External Storage Options

pinballwiz86 · Oct 6, 2020

I pay for Office 365. It comes with 1 TB of cloud storage for $6.99 a month. Just be sure that once you upload your files you right click on the folder and “free up” the space on your laptop. ????

Electromen · Oct 6, 2020

I have THIS external enclosure containing three - 2TB Samsung SSD. It also has a 6TB HDD used as Time Machine Backup.

maelstrom · Oct 6, 2020

Weazel said:
Question: I’m not too familiar, however HDD or SSD? Which is better for those of you that have external HD

You don’t need the speed of an SSD if you’re just using the drive for backup and the cost/GB of a HDD is still significantly lower so represents much better value. In the UK, a decent brand 1TB external SSD costs more than £100. For around the same price you can get a 5 or 6TB HDD. Whichever you decide to get, make sure it’s a well known brand with a good warranty.

Thomas B said:
I use SSD... less/no moving parts to fail. They are more costly. I have 2 on my iMac; a 6TB and a 12TB... both in RAID5

If you want a small, rugged portable drive, then an SSD is probably your best bet. However, if you want a home backup drive that mostly just sits on a desk, HDDs are by far the best value option. Most external, desktop HDDs wind down and go into standby if you leave them plugged in so they‘re not always spinning like the old drives used to do so tend to last for much longer. Modern branded HDDs are generally very reliable and use SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) to give you an early warning, through software like CrystalDisk, when things are starting to fail. Unlike SSDs, which tend to fail suddenly, HDDs usually fail more gradually so give you more opportunities to copy the data. I have a Seagate 4TB external HDD which has been in daily use for almost 8 years and is still going strong.

Weazel · Oct 6, 2020

Thanks Maelstrom, much appreciated

anotherlab · Oct 6, 2020

Hard drives fail. It's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when". You want to have at least two, and never travel with both of them. Plus cloud storage that has some form some data recovery.

Let's pick a worst-case scenario. Your portable drive is stolen and the other one is hooked up to the PC and you get a ransomware attack that encrypts all of your data. You log into OneDrive (from a clean machion) and you get the message, "These files look like they have been modified by a ransomware attack, would you like to store your OneDrive storage to just before that happened?". I have had this happen, and yes, the OneDrive recovery does work.

I also recommend a home NAS (Network-Attached Storage) device like ones offered by QNap, Drobo, Synology, etc. You can put in drives designed NAS boxes and run them as RAID. If one drive fails, the rest of the drives in the RAID array maintain the data until you replace the bad drive.

Thomas B · Oct 6, 2020

anotherlab said:
Hard drives fail. It's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when". You want to have at least two, and never travel with both of them. Plus cloud storage that has some form some data recovery.

Let's pick a worst-case scenario. Your portable drive is stolen and the other one is hooked up to the PC and you get a ransomware attack that encrypts all of your data. You log into OneDrive (from a clean machion) and you get the message, "These files look like they have been modified by a ransomware attack, would you like to store your OneDrive storage to just before that happened?". I have had this happen, and yes, the OneDrive recovery does work.

I also recommend a home NAS (Network-Attached Storage) device like ones offered by QNap, Drobo, Synology, etc. You can put in drives designed NAS boxes and run them as RAID. If one drive fails, the rest of the drives in the RAID array maintain the data until you replace the bad drive.

And if you’re really worried make them in mirrored RAID.

Johnmcl7 · Oct 7, 2020

Jovito said:
Windows 10 pc user. FYI bought the Western Digital USB 4 TB only gives me 3.6 gig. Thought it was defective so exchanged it. Same 3.6 gig. In my opinion that is a big loss. Expected a little loss but not that much.

This is normal with hard drives which is caused by hard drive companies and operating systems measuring storage in a different way. Operating systems (and most computing systems) use base 2 which means 1 kilobyte is 1024 bytes and one terabyte is 1,099,511,627,776 bytes. Hard drive companies however use base 10 which means 1 kilobyte is 1000 bytes and one terabyte is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes so they'll appear to have less capacity than advertised when used on a computer.

To the OP I'd echo the comment about making sure your data isn't stored in one place only (regardless of how reliable that storage mechanism is) because all too often people buy an external drive to free up space on their internal drive and then something happens to the external drive and the data is lost.

AnzacJack · Oct 7, 2020

WD 3TB My Passport Wireless Pro Portable External Hard Drive - WiFi USB 3.0 - WDBSMT0030BBK-NESN: Network Attached Storage: Amazon.com.au

www.amazon.com.au

This one is great in the field. Self powered and slip your sd card in and it automatically loads onto the drive

maelstrom · Oct 7, 2020

anotherlab said:
Hard drives fail. It's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when".

I agree, but you usually get early indications that things are going wrong with HDDs before they become terminal. It’s just that most people ignore the signs or don’t regularly check the SMART status of the drive until it’s too late. Remember that SSDs, whilst much more reliable, have a finite (admittedly long) life span and are certainly not immune to failure. On the rare occasions when failures happen, they tend to be sudden and total.

anzacjack said:
This one is great in the field.

If you need to back up the MicroSD card in the field, it probably means you either need a bigger card or more of them. There may be times when you’re away from civilisation for a long time and have to rely on a portable drive, but for most of the time you’ll return home and be able to back up with a desktop drive. The life of an external desktop HDD is generally proportional to how well you care for it.

Johnmcl7 · Oct 7, 2020

maelstrom said:
I agree, but you usually get early indications that things are going wrong with HDDs before they become terminal. It’s just that most people ignore the signs or don’t regularly check the SMART status of the drive until it’s too late. Remember that SSDs, whilst much more reliable, have a finite (admittedly long) life span and are certainly not immune to failure. On the rare occasions when failures happen, they tend to be sudden and total.

Hard drive reliability does look a lot poorer than SSD's but I find in practice the difference is simply hard drives are vulnerable to impacts while SSD's aren't and most hard drive failures I see are likely from impact damage. There's an interesting article here on smart data although I've seen drives fail smart tests for many years and worked perfectly while most that fail genuinely (not from impact damage) there's usually no warning from and often for older drives they just blow on power up:

What SMART Hard Disk Errors Actually Tell Us

Have you ever wondered what your hard drive SMART errors actually mean? Find out what we look at to determine if a drive is about to fail.

www.backblaze.com

SSD's are generally quite reliable but seen plenty of them fail (amongst thousands), some within a month of use so regardless of whether the drive is solid state or hard drive I'd always make sure any important data isn't stored in a single place.

SkyeHigh · Oct 7, 2020

I’ve been using a LaCie CoPilot Boss portable backup drive for a couple of years. It has an internal battery, HDD and card reader and allows copying from the card to disk without a computer or external power. You can also backup your smart phone or any other USB connected device.

You can use the built-in screen and buttons or the CoPilot Boss app on your smartphone to view and organise your files.

They are also very rugged in the classic LaCie rubber mount and case protector.

Oh, and it can charge your phone, iPad...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Copilot-Portable-External-Solution/dp/B078H38RZM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=58674598448&dchild=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxNLfvLmj7AIVye7tCh3bFAaMEAAYASAAEgIMRvD_BwE&hvadid=259185146121&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9046392&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=12597542749957332231&hvtargid=kwd-417239961337&hydadcr=10773_1743689&keywords=lacie+copilot&qid=1602106981&sr=8-1&tag=hydrukspg-21

maelstrom · Oct 8, 2020

SkyeHigh said:
I’ve been using a LaCie CoPilot Boss portable backup drive for a couple of years. It has an internal battery, HDD and card reader and allows copying from the card to disk without a computer or external power. You can also backup your smart phone or any other USB connected device.

Looks like a very useful drive but, as I said in an earlier post, there are very few circumstances were you actually need to be able to backup in the field. For about a quarter of the price you can get a similar sized good, basic desktop external drive to use at home which is all most people need.

AnzacJack · Oct 8, 2020

maelstrom said:
If you need to back up the MicroSD card in the field, it probably means you either need a bigger card or more of them. There may be times when you’re away from civilisation for a long time and have to rely on a portable drive, but for most of the time you’ll return home and be able to back up with a desktop drive. The life of an external desktop HDD is generally proportional to how well you care for it.

Many reasons for wanting to backup in the field. Having a bigger card or multiple cards is not backing up, it’s just having more storage. Also when I talk about in the field, I’m not really meaning just down the road. I’m really meaning being somewhere that may not be convenient to return to to replace any lost footage. Backing up is just having a contingency plan in place. Not everyone needs or wants that much redundancy, but it’s something that a lifetime in military Aviation has ingrained into my procedures.
And taking good care of my equipment is a no brainer

maelstrom · Oct 8, 2020

anzacjack said:
Having a bigger card or multiple cards is not backing up, it’s just having more storage.

I agree. However, you’re effectively saying that you don’t trust your MicroSSD to retain the data until you get it home. If the drone has successfully saved the image/video to the card (which tends to be where most issues occur), the chances of it suddenly disappearing on the way home is highly unlikely, especially if you’ve removed the card from the drone and stored it securely.

anzacjack said:
Also when I talk about in the field, I’m not really meaning just down the road.

I understand that. In an earlier post I acknowledged that you may (very rarely for most people) be in a remote place for an extended period of time with no access to a computer or an Internet connection. However, for most of us thats not the case and there’s little need to have to backup on site.

AnzacJack · Oct 8, 2020

maelstrom said:
I agree. However, you’re effectively saying that you don’t trust your MicroSSD to retain the data until you get it home. If the drone has successfully saved the image/video to the card (which tends to be where most issues occur), the chances of it suddenly disappearing on the way home is highly unlikely, especially if you’ve removed the card from the drone and stored it securely.

I understand that. In an earlier post I acknowledged that you may (very rarely for most people) be in a remote place for an extended period of time with no access to a computer or an Internet connection. However, for most of us thats not the case and there’s little need to have to backup on site.

But the OP was asking for suggestions for external storage options. I gave a suggestion. Nothing to do with trust in cards, just a procedure I use when in the field.
Not sure why you are feeling the need to bring a negative vibe to the suggestion?
What ever floats your boat I guess. One of the reasons I rarely post here anymore

AnzacJack · Oct 8, 2020

Whenever I fly my plane, I have complete trust in my systems. Doesn’t stop me from planning for any failures and being prepared for the worst. Like I said, habits learned throughout career

maelstrom · Oct 8, 2020

anzacjack said:
But the OP was asking for suggestions for external storage options. I gave a suggestion. Nothing to do with trust in cards, just a procedure I use when in the field.
Not sure why you are feeling the need to bring a negative vibe to the suggestion?

I had no intention of bringing a negative vibe to the conversation, sorry if that‘s how you read it. I was just pointing out that whilst your suggestion is good for some people (and in very specific circumstances), most people just don’t need to spend nearly that much money for a good, reliable backup option.

SkyeHigh · Oct 8, 2020

In a country prone to forest and bush fires, I always keep a backup drive with me wherever I go. No use having your computer and backup drive at home if you return to find your house burnt down.

Cloud storage is fine if you have decent Internet access and speed whenever you want to back something up. If you’re away from home travelling as we often do it’s no use relying on mobile Internet access and it’s overpriced telco fees.

While the LaCie drive isn’t cheap, nor would everyone want one, it has major advantages over a vanilla drive.

anotherlab · Oct 8, 2020

If we go back to what the OP wrote, he never mentioned needing a way to back up data in the field, he needed additional storage at home. If the data is important, then he should have redundancies. For me, I back up my images to external drives, a NAS box, and the cloud. If you go the extra drive route, get at least 2 and swap them out weekly.