Hello,
I need some advice for the storage device(s) I'm going to buy, for my home setup, specially in terms of data safety.
I had a 3.5" (Seagate) external hard drive which recently failed (most data have just been recovered so now I also need the new HDD to store it on).
I'll definitely not go for another 3.5" external HDD, also not for a Seagate
and also not for a NAS (at least for now).
Most probably, I'll go for 2.5" external HDD.
1. What do you think of the WD Elements Portable model? To me it seems to be the best choice, either the 2T or the 3T.
2. Is 3T too much for a 2.5 external HDD? Or is it not important?
3. I couldn't find information about the RPM on the 3T model mentioned above. I know that on the 2T model it's 5400. Would you recommend 5400 over 7200, on external 2.5 drives?
4. Also, if there are other important hardware features which I have to keep count of, please mention them.
5. - Actually this is the most important question. More than the mere storage issue, I would like to have my data at least in 2 places, for safety reasons.
(I can eventually buy 2 external HDD's, that won't be a problem, but I'm not sure if it makes sense. I'll go into details below)
Here's what I've figured out:
5.1 In terms of RAID, RAID 1 would be the best solution. But it's not possible between internal and external drive + not recommended between 2 external drives (too much activity on USB, slow and could also lead to damages).
So, would RAID 1 be a solution for me, in any way?
5.2 One-way mirroring vs 2-way sync - I'm not sure which one would be best.
I'm thinking that, in both cases, if one of the 2 drives gets some partial damage, data on those sectors will not be available anymore, also on the other. Am I wrong?
5.3 Any software solutions for either mirroring or sync? Would you recommend any? I'm using Windows as an OS.
6. Shortly, what do you think it's the best way to use an external HDD drive?
6.1 Do you think that working directly with files on the external HDD is ok? (I'm working mostly with small files, generally audio)
6.2 Let's consider that I also have enough space on the internal one, but I want backup.
Would you recommend using the external drive just for backup and connecting it only when I backup files again? Which means, the external HDD being inactive/idle most of the time.
Also, some software that sees the differences between data on 2 disks can be very useful in this case. Have you used any?
Sorry I've made this so long, but you can eventually share your opinion just on the points that you consider most relevant.
Thanks!
I need some advice for the storage device(s) I'm going to buy, for my home setup, specially in terms of data safety.
I had a 3.5" (Seagate) external hard drive which recently failed (most data have just been recovered so now I also need the new HDD to store it on).
I'll definitely not go for another 3.5" external HDD, also not for a Seagate
and also not for a NAS (at least for now).Most probably, I'll go for 2.5" external HDD.
1. What do you think of the WD Elements Portable model? To me it seems to be the best choice, either the 2T or the 3T.
2. Is 3T too much for a 2.5 external HDD? Or is it not important?
3. I couldn't find information about the RPM on the 3T model mentioned above. I know that on the 2T model it's 5400. Would you recommend 5400 over 7200, on external 2.5 drives?
4. Also, if there are other important hardware features which I have to keep count of, please mention them.
5. - Actually this is the most important question. More than the mere storage issue, I would like to have my data at least in 2 places, for safety reasons.
(I can eventually buy 2 external HDD's, that won't be a problem, but I'm not sure if it makes sense. I'll go into details below)
Here's what I've figured out:
5.1 In terms of RAID, RAID 1 would be the best solution. But it's not possible between internal and external drive + not recommended between 2 external drives (too much activity on USB, slow and could also lead to damages).
So, would RAID 1 be a solution for me, in any way?
5.2 One-way mirroring vs 2-way sync - I'm not sure which one would be best.
I'm thinking that, in both cases, if one of the 2 drives gets some partial damage, data on those sectors will not be available anymore, also on the other. Am I wrong?
5.3 Any software solutions for either mirroring or sync? Would you recommend any? I'm using Windows as an OS.
6. Shortly, what do you think it's the best way to use an external HDD drive?
6.1 Do you think that working directly with files on the external HDD is ok? (I'm working mostly with small files, generally audio)
6.2 Let's consider that I also have enough space on the internal one, but I want backup.
Would you recommend using the external drive just for backup and connecting it only when I backup files again? Which means, the external HDD being inactive/idle most of the time.
Also, some software that sees the differences between data on 2 disks can be very useful in this case. Have you used any?
Sorry I've made this so long, but you can eventually share your opinion just on the points that you consider most relevant.
Thanks!
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