Would like some expert advice on increasing computer's storage capacity

May 25, 2015
18
0
4,510
hello there and thank you for reading this. I have started making YouTube videos and it has come to a point where my 1TB computer has not got enough space for me to use in comfort. I am not looking for a speedier system via a SSD. I simply want to get more space on ym computer. I was going to go ahead and buy this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008YAHW6I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
...but i wanted to run it through you guys here at tom's Hardware first, in case you have any extra advice. Thanks in advance and I wish you a great day :)

Also how important is warranty

My current HDD
Model SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device
 
Solution
I support ss202sl's advice. Using RAID properly requires that you learn a bunch of new stuff. THEN you face tough choices: RAID0 can make two IDENTICAL drives (You do NOT have that!) work together to give you the sum of their capacities in one apparent "drive" with a modest increase in drive performance speed. BUT it is much more likely to lose ALL of your data if a HDD unit fails. RAID1, on the other hand can make two IDENTICAL drives appear as one with only the capacity of ONE of them, but it maintains a mirror-image copy of itself on the second drive. You do not say you want anything like that, OP. Other RAID's are more complicated and use more drives.

OP, your main interest is simple: get more storage space for a lot of large...

DasHotShot

Honorable
Warranty is nice on HDD's as they have moving parts and can die...especially under heavy use.

The green models are supposed to be efficient and eco friendly by using less power and also operating a bit slower as a result.

Seeing as you have a 1TB drive, you could add another and raid them for better performance.

Otherwise that drive is fine and so would a 2TB blue model.

Again....consider 2x 1TB in Raid for better speed and also Raid modes which make these drives safer over time.
 
Forget raid - it comes with issues that you don't really need - especially if you don't know what it is. Raiding 2 drives(raid 0) doesn't make the drives(data) safer. It also would require wiping everything from your existing drive, and also increase the need for regular backups(which you should be doing anyway).

If you need speed get a ssd. If you're just looking for more storage space then that drive will work.
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
I support ss202sl's advice. Using RAID properly requires that you learn a bunch of new stuff. THEN you face tough choices: RAID0 can make two IDENTICAL drives (You do NOT have that!) work together to give you the sum of their capacities in one apparent "drive" with a modest increase in drive performance speed. BUT it is much more likely to lose ALL of your data if a HDD unit fails. RAID1, on the other hand can make two IDENTICAL drives appear as one with only the capacity of ONE of them, but it maintains a mirror-image copy of itself on the second drive. You do not say you want anything like that, OP. Other RAID's are more complicated and use more drives.

OP, your main interest is simple: get more storage space for a lot of large files. For that the best answer is the simplest: buy and install a second hard drive. It will NOT make your existing hard drive suddenly appear to be bigger. What it will do is give you a second storage place with its own letter name where you can place any files you want.

The HDD you linked to is a good choice. Many existing systems would have difficulty using all of a drive that is OVER 2 TB, but you chose one that will NOT have this problem - it's not over 2 TB. The WD Green line is a well-known product group usually quite reliable and uncomplicated. They are reasonably priced and designed for reduced power use and slightly slower performance (because they run a little slower) then higher-priced WD products. This model has a very large cache memory on it to improve its performance. Do NOT be worried about that phrase, "slightly slower performance". Typical uses for storing and reading video files do NOT require exceptional HDD performance. Only people doing advanced editing of high-definition video need to have very high performance HDD units.
 
Solution