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Backup for music - External Drive and Reliability

post #1 of 27
2/6/12 at 3:03pm
Thread Starter 

I had bad experience buying external drives in the past and so I stopped buying them for the past a few years. The external drives I bought pretty much all died at certain point.

 

Are there any very reliable external drives out there worth my try? What's your experience of using the externals?

 

Also if the external drives will fail at some point and you lose all the data, then what's the point of backing up the data on those drives?

 

Appreciate your feedback.

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post #2 of 27
2/6/12 at 5:57pm
I've had that problem too, and the best way is to craft your own external from known good hard drives and an enclosure from your favorite electronics store.
There are externals that allow for RAID 1.
Assuming you live in the States, try newegg.com
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post #3 of 27
2/6/12 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the info. Will look into the Raid external drives.

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post #4 of 27
2/6/12 at 9:24pm

Internal via enclosure for sure. They're made to deal with the abuse of constant spinning. External drives in general are pretty poor.

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post #5 of 27
2/8/12 at 6:31am

I've used Seagate externals for years and years without ever having any problems.

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post #6 of 27
2/8/12 at 7:06am


Had a Seagate fail after a year and a half. Had friends with failed WDs, and I now have a Hitachi.

 

No problems with the Hitachi yet, and I've had internals from the other 2 with no problems.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by LithoJazoSphere View Post

I've used Seagate externals for years and years without ever having any problems.



 

 

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post #7 of 27
2/8/12 at 1:39pm

Have you tried Iomega? i have 2 drives, and they have been working for some time with no problems. 

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post #8 of 27
2/8/12 at 4:55pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks guys for the info. I never used Iomega or Hitachi, but used WD and Segate before.

 

Do you also backup data to CD's/DVD's? If not, I am assuming the drives will fail eventually regardless of 6 mo, 1 yr, 3 yrs or 5yrs or longer. Once they fail, all data will be lost on those drives.

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post #9 of 27
2/8/12 at 5:07pm

store music on two separate drives or one drive and have a backup physical copy.

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post #10 of 27
2/8/12 at 5:17pm

I've never had an external drive fail, but I do keep 2 copies of my library, one at work and another at home.  I sneaker net music between the two.

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post #11 of 27
2/8/12 at 6:41pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks again for all your input. I need to do some more study and know what to buy (which is the hardest part).

 

 

 

 

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post #12 of 27
2/8/12 at 11:53pm

SSD's might be an option, though pricey.

 

All my externals have been dying on me at some point. I currently go with internal in exclosure as well as a burnt DVDR copy. Just in case. 

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post #13 of 27
2/9/12 at 12:33am

For backing up you can just use a raw drive plugged into a drive dock. It can be much cheaper and avoids the issues of electronics for the drive interfaces dying.  

 

 

41dKaoLnwEL._AA115_.jpg
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post #14 of 27
2/9/12 at 6:58am

This is my favorite way of doing things. I need to get a new drive dock, actually. 

 

Just get 2 drives, make a copy on each one...Anti static bag + box. Done. Back ups.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by JadeEast View Post

For backing up you can just use a raw drive plugged into a drive dock. It can be much cheaper and avoids the issues of electronics for the drive interfaces dying.  

 

 

41dKaoLnwEL._AA115_.jpg


 

 

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post #15 of 27
2/9/12 at 11:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JadeEast View Post

For backing up you can just use a raw drive plugged into a drive dock. It can be much cheaper and avoids the issues of electronics for the drive interfaces dying.  

 

 

41dKaoLnwEL._AA115_.jpg


Thanks for this info. It looks a simple solution if the drives can last long. I really like the idea.

 

Any recommendation for the drive dock?

 

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