there, and or allow access there. Your choice, all local, all cloud or hybrid. 

Screenshot from mine. Very easy no techspeak for the basic functions

Also ships with PC backup software so you can backup your PC's to the drive as well as backup the drive to the cloud if you want. You can also integrate most commercial cloud backup if you already have one.