External hard drive - recommendations?

[Flyoverland Captive]

My 2TB external drive shit the bed. It's an OWC Mercury Elite Pro, highly regarded by folks I trust, but I'm now not so sure I trust them. So, what are folks using? I need at least 2TB, and would like to upgrade to a dual-drive RAID array.

What do all you dentists use?

[RootSkier]

Seriously? Why not go to Amazon and get a reviewing sample size of a few thousand?

[grskier]

OWC is usually my jam, albeit a little more spendy. Did you call them re: the HD?

[Flyoverland Captive]

Seriously? Why not go to Amazon and get a reviewing sample size of a few thousand?

Because I can't ask follow-up questions and have an actual dialog.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I'm calling them later today, but I'm thinking I want a dual drive RAID, so even if this gets working, I still need more info from folks other than OWC.

[digitaldeath]

call best buy and tell them to sell you their shit


trust fucking chinese factory workers - they are all the same garbage

[digitaldeath]

i need a new mouse

any good ones out there?

should i replace the keyboard too?

[digitaldeath]

linoleum flooring recommendations?

[::: :::]

hard drives break -- they're mechanical

i have this model in a 6tb and have had it warranteed
it works for me but i'm aware it has a lifespan
that said, lacie has stood behind it and overnighted the unit to me when replacement was needed
their customer service has been good to me too

lacie 2big
http://www.lacie.com/professional/bi...-quadra-usb-3/

[nutmegchoi]

I have WD (Western Digital) My Cloud 6TB and My Passport (portable) 2TB.
Absolutely love them both.

[muted]

G-raids are great. Lacies are good too.

[DJSapp]

External portable RAID array? I don't know if that's a thing, but a NAS device would suit you nicely if the storage can stay put at home, or doesn't move very often. Most are bare devices and then you can buy a proper HD separately. I've setup two of these at my network of dental establishments using Synology device with WD Red NAS drive. The Synology drives can also be setup to automatically backup to the cloud via dropbox, amazon glacier, etc.

i.e this x2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

plus this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-236-_-Product

[Flyoverland Captive]

Looks like OWC, WD, and Lacie all have dual-drives for about what it would cost to build my own at NewEgg.

[iceman]

2 TB is a lot of porn. You're getting older. You sure you need it all?

[riser4]

I prefer WD if it spins. WD Red for a NAS.

[highangle]

I'm calling them later today, but I'm thinking I want a dual drive RAID, so even if this gets working, I still need more info from folks other than OWC.

Do you want to mirror these drives so that they're faster and when one croaks, you still have all your shit?
Or do you just like the idea of having 2 drives instead of 1 because, you know, 2 is bigger than 1 and therefore better?


Have you thought about red ones?

[::: :::]

look at qnap too
that synology above is a good unit too

[digitaldeath]

data hording is passe

just keep getting new data

[Flyoverland Captive]

Do you want to mirror these drives so that they're faster and when one croaks, you still have all your shit?
Or do you just like the idea of having 2 drives instead of 1 because, you know, 2 is bigger than 1 and therefore better?

I want to mirror them, not just add storage.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Looks like Best Buy has the WD My Cloud dual-Red drive systems on sale for $260, cheaper than building my own. Hmm...

OWC uses Toshiba drives; any opinion on those?

[highangle]

Why mirror? Data security? Read performance? Other?

Do you need something portable? Is it going to service more than one computer? Do you need it all the time as added storage, or just for system and media backup?


What have you envisioned, a backup box to carry around and plug into a laptop USB and copy shit over? Or is this something that will stay at home and act as network storage?


On edit:
Need a good network to realize the potential of a NAS like that OwnCloud. But a NAS/SAN is the only way to fly if you have a good switch.

Toshiba/HGST drives are good, some are noisy.

Best $$/TB is still 5TB HDDs. FreeNAS is free, and very good. So is a VMWare All-In-One. Free is good, especially if you have some free hardware you can repurpose.

[riser4]

Looks like Best Buy has the WD My Cloud dual-Red drive systems on sale for $260, cheaper than building my own. Hmm...

OWC uses Toshiba drives; any opinion on those?

Just don't use Seagate. I lose data when I use Seagate.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Why mirror? Data security? Read performance? Other?

Do you need something portable? Is it going to service more than one computer? Do you need it all the time as added storage, or just for system and media backup?


What have you envisioned, a backup box to carry around and plug into a laptop USB and copy shit over? Or is this something that will stay at home and act as network storage?


Best $$/TB is still 5TB HDDs.

For data security. My internet is 20/2; uploading to cloud storage for the amount of data I have isn't practical. It will sit on the floor next to my desktop, and never moved. It will mainly backup one PC, with occasional back-ups from my media server (MP3 library and photos).

[highangle]

"Media server"? Can you add 2 bare drives to it and accomplish what you desire?

[highangle]

Just don't use Seagate. I lose data when I use Seagate.

It was probably all FUD anyway...


Use ZFS, and as long as your simultaneous drive failures do not exceed pool parity you'll never lose even one bit, ever.

I'm typing this on a VBox guest running for ~ 2 years on a mirrored pair of 2TB Seagate SSHDs, which are their hybrid hard drives with a massive solid state cache. They fucking rock.