Recommendations for an external hard drive?

[Lady tehMa]

Not tech-savvy at all, so I'm asking for help.

What would be the best long-term storage for the things I want to keep - photos/videos/music/ebooks?

I can't afford a lot, but I can squirrel away money until I can get something that will do me for the long-term.

I want something that I won't have to worry about losing the data if the HD fries. I was thinking external, but I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

[TylerM4]

I recently had a need for similar. My last external HDD died after about 5 years of hardly ever being used.

I decided to go with a Solid State Drive (SSD) this time. More money, and I don't really need the solid state performance but It should last a lot longer than something with moving parts. So far so good.

What size are you looking for? My recommendation is to buy whatever's on sale from a well known manufacturer. BestBuy has an ADATA 1TB SSD on sale for $65. https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/ad ... k/12532340

[Bsuds]

Tyler is right and that looks like a good buy. 1tb is probably overkill for most people though so if you find something cheaper that's smaller that would be ok too.

I have several different external drives for backups.

There are also several online cloud choices as well. If you have Amazon Prime you get unlimited photo backups included.

[Lady tehMa]

I recently had a need for similar. My last external HDD died after about 5 years of hardly ever being used.

I decided to go with a Solid State Drive (SSD) this time. More money, and I don't really need the solid state performance but It should last a lot longer than something with moving parts. So far so good.

What size are you looking for? My recommendation is to buy whatever's on sale from a well known manufacturer. BestBuy has an ADATA 1TB SSD on sale for $65. https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/ad ... k/12532340

Ooh - that looks like it will do what I want! And I wont' need to get more space (might very well end up being willed to the kids XD)

Thanks!

[mexi cali]

An external data storage unit is a definite consideration but they really are more suited to people who do a lot of data input on a regular basis, then doing a regular back up can be handy because it only looks for new data and doesn't bother with previous information if it is unchanged.

It sounds too me like you have some very specific things you want to be able to protect against a potential catastrophic crash in which case, you might consider one of these options.

Cloud storage is cheap and you can store a large amount of data (photos, movies, important files) for pennies a month. Microsoft (one drive) has cloud storage available as a starting point. You can access the data from virtually anywhere.

The other option, and this is one of the methods I use is a large capacity memory stick. I simply back up all my files to the stick and then when I have added anything to my PC that I want to add to it, I plug it in and save it to the stick when I create it.

I just bought a 2TB stick for 20.00 off Amazon. I will never fill it up but for the cost, why not go really big?

Decide on a safe place to keep it when not in use (home safe is a good place) and rest easy.

Detractors of memory sticks don't like that because they are small and very portable that you run the risk of losing them which is fair to say but it hasn't kept me form using this method and I have yet to lose one and I take mine on vacation.

ETA. You can get USB adapters (OTG, on the go) that will allow you to plug the stick into your phone and download files and photos etc. from your phone.

[Catsumi]

I use icloud, $1.40/ month

[Jlabute]

What would be the best long-term storage for the things I want to keep - photos/videos/music/ebooks?

I can't afford a lot, but I can squirrel away money until I can get something that will do me for the long-term.

I want something that I won't have to worry about losing the data if the HD fries. I was thinking external, but I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

Since thumb drives are inexpensive, I would probably stock up on a few for multiple backups. There are plenty of options ranging from cheap to not so cheap. Are the photos and videos just for you? Do they have to endure long after your passing? lol.

I suppose that is the problem with digital property, it is hard to keep it longer than a lifetime unless handing such things down is organized.

If just for personal use, I would get a few inexpensive external drives and maybe use imaging software to backup the entire computer. Since you're worried of a drive failure, this can also make restoration simpler if you can boot from the external drive and restore your last backup, pictures and all. No backup is risky. One backup is less risky. Two backups is even less risky.

How much storage do you need? Cloud storage can be more costly based on amount of storage. Some are cheap, but offer less storage than a new phone. Might want to ascertain how much storage you want, and what you want to do - backup pictures/videos, or backup everything.

[Urban Cowboy]

I agree with mexi cali on the USB stick option.

Their prices have come way down over the years, and when it comes to protecting precious data, something that isn't attached to your computer, or home network system, is the safest in these days of ransomware.

My advice, based on personal preference, is to not buy the cheapest item out there necessarily, but to fork out the extra for a quality reputable brand. Definitely don't buy cheap Chinese ones on ebay as they are junk, and often misrepresented as having more capacity than they actually do.

I'm a big fan of the Corsair Voyager GT units as they are waterproof, and tough enough to survive a car driving over it. I've not had one fail ever, but they do cost more.

Mine is a 128GB unit, but I see in the link I've attached, that there's a 512GB one for under a hundred bucks. That's well below what I paid for my smaller one several years back.

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=Corsair+Voyag ... _sb_noss_2

[kgcayenne]

If someone were wanting to use NAS, what is the most cost/quality-balanced unit out there (in 2T & 4T)

[Urban Cowboy]

If someone were wanting to use NAS, what is the most cost/quality-balanced unit out there (in 2T & 4T)

I have a Western Digital My Cloud PR2100 that I put two 4TB Western Digital Red hard drives into. I bought it without drives.

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=western+digit ... doa-p_8_19

I don't see any empty ones available right now. The first one in the link is my unit, but this one has two 8TB hard drives in it and is pricey. All I can say is I haven't had any issues at all with mine.

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=western+digit ... nb_sb_noss

I assume you know, but I would only add that NAS, attached to ones computer on a home network, is still susceptible to ransomware attack. The only thing safe from such an attack is removable storage that is not connected to anything.

[kgcayenne]

I’m not sure how exciting 20,000 .NEF files are to anyone else, but tertiary backups are what I aim to do (eventually).

[Jlabute]

I’m not sure how exciting 20,000 .NEF files are to anyone else, but tertiary backups are what I aim to do (eventually).

So lots of Nikon RAW image files and video files? A NAS is a good idea. Not sure how much you want to spend, but maybe you'd want at least 2 x 2TB (smaller or larger)disks in a RAID1 array. That would mean if one disk were to die, you could replace it. One disk is a perfect copy of the other. Brands like Synology or QNAS are good.

[kgcayenne]

Thank you! I was wondering about whether RAID is worthwhile.

[BC Landlord]

They make 1Tb USB drives nowadays for $20.

https://www.amazon.ca/Keychain-Smartpho ... hdGY&psc=1

[Jlabute]

Thank you! I was wondering about whether RAID is worthwhile.

I think RAID1 would give you a basic level of redundancy without worrying about disk failure. Of course, your RAID1 set-up would have two disks (in the same location). If you worry about mud-slides, floods, lightning strikes, it isn't impossible that your NAS might get schmucked in some sort of freak accident :-) Rare, but it happens. Offsite backups with a solid state drive are a good redundancy on your redundancy.