What HDD should I buy?

[ricardovaste]

Well, my hard drive has soon filled up. I only just noticed yesterday that I only had 5 or so GB's left on it... which

would explain why its been slowing down of recent i guess.

 

The internal drive is around 140GB I think. Most of that is filled with photos.

 

I have an old 80GB external HDD, but its very old now so I don't use it so often. I've been meaning to replace it soon

infact. But with the internal drive now nearly full, I'm unsure of what to do.

 

I initially though, get a good sized (250<) external HDD, move all my photos to that and then use just that for storing

my photos, freeing up lots of space on the internal HDD.

 

But, I guess that would be kinda stupid...? "all my eggs in one basket" scenario.

 

Do I really need to shell out a considerable amount here then? A big internal HDD and probably atleast one external

HDD?

 

I'm fairly new to digital photography (10months), so haven't come across storage issues before and there doesn't

seem to be a simple answer from what I've found on the net. So if any more experiences users have some advise

that would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Rich

[tonybynum]

i use 500 gb Western Digital My Books they can be had for < $100 bucks, if you need more, you can get a Gig of storage now for around $125 bucks. . Buy two and back one up it's cheep and worth the piece of mind. . . .

[martin_howard1]

I would say get a large internal drive, say 500Gb+ and an equal sized external drive for back up purposes, backing up to multiple drives is a royal pain without special software to keep track of everything.

[kevan_goddard]

Hi Richard,

Loved your version of MacArthur Park :o)

 

On a more serious note, if your motherboard supports SATA drives why not get one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trayless-Mobile-Rack-Drive-Interface/dp/B000FSBVNC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1219840557&sr=8-1

You can then "swop" SATA (I wouldn't suggest you try hot swapping as per the advert - I don't) drives as necessary.

 

I use one extremely fast 150gB drive for my operating system, 2 internal 500gB SATA drives as storage and the mobile rack connected to my motherboard's 4th SATA controller. This way I can use multiple back-up drives - and a lot quicker than external USBs (I have 2 x 500gB of those also!)

 

Hope this helps

Kev G

[Matt Laur]

The larger issue here is... how are you backing up your work right now? Are the files on your internal drive the only copies of those that you have?

[ricardovaste]

Tony & Martin - Okay, a 500GB HDD is the way to go. However, external 500GB drives are pushing 200USD here in the UK, so i may opt just for the internal one to start with... they're just under $100 it seems, like you say.

 

Kevan - Thank you :P. I'm pretty sure my board will take SATA drives. I would be shocked if it didn't, as my last one did. I'm pretty sure my current drive is a SATA drive infact... they run off a firewire connection, right? Is there anyway of checking if it will accept SATA drives without opening it up?

 

But, you say your backup drive is internal too? I don't know, I'm looking at this pretty blindly, but would it not be best to have an external one too?

 

Matt, well, I started off using my 80GB external drive to back up important files (work for college, some event photos), but as its quite old, I've become less and less reluctant to rely upon it. In truth, my latest stuff isnt backed up AT ALL.

 

I can imagine ths must be a pretty tedious question for those who know, so thank you all for taking the time to reply.

 

Thanks for your help again!

[ronald_moravec1]

If you fill an internal drive, performance gets worse and worse specialy if you don`t do defragging and other maintenance along the way. My personal rule is 50%, but everything I do is extreme. 75% for average people.

 

Keep nothing but current work on the internal and as you finish an album, move complete it to two identical external drives. Back up to gold CD`s is also inorder as they can be kept off property.

 

I feel off property storage is important or at least a safe that is fire proof. One person wrote here about their computer and external drive being stolen. All the family photos were gone.

 

You might actually have some prints made and put them in a quality album for you to enjoy sometime in the future.

 

Ansel Adams lost some negs in a darkroom fire at one point. He moved his neg storage to an underground cellar. With digital, we have more choices.

 

Google RAID devices and see how La Cie sets up multiple raid back ups. Always remember anything that moves can fail and will at some point.

 

Another possibility is on line back up such as Carbonite. Pro online back up should have multiple servers and multiple locations.

[ricardovaste]

Thank you Ronald. Great information. I will keep that % in mind to keep performance up to scratch.

 

But I'm confused here. You say two external hard drives off the main internal hard drive. Others say two internal hard drives. Other's say one internal, one external. What should I do here?!

 

I'm not in the financial position to simply put down money on three or four big HDD's. I think I'll start with one 500GB internal drive... any reason why I shouldn't?

 

Seeing as most people are pointing around the 500GB figure, which to get? I'm seeing "Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA II 7200rpm 16Mb" and "WD GreenPower 500GB SATA HDD 300" for around the same price - any reason not to get the "greener" option?

 

Again, thank you for all your help.

[vincedistefano]

Buy the biggest drive you can afford, so that when you fill it you're not going through this same exercise all over again.

 

The same applies to your backup drive. There are real benefits to an external backup drive - you can unplug the whole drive and store it off site, or grab it in the event of a fire or water accident (provided there's time of course, ha ha)

 

I decided to spend a little more up front and get a Drobo. A drobo is an enclosure which you can add drives to as you need to expand capacity. To your computer, it looks like one big hard drive even though you might have 2, 3, or 4 drives in it. If you start with a pair of 250 gig HDs, and it starts to get full, add another. If you get to where all four bays are full and you need more space, you can pull out the smallest and replace it with a bigger drive.

 

I love mine, but one complaint is that it's USB and bit slow. But that's OK for backups. And now, Drobo has a firewire and a networkable version as well. Look into it. Again, costs a little more up front but you won't be wasting storage down the road. www.drobo.com

[bgelfand]

Hi Richard,

 

First, what type of computer do you have, desktop, laptop, Mac? How old is it?

 

Assuming you have a desktop (or tower) capable of using a SATA drive, this is the drive I would recommend:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-OEM/dp/B0017XUX7O/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1219850619&sr=1-38

 

It is the "sweet spot" at this time for price/performance. This is an OEM drive so it does not come with cables, which are less than 4 pounds. If you intend to add this as a second internal drive, you will need the cables and some mounting screws. If you intend to replace your current disk, you will need to copy your operating system a current files to the new disk. Ghost would work, but you will need both disks installed at the same time, so you need cables.

[ricardovaste]

Vince, I think 500GB is just about my upmost limit of what I can afford on my own. But, is it logical to get much bigger? I mean, I could get an absolutely massive storage devise, but if that fails, I've lost so much haven't I?<p>

 

Anyway, I will talk to my family members, as they will of course have to share some space as they all have digital cameras (though mine gets the most use). <p>

 

That Drobo sounds pretty good. Especially if there is a firewire edition now. But looking at the USB ones, they are way out of my price range sadly. <p>

 

Brooks, sorry, i should have said this. Its a desktop. How old? At a guess, I would say around 8-9 months old. It would run a dream, if I hadn't almost maxed out the hard drive. Maybe my "system information" will you work out what would work best...? I've built a couple of PC's in the past, but I just haven't done it for so long that most of this just doesn't mean anything to me anymore. Oh well, hopefully you can make something of it:<p>

 

"OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition<br>

Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600<br>

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation<br>

System Name OEM-ABB40B3D0DE<br>

System Manufacturer OEM<br>

System Model OEM<br>

System Type X86-based PC<br>

Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11 GenuineIntel ~2331 Mhz<br>

Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11 GenuineIntel ~2331 Mhz<br>

BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 21/08/2007<br>

SMBIOS Version 2.5<br>

Windows Directory C:\SYSTEM<br>

System Directory C:\SYSTEM\system32<br>

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1<br>

Locale United Kingdom<br>

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.3023 (xpsp_sp2_qfe.061030-0020)"<br>

User Name OEM-ABB40B3D0DE\Owner<br>

Time Zone GMT Daylight Time<br>

Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB<br>

Available Physical Memory 1.40 GB<br>

Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB<br>

Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB<br>

Page File Space 3.34 GB<br>

Page File C:\pagefile.sys"<P>

 

Thanks for the link Brooks. That does look like a good deal! I may try and pick up two of those... or if not, two 500GB of the same brand. But, if it has no cables it may not be such a good deal, especially if i buy two, ill have to order two lots of cables. I'll have ot have a look around.<p>I'm not gonna replace the original hard drive, as it does the job fine. It just needs "a friend or two" I think.<p>Installing a HDD is simple anyway isnt it? No compatability issues I have to worry about?

 

<p> Thanks again!

[bgelfand]

Hi Richard,

 

Installing an extra hard drive should be no problem if there is room in the case, extra SATA ports on the motherboard, and extra connectors on the power supply. A disk pulls only about 8 watts, so the power supply should have enough capacity unless you are running right at the limit now.

 

If you looked at the prices the 640 Gigabyte drive is about 1 pound (I wish I had the British currency sign on my keyboard) more than the 500 Gigabyte drive. To me that is a "no brainer". It is also a newer designed drive.

 

As for cables, I looked them up on Amazon and they were under 4 pounds, but that did not include shipping. I would check at your local computer store. You will also need four mounting screws - 5 pence a piece, maybe.

 

Turn off and unplug the computer. Simply mount the drives in the case, connect the power, connect the data cable from the SATA port on the motherboard to the drive (you cannot chain internal SATA drives; it is one drive to one port).

 

Turn on the computer. If the operating system prompts you, format each new drive as a basic NTFS drive. If the operating system does not prompt you, go into disk manager and format the drives. Then you are good to go.

 

As others have written, you should start to consider a back up procedure. I have mine in place; it includes on site and off site backups. The off site backups are DVDs stored in my bank safe deposit box. You would not want a fire or flood or the like to wipe out all your critical data.

 

Once you have a second hard drive, you can separate the Windows page file and the Photoshop scratch file on different physical drives. That will speed things up.

[jim_mcdonald3]

Richard

 

In the UK, you can pick up an external 500 gig drive for around £60 at Maplin. They're national.

[r_johnston]

Every day I go through the images that I shoot and delete the ones I do not want to keep.

Immediately, the rest are backed up to a CD or DVD, then when I modify them, the MODS are backed up to another Disc... Ive had too many drives fail since the 70's to ever depend on one.

 

Once even had a drive 7 months old fail.

[ricardovaste]

Thanks again for all the help Brooks... and to Jim & Rob.

 

I bought the 640GB WB drive yesterday. But I got it from dabs.com, because I wasn't too sure about whether i got the 3year manufacturer's warrenty if I got the one on amazon. It was only another 10 pounds anyway. But they're out of stock, so I've got to put up with my horrendously slow PC for a few more days it seems. My memory card in my DSLR actually has more space on it at the moment - how bad is that!

 

Opened up the PC yesterday. Very disappointed. I've only ever built my own PC, but this one was one my dad wanted so I went down with him and made sure we got the right deal. However, this was the first time ive really needed to look inside. It only has 2 memory slots - they told me the board had 4! Oh well, I'll hopefully rarely need to up the memory...

 

But I did notice something good. There are these nifty little plastic clips that attach the the drives and then slot into the case - no screws needed. I also found a spare SATA cable, unopened - so it's all good to go for the drive. Just don't know when it will arrive is all. Soon hopefully.

 

Thank you to all again :-)