2 TB External Hard Drive Recs?

[Mike_TX]

My current 500 GB Seagate Free Agent drive is near full.
I'm using it for storing ripped FLAC (and MP3) music and backup of the 1TB (RAID backup also) internal hard drives.

I was thinking about getting a 2 TB external hard drive.
It's been a while since hard drive shopping.

Any recommendations?
What features should I be looking for?

I think my current hookup is via USB.

I was looking on Amazon at these two...

Western Digital My Book Essential 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDBAAF0020HBK-NESN
Link
$179
USB 2.0
? rpm

Seagate FreeAgent Desk 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive ST320005FDA2E1-RK (Silver)
Link
$190
USB 2.0
7200 rpm


I'm leaning toward the Seagate for no good reason other than a replacement of my current drive.

Thanks for any info.

Mike

EDIT:
Old title: 2 TB External Hard Drive Recs?

[Stereodude]

FWIW, I'd get one that also supports eSATA as well as USB 2.0.

[Mike_TX]

other options...

FWIW, I'd get one that also supports eSATA as well as USB 2.0.

Thanks.
The Amazon review on Seagate Black armor was bad.


Some other options:

Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB)
USB 2.0/FireWire 400/FireWire 800/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDH2Q20000N
Link
$239
4TB - $449
RAID 0 (striped)


LaCie 2 TB D2 Quadra Hard Disk eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 External Hard Drive 301500U
Link
$275



Toshiba 2 TB USB 2.0/eSATA Desktop External Hard Dive PH3200U-1EXB
Link
$182.49
Hard Disk Rotational Speed: 5400
Buffer Size: 8 MB


2TB Fantom Gforce Greendrive
Esata
7200 Rpm
32MB USB 2.0
Link
$190
No Amazon reviews




Mike

[cburbs]

I myself never had good luck with external usb drives unless I put the components together myself.

When I added a 1tb drive to my Timewarner box for more storage I bought the following -

Antec - Veris USB 2.0/eSATA Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5" SATA Hard Drives and
1tb drive.

I have 3 of these 1tb drives(2 in one PC and one in my Tivo Box).

[Stereodude]

FWIW, I've also typically rolled my own external drives rather than buying an external drive.

I've got two 1.5TB drives (one Seagate and one Samsung) each in one of this enclosure.

[cburbs]

Seth,

Do you keep those running 24/7 or just use for data backup so only power them on when necessary?

[Mike_TX]

FWIW, I've also typically rolled my own external drives rather than buying an external drive.

I've got two 1.5TB drives (one Seagate and one Samsung) each in one of this enclosure.

That was the other thing I was considering...enclosure with multiple drives in RAID 1.

How big of a deal is 5400 vs 7200 rpm?
Cache size?

What are pro/cons of doing that.
In the past I've built my own computer, but I am no longer as computer savvy and am time limited when at home.

Mike

[bunnyma357]

From my experiences - WD drives are reliable, but have very loud fan noise - I wouldn't want to be in the same room with them, but they are great for a server. LaCie drives in the past have had the most unreliable external power supplies, I've had at least 8 or 9 fail in the last couple of years.

The last drives I went with were the 4TB G-Tech drives and so far I've been happy although they are a little on the loud side as well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/650739-REG/G_Technology_GR4_4000_4TB_G_RAID_External_Hard.html

Jim C

[Mike_TX]

G-Tech G-RAID3 4TB Quad-Interface

From my experiences - WD drives are reliable, but have very loud fan noise - I wouldn't want to be in the same room with them, but they are great for a server. LaCie drives in the past have had the most unreliable external power supplies, I've had at least 8 or 9 fail in the last couple of years.

The last drives I went with were the 4TB G-Tech drives and so far I've been happy although they are a little on the loud side as well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/650739-REG/G_Technology_GR4_4000_4TB_G_RAID_External_Hard.html

Jim C

Thank you.
Even cheaper at Amazon

G-Tech G-RAID3
4 TB Quad Interface Dual-Drive RAID Storage Solution,
with FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 and eSATA ports for Mac & Windows
Link


High-speed, low-cost RAID designed specifically for professional content creation applications
Supports multi-stream HDV, DVCPro HD, XDCAM HD, ProRes 422 and uncompressed SD workflows
Quad-Interface - eSATA, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports
Hardware RAID 0 (Oxford 936) - Utilizes (2) 7200 RPM SATA II drives each with up to 32 MB cache
200+ MB/second data transfer rates via eSATA port

While more storage is better, the value option seems to be to incrementally increase storage because by the time you need more it is cheaper/faster.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Stereodude]

Seth,

Do you keep those running 24/7 or just use for data backup so only power them on when necessary?

I do not keep them on 24/7. They are powered up once a week on the weekend to sync / backup some folders on my server to them, and then they are powered down and unplugged.

It's half of my backup strategy. The other half is a backup server that powers on every morning at 2AM and synchronizes its files to my main server and then powers off.

[Stereodude]

That was the other thing I was considering...enclosure with multiple drives in RAID 1.

How big of a deal is 5400 vs 7200 rpm?
Cache size?

What are pro/cons of doing that.
In the past I've built my own computer, but I am no longer as computer savvy and am time limited when at home.

Mike

If you're using USB 2.0, cache and RPM are basically irrelevant because the drive is considerably faster than the USB 2.0 interface.

I've rolled my own because I didn't want any fans and already had the 1.5TB drive to put in the enclosure. After I got the first one I wanted a second external eSATA / USB 2.0 drive that used the same power adapter as the first, so I just bought a second enclosure.

[Mike_TX]

Rpm

If you're using USB 2.0, cache and RPM are basically irrelevant because the drive is considerably faster than the USB 2.0 interface.

I've rolled my own because I didn't want any fans and already had the 1.5TB drive to put in the enclosure. After I got the first one I wanted a second external eSATA / USB 2.0 drive that used the same power adapter as the first, so I just bought a second enclosure.

Is rpm important/relevant with eSATA?
I think my computer has an eSATA port.

Mike

[Ray3]

MIke,

Based on the price of your big RAID thing, I thought I'd share this with you. I am using an HP EX485 MediaSmartServer (MSS) (new model is 490) with 4 WD WD10EADS (1 TB) drives.

I made the choice to do 2 things - 1) back up computers over my network (automatically/overnight) and 2) transfer/store my DVDs to storage and stream them to my home theater. The front end I am using is a PopcornHour A-110 which handles just about anything I throw at it.

The MSS has 4 USB ports and a eSATA port. I have added a SansDigital TR4U (4 bay USB enclosure) and have another 1.5 TB HDD in there. I'll be adding more before long.

Anyhow - the DVD thing and backup stuff work great. I went this way rather than RAID because of the Windows Home Server (WHS) software and capabilities of the MSS provide, I think, and easier, broader experience than RAID.

The WD hard drives (they also come in 1.5 TB and 2 TB sizes) are 5400 RPM and I have not found them to be loud/distracting. Also, 7200 v 5400 isn't a big deal for speed difference. I am streaming video over a wired network and haven't had any problems.

If you just need a quick & dirty backup, an external USB should work nicely for you. If you are going to store lotsa stuff and maybe do other things, the HP isn't a bad alternative.

[Mike_TX]

MIke,

Based on the price of your big RAID thing, I thought I'd share this with you. I am using an HP EX485 MediaSmartServer (MSS) (new model is 490) with 4 WD WD10EADS (1 TB) drives.

I made the choice to do 2 things - 1) back up computers over my network (automatically/overnight) and 2) transfer/store my DVDs to storage and stream them to my home theater. The front end I am using is a PopcornHour A-110 which handles just about anything I throw at it.

The MSS has 4 USB ports and a eSATA port. I have added a SansDigital TR4U (4 bay USB enclosure) and have another 1.5 TB HDD in there. I'll be adding more before long.

Anyhow - the DVD thing and backup stuff work great. I went this way rather than RAID because of the Windows Home Server (WHS) software and capabilities of the MSS provide, I think, and easier, broader experience than RAID.

The WD hard drives (they also come in 1.5 TB and 2 TB sizes) are 5400 RPM and I have not found them to be loud/distracting. Also, 7200 v 5400 isn't a big deal for speed difference. I am streaming video over a wired network and haven't had any problems.

If you just need a quick & dirty backup, an external USB should work nicely for you. If you are going to store lotsa stuff and maybe do other things, the HP isn't a bad alternative.

Thanks.

I am using my 500GB USB external HD as a HD backup and to store FLAC and MP3 files. I usually use this for my computer hookup (via sound card to RCA outs) to Russound whole house system.

I also have the capability to listen to these files via Oppo BDP83 or XBOX360 (or Denon 5308CI) in the HT room in the basement.

Naive question...
What is the difference between an external HD like this hooked up to a computer vs. a NAS (Network attached drive)?

A really big, mirrored and swappable HD enclosure is also something I would think about.

Thanks for all of the input.

Mike

[Stereodude]

Is rpm important/relevant with eSATA?
I think my computer has an eSATA port.

You will see some improvement in the Sequential Transfer Rate and access time with a 7200 RPM drive over a 5400RPM drive over eSATA (just as if they were inside your box).