Choosing an external hard drive for recording

warartistrecord

warartistrecord

New member
I have an old Dell computer (Dell Dimension E521) which has basically run out of hard drive space. I've been recording on this computer for about 8 years so there's a lot of audio data on the computer I don't want to lose.

I was wondering which external hard drive on the market would offer the most security (as far as files not being lost by the drive failing) and space for the best price. I know just about nothing about computers, so help in this area would be greatly appreciated.

-Grant
 
There is no difference between a drive mechanism inside the computer or one in an external box.
The MTBF (mean time between failure) average is the same.

EVERY drive will fail sometime. They are just a layer of rust on a spinning platter.
What you want is another drive as a BACKUP. Use it.
 
Actually, having an external drive is more efficient as well.

Keep in mind, that many of the 'backup' external drives you see, may only be 5200 RPM drives. It is actually cheaper to buy, say A 1TB Seagate Barracuda (7200RPM), and place it in a hard drive case. I'm not sure if the price has come down after the floods, but I put mine together a year ago for under $100.

Yes, it is also important to have a backup drive in addition to the external audio drive. Also, if your OS is running on the same internal drive that your project folders are on, I suggest moving the audio files completely out of your drive. No hd can do everything at once, and they work much better when not filled up. You are essentially asking the drive to fail, by overworking it.

Get an external drive (USB or Firewire) for project folders (audio Files) and record to it. Move your existing audio files there. Then, you can get another cheap backup drive to backup the external audio drive. They will eventually all fail. It could be weeks, it could be years. There is really no way to know when, nor which will last longer. Keeping your stuff backed up is the only good option. Hell, I even run two OS drives in RAID1 so that I do not have to reinstall my OS and programs, in case one fails. Well worth $60 in my opinion.

There is nothing more painful than loosing projects. The time spent reinstalling programs is nothing in comparison. But itself really sucks too.
 
jimmys69 said:
Actually, having an external drive is more efficient as well.

Keep in mind, that many of the 'backup' external drives you see, may only be 5200 RPM drives. It is actually cheaper to buy, say A 1TB Seagate Barracuda (7200RPM), and place it in a hard drive case. I'm not sure if the price has come down after the floods, but I put mine together a year ago for under $100.

Yes, it is also important to have a backup drive in addition to the external audio drive. Also, if your OS is running on the same internal drive that your project folders are on, I suggest moving the audio files completely out of your drive. No hd can do everything at once, and they work much better when not filled up. You are essentially asking the drive to fail, by overworking it.

Get an external drive (USB or Firewire) for project folders (audio Files) and record to it. Move your existing audio files there. Then, you can get another cheap backup drive to backup the external audio drive. They will eventually all fail. It could be weeks, it could be years. There is really no way to know when, nor which will last longer. Keeping your stuff backed up is the only good option. Hell, I even run two OS drives in RAID1 so that I do not have to reinstall my OS and programs, in case one fails. Well worth $60 in my opinion.

There is nothing more painful than loosing projects. The time spent reinstalling programs is nothing in comparison. But itself really sucks too.
Click to expand...

Im ignorant to hard drives so I need to know what OS stands for?:eek:
 
So from what I gather, jimmys69, you're saying that it's better in your opinion to move all the audio onto an external hard drive. Would it be just as good to just install a new hard drive inside the computer as Tim said, or is it safer to have an external drive for the audio files? I'm open to any opinions on this.
 
Well, I haven't gone quite as far as Jimmy69 using RAID but I work in a similar manner to him. I have two (well, actually now several) external drives and, when recording, I have a "prime" external drive connected--currently a Seagate as a matter of fact. However, I also have extra "archive" drives onto which I copy every file as a backup. From sheer quantity, this has grown to several drives but basically I have at LEAST two copies (and sometimes 3) of everything to protect me against drive failure. As a paranoid type, I also have my most important stuff stored on "the cloud" in case of a house fire or something.

Drives are dirt cheap these days so lots of backing up makes sense to me.
 
warartistrecord said:
So from what I gather, jimmys69, you're saying that it's better in your opinion to move all the audio onto an external hard drive. Would it be just as good to just install a new hard drive inside the computer as Tim said, or is it safer to have an external drive for the audio files? I'm open to any opinions on this.
Click to expand...

Well, you could also place a separate internal drive for audio, if you have the space. The key is to have separate drives for audio and OS. But like Bobbsy, I am a bit paranoid. If there were a fire, the external drives would be one of the things i would grab first, and much easier to run with than the tower. Hell, I'm sure I'd go back for that too if I had time. Then the wife. lol
 
I'll second the notion that its better to buy an external drive CASE and then buy your own hard drive to place inside it. Many of the "external drives" you buy are not designed to be opened, and sooner or later you are going to want to do so. Buying the case and drive separately gives you more flexibility & control and doesn't cost much more.
 
Kind if mixing 2 things here. One - you need to back up anything and everything you don't want to lose. Buy a big, cheap external drive just for backup and keep the backups current. Drive speed can make the backup operation go faster but if you schedule that when you're asleep it's not relevant.

The other topic is having your audio data files on a different drive from the OS, applications, etc. also a good idea, but it's not the same as a backup, which is a second copy of everything on a different physical storage device.

I'm with the recommendation that the backup drive be external. Easier to grab, replace/expand.

Secondary drive for audio can be internal or external. If you have both FireWire and USB on your system I'd think about putting the audio drive on a different bus than your interface, but that's not critical.

USB drives should be connected to at least a USB 2.0 port. USB 3.0 drives are becoming common but unlikely you have one of those ports unless you've recently added one.
 
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Thank you so much everyone for your input. I'm thinking of starting my computer upgrading by buying a Western Digital 1 TB drive to place in the tower for audio files. I also decided to purchase some RAM since my computer is a dinosaur. When I get a bit more cash on hand, I'm gonna buy the external hard drive for backup. Is Western Digital a brand you would recommend? If not, what do you think is better?
 
WD will work. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on this [decision], but do realize that more/bigger drives inside your case is going to mean more heat, so make sure cooling is up to it, and you are also Ok with more noise coming from the PC itself.

Keep the receipt - they usually come with a pretty long warranty these days, and anything with moving parts spinning at 7200RPM (recommended) can fail.

Which is my segue into suggesting you get a backup drive first. Are you really Ok with losing everything you have worked on for how long? That's what happens when your drive fails. You can get a fast internal and a big external for a couple Benjamins from a place like NewEgg. While memory may be high on your list, I'd get the backup drive sooner than later. If you don't have years of stuff, then maybe you could get away with 320GB drives, and save some bucks, but 1TB does seem to be pretty cheap (though your $/GB still continues to drop past that, amazingly).
 
jimmys69 said:
Well, you could also place a separate internal drive for audio, if you have the space. The key is to have separate drives for audio and OS. But like Bobbsy, I am a bit paranoid. If there were a fire, the external drives would be one of the things i would grab first, and much easier to run with than the tower. Hell, I'm sure I'd go back for that too if I had time. Then the wife. lol
Click to expand...

Wife has her own legs, right?
 
Big G said:
Wife has her own legs, right?
Click to expand...

That is really f'd up man. You should not come into a new forum and just assume everyone is 'normal' like you. Having two legs is not something everyone has. My wife lost hers in a tragic shipping ac.......

Aw hell, I'm just kidding.

Welcome smart ass Big G!

:)
 
I don't often see mentioned the use of external SATA (eSATA) as an external hard drive solution.

You get SATA read and write speed, with the convenience of a removable drive. Supposed to be hot-swappable as well.

You can get eSATA as a card for desktop and laptop computers if it isn't already provided.

Are there compelling reasons not to use eSATA?

Paul
 
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