External Hard-Drives

Hi,

Please reccomend the most optimal and stable Hard-drive? I do not find CD's to be reliable for the can easily be damaged, and do not work on all computers.

And Hard-drive with 250 GB or more is fine. The price range I am not too concerned with. However, the most important feature is that it be stabe...

I have heard good things about My Book. What also about Iomega?

 

Do you want mobile hard drives, 3.5" hardrives with a wall wort, NAS drives or what?
What capacity do you need?

I don't like western digital – I really don't. Very bad luck with those. Other people really like them, though.

In any case, the most stable "hard drive" is a non-mechanical one all else equal.

What I'm trying to say, is that you need to make up your mind what you want, as there is no such as the best (i.e. "optimal") hard drive, just like there is no such thing as the best (i.e. "optimal") computer. It depends on your needs and wants.

If I weren't doing audio, I'd propably rely solely on SSD's and flash memory – be it CompactFlash, USB sticks, and SDHC-memory

Alas, the world of tech doesn't allow me to do that without taking out a mortgage.

 

if this for long term storage, definitely go with HDD based drive at this point, SSD still loses data overtime, like around 10 years or less.

i have good luck on my WD MyBook Studio.

not so good with Seagate FreeAgent Pro.

 

I have two Seagate FreeAgent External Drives that I really like! One is 2-yrs old (only 80GB) so I had to get a newer one 320GB. I highly recommend Seagate external drives (and internal notebook hard drives)!

 

Then why have most mission critical applications been using SLC SSD technology for the past decade or more?

 

SLC SSD has much better endurance than the MLC drive. everytime you write/rewrite a data on it, ssd wears out, (if memmory serves me right; it was 100k for mlc and 1million write/rewrite times for SLC) the more you wear it out, the worse it can hold its data overtime. for example, for a brand new drive, the drive can retain data for at least 10years, on well used drive, the ssd is expected to retain the data for 5years. the good news is that they are researching a better way to improve its write/re-write endurance and data retention.

i would use/recommend SSD on devices that needs durability.
or the machine is expected to be replaced in less then 3-5 years.
the ssd is not use for storage/archival use. big companies usually keep a backup of the data in either harddrive or tape storage.

i would also like to add. when ssd fails, it usually just fail on write, not on read. which means usually your data is still intact, unlike hdd.

i dont hate SSD. in fact, im using one on my mobility notebook. i currently have 64gb SAMSUNG SLC SSD drive. its most appealing feature for me is: number 1, durability!, number 2, read performance.

 

I have a Western Digital 1TB My Book. About five months into its life, it experienced an uncushioned fall onto a hard surface from about 6-7 inches off the ground. At first, I thought it was over, and I was raging, but I let it sit, and then plugged it in an hour later to find it still working.

On top of that, it's fast, efficient and simple with no frills. I love my WD MyBook and would recommend it to you!

 

I have another question regarding external hdds
I'm planning to get an MSI gx623 notebook very soon, and it comes with an e-sata/usb combo port.

After I get my notebook, I'm planning to get an external hdd. I'm looking to get a 500gb hdd plus an external case separately. My questions are:

Would it be advantageous to get an e-sata enclosure/hdd? (speed, etc)
Will I need additional power source for an e-sata enclosure?
Will a standard 2.5'' or 3.5'' hdd (depending on enclosure size) be usable as e-sata drives, or do I need to look for specific models?

Also, if I build my own external e-sata drive with hdd and enclosure separately, are there any other software procedures to follow to install, like driver installations and such? Or is it just a plug and play thing?