Reliable external hard drive

[web]

Hi all I currently save all my content downloads ext. externally, to my windows system i.e. on a separate disk, two 1000GB mirrored , I also have a 750GB on a enclosure (sold on ebay as 1000 Grr lol) but this drive died but the disk inside still ok just moved to a new enclosure, which I use to back up the two mirrored drives, essential when setting up new raid lol

So my Question is because I'm using a lot of that space of 750GB one, what's my best options for upgrading this drive, or should I be buy a new super drive with 3000GB but isn't that like putting all your eggs in one basket ....... what u think ?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You can easily find all kinds of horror stories about any brand you name, therefore, as you say, don't put all eggs in one basket.

That means having a minimum of 2 copies of everything you care about. Preferably 1 off site. Preferably a third copy of your most important files.

Better to concern yourself with that than with "reliable" hard drives. None of them are as reliable as you want and all will fail. Expect that and render it meaningless because you have multiple copies.

I'd consider recent generation SSDs more reliable than HDDs, but they are still cost-prohibitive in larger sizes. Even then, I'd have multiple backups.

I have all data on an internal HDD and backups of all data on another internal HDD. I run this backup daily.

I also copy my most important files to a USB thumb drive once a month. And every couple of months, I make a third copy of all data to another HDD through an external dock. I don't have an external HDD in an enclosure.

I'd just abandon the notion of a "reliable" drive--or at least the notion that you have any way of determining reliability beyond anecdotes or questionable studies of the issue.

Lots of talk around that HD quality has generally declined over the last few years. Judging from complaints I see, there may be something to it, but you don't have much choice if you need more storage. Flip a coin. Maybe shop based on price, allegations of good or bad customer service, or warranty.

 

[web]

like the idea of an external dock, because that hd would only be run to update, hopefully this would increase the hd's life span while it was sat in the draw

is there anything to look for when purchasing a dock or are they run of the mill, like my old enclosure

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Mine is a Rosewill brand, but I'd say they are pretty much a commodity---generic run of the mill.

Some have 2 slots so you can insert 2 drives. Mine has only one.

Some use USB 2.0, some use USB 3.0, and some use eSATA. Mine has USB 2.0 and eSATA, which is faster than USB 2.0, but slower than 3.0.

Using eSATA, I can back up 495 GB in 131 minutes--that's for tens of thousands of data files, mostly mp3s and pictures.

I'd regard a dock as a somewhat flimsy device, but still preferable to an external enclosure. Costs 20 to 30 bucks over here. I just keep it in the closet and break it out every couple of months when I want to do a back up. I reformat the hard drive every time I insert it into the dock, rather than erase the files from it. Works fine for that purpose. I use a 5 or 6 year old 640 GB drive that used to be my main drive in my PC.