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Are there any external storage drives that don;t die within a year???

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  • Storage
  • External Storage
Last response: in Storage
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August 25, 2014 9:41:34 AM

Desperately need storage. HELP!!!
What is the best and most inexpensive solution if you need storage?
Without my data I will be in DEEP TROUBLE. But External drives keep dying. What can I do?

More about : external storage drives die year

August 25, 2014 9:54:26 AM

An SSD. Does it need to be external?
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a c 388 G Storage
August 25, 2014 10:01:04 AM

Are you using retail devices like the GoFlex or MyBook? Personally I have better luck buying external enclosures and putting a hard drive of my choice in it. You also avoid voiding the warranty by opening the enclosure if needed.
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a c 93 G Storage
August 25, 2014 10:34:27 AM

I have a 1GB flash drive that I have use for work, and it has lasted about 10 years, and is still working. Although it is USB1 so it's pretty slow.
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August 25, 2014 10:37:09 AM

Hi Alex: I guess it doesn't need to be external.
Hi Hawkeye22: Today, after only 3 months of use, the iO Safe did not appear on the desktop. I don't know if it's fried or what. I do digital painting, so these files are irreplaceable, and HUGE.
Reviews for all drives say they are DOA or fail within months, even weeks.

Hawkeye: I know nothing about computers, I merely use them, and connect stuff to USB ports. So even if I decided to buy enclosures, I would not have a clue what to buy. The guy in the Newegg video said this are for SATA (I don't know what SATA means), and also appeared to put in the enclosure a drive he took out of a computer. The only drive I have comes from a MAC that is about 16 years old, so I imagine that if I bought an enclosure, I would have to buy a drive as well. So what would I need t buy? Installation looks fairly simple.

ON the other hand, I am thinking of simply buying a second MAC mini, transferring the info with cables, and put the computer away, simply use it as storage, I am TRULY DESPERATE...
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August 25, 2014 10:42:41 AM

ss202sl said:
I have a 1GB flash drive that I have use for work, and it has lasted about 10 years, and is still working. Although it is USB1 so it's pretty slow.



1-8 GB Flashdrives are SO wonderful that I looked into 32 and 64 GB. Everybody is having troubles with all brands: SanDisk, Kingston, yo name it. Pity. The next best thing would have been a Passport, but this get pretty bad reviews also. I really need something RELIABLE. These are media files, so if they're lost, literally thousands of hours of something that cannot be recreated would go into limbo,
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a b G Storage
August 25, 2014 10:48:40 AM

If your files are that important then you absolutely should not be relying on a single point of failure on which to store them. You should have multiple backups (one of which should be off site) on multiple storage media types. Any storage device can fail at any time without warning, regardless of age.
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August 25, 2014 10:53:46 AM

ex_bubblehead said:
If your files are that important then you absolutely should not be relying on a single point of failure on which to store them. You should have multiple backups (one of which should be off site) on multiple storage media types. Any storage device can fail at any time without warning, regardless of age.



Yes. I guess I am like many people. I thought, OK I will buy this. It will last a few years, and by then there will be another solution.

So here's the deal. I need recommendations. What should I do? Do You recommend DROPBOX? Some other Cloud service?
And drives: which one?
Guys, I really need help and you're the gurus. Enlighten me.
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August 25, 2014 10:54:50 AM

The IoSafe was connected less than 2 months. I mean it's incredible, the rip off.
And there was a surge protector on the whole system.
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August 25, 2014 11:04:22 AM

A 128GB SSD might be ideal for you? MX100 from Crucial and 840 EVO from Samsung are great budget choices. :) 
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a c 388 G Storage
August 25, 2014 11:15:12 AM

Approximately how much storage space do you need? If you were looking at 32 and 64 gig flash drives, then a SSD is the way to go, especially since the price on these are dropping. Alex Kelley had some good suggestion for SSD's.
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August 25, 2014 11:22:18 AM

Alex Kelly said:
A 128GB SSD might be ideal for you? MX100 from Crucial and 840 EVO from Samsung are great budget choices. :) 

Unfortunately, EVO from Samsung apparently has a huge failure rate.

Has anybody tried DROPBOX or any other service? I have ably 100 files of about 50 GB each, or more.
I am leaning toward NO external drives, I am on a tight budget and I can't keep wasting money on garbage that fails in three months.
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August 25, 2014 11:23:53 AM

Hawkeye22 said:
Approximately how much storage space do you need? If you were looking at 32 and 64 gig flash drives, then a SSD is the way to go, especially since the price on these are dropping. Alex Kelley had some good suggestion for SSD's.


Yes SSDs prices are dropping. I think people will probably abandon them altogether due to high failure rate and poor quality control. NO matter how cheap, if it fails, it's pricey.
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a b G Storage
August 25, 2014 11:34:47 AM

LucyLux said:
Alex Kelly said:
A 128GB SSD might be ideal for you? MX100 from Crucial and 840 EVO from Samsung are great budget choices. :) 

Unfortunately, EVO from Samsung apparently has a huge failure rate.

Has anybody tried DROPBOX or any other service? I have ably 100 files of about 50 GB each, or more.
I am leaning toward NO external drives, I am on a tight budget and I can't keep wasting money on garbage that fails in three months.

100x50GB=5TB

Check out this pricing chart that compares the various cloud storage services. Will your "tight budget" handle that? http://www.drivehq.com/help/solution/PriceComparisonWit...

You're looking at multiple spinning drives in a RAID configuration (think NAS) for that much storage. And additional media to effect backups.
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a c 388 G Storage
August 25, 2014 11:42:18 AM

You appear to be against SSD's. Here is a link to Tom's review in case you change your mind.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-...

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any online storage/backup solutions. I don't trust my personal information in the hands of others, but that's just me. As an aside, as ex_bubblehead stated, Any storage device can fail at any time without warning, regardless of age, even drives that get great reviews. If you decide to go with online storage, then read up on their backup strategy, assuming they have one in place.

For a home brew no frills external drive, just pick up an enclosure that can handle a 3.5" internal sata drive. It doesn't matter if it's sata I, II, or III. The enlocsure should have as a minimum, USB as the external port. Putting the drive inside the enclosure is a simple procedure. Any non-techie can do it in under 5 minutes. It takes longer to get the screws in and out than it does to connect the drive. Just be sure it can handle large drives. It will list this in the specifications.
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August 25, 2014 1:47:27 PM

Hawkeye22 said:
You appear to be against SSD's. Here is a link to Tom's review in case you change your mind.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-...



For a home brew no frills external drive, just pick up an enclosure that can handle a 3.5" internal sata drive. It doesn't matter if it's sata I, II, or III. The enlocsure should have as a minimum, USB as the external port. Putting the drive inside the enclosure is a simple procedure. Any non-techie can do it in under 5 minutes. It takes longer to get the screws in and out than it does to connect the drive. Just be sure it can handle large drives. It will list this in the specifications.



OK. Thanks! It sound simple enough.
What kind of drive should I get and where do I get it?

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August 26, 2014 12:44:04 AM

An expert can suggest you an accurate solution in this situation. It will be better if taken advice from an expert.
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a c 388 G Storage
August 26, 2014 6:01:46 AM

I prefer Western Digital and Seagate drives. The WD blue drives have a 2 year warranty and the WD blacks have a 5 year warranty and cost more. Most of the seagate's are 2 year warranty. You can get the bare drive instead of the retail drive which comes in a box. The bare drive (OEM) will cost slighlty less.

You can get the drive and enclosure most anywhere, Newegg, Amazon, TigerDirect,... whichever has it cheapest. I've had good luck with Vantec enclosures. IcyDock also makes some good ones.

You may want to get a second external to keep backups of your files. You mentioned you have a Mac.You may want to look into time machine or some other backup software.
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a c 253 G Storage
August 26, 2014 1:51:03 PM

What makes you say that SSDs have a high failure rate? Especially Samsung??

I have a 128 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD which hasn't skipped a beat in the one year that I've owned it. Additionally, I'm on Tom's every day and have been for the past year. I can recall the Samsung SSD problems on one hand!

Are you confusing SSDs with USB pen drives? The pen drives are prolly the most unreliable piece of computer hardware on the market today. SSD storage drives on the other hand are some of the most reliable!

Yogi
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August 26, 2014 3:56:59 PM

Yeah I haven't heard of any SSDs failing, actually. I've had my SanDisk Extreme for many years now, it was in my MacBook Pro since 2011 and I've dropped that computer many times. It's now in my gaming rig and still works perfectly.
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a c 943 G Storage
August 26, 2014 7:49:21 PM

if you are storing your drives on pendrives/flashdrives then thats alot of flash drives.... Are you sure they are 50GB each?

Please double check this as we wont want to recommend something way more than you actually need.
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