Portable hard drive needed.

JayClark79

Im looking for a portable hard drive that I can store all of my pictures on instead of keeping them on just my lap top.... Im looking for atleast a 1TB drive?

Also with a portbale hard drive connected to my PC i can set up lightroom to pull files directly from the hard drive and not have to keep them on my C: drive correct??

ian408

LaCie, Western Digital, Seagate and a host of others make what you're looking for. But any of these will work.

I would suggest you keep your process on the PC (for working on files) and move stuff to the USB drive once you're done. This way, your process works if you decide to go on the road without the portable.

Good luck!

BradfordBenn

I agree with what Ian says. The challenge with Windows is that it will map the drive letters in sequence, so items might not always be in the same location. So if you plug in a card reader that takes letter E:\ and then the external HD it would get letter F:\ but later on after a reboot say you only plug in the external HD it might get letter E:\ There are ways to manually set the mapping to get around it.

Something to consider when looking at the hard drive is whether or not you want an external power supply or not. I am also looking myself and was recommended the LaCie ruggedized unit. I am on the fence about 1TB or 500GB as the power supply issue is not clearly defined for me. The other thing to consider is how much you are going to be using it during travel or just at home, at times it can be cheaper to purchase a non miniaturized portable unit instead. Also those will typically have faster transfer rates.

ole doc

I own a Western Digital in smaller configuration. most of the set was eliminating very intrusive software they felt I absolutely needed so did not give me may options to avoid causing me to go back and uninstall the unwanted software. They did not warn they would do this in the package. Otherwise it seems to be working fine.
Nick

CTUphoto

BradfordBenn wrote:

The challenge with Windows is that it will map the drive letters in sequence, so items might not always be in the same location. So if you plug in a card reader that takes letter E:\ and then the external HD it would get letter F:\ but later on after a reboot say you only plug in the external HD it might get letter E:\ There are ways to manually set the mapping to get around it.

I hated this about windows because I kept my iTunes files stored the same way and it always seemed to foul up for just that reason.

I've used LaCie, WD, and a host of other brands for both work and personal use. I'm pretty impressed with the WD 1TB drive I have for my iMac. It wasn't terribly expensive, runs fast (although the wake up lag is sometimes a little annoying), and at a TB, is more room than I'll need (for at least another 2-3 months ). All said, it is a little big, and does require external power....not the least cumbersome travel solution.

~jb

ian408

BTW, in most cases, you do not need to install any software that comes with a disk. Perhaps if you want to use the backup stuff but for normal operation, you don't need any of that. And I'd suggest that modern operating systems contain good tools (like TimeMachine) to do backups.

The first thing I do is a low level format of the drive, build a new file system and move on to recover the space those tools take.

BradfordBenn

ian408 wrote:

The first thing I do is a low level format of the drive, build a new file system and move on to recover the space those tools take.

+1 on that.

Art Scott

JayClark79 wrote:

Im looking for a portable hard drive that I can store all of my pictures on instead of keeping them on just my lap top.... Im looking for atleast a 1TB drive?

Also with a portbale hard drive connected to my PC i can set up lightroom to pull files directly from the hard drive and not have to keep them on my C: drive correct??

Instead of spending all the extra money one external hdd's I started using a harddrive dock and internal
SATA drives in the 1-1.5TB size....they just plug and play.........now withthe new year I am heading toward either 2 more single docks or a dual dock by VanTec....I bought my first dock at Best By it is a Thermaltake BlacX...and I use exclusively these 2 Hard drives....Seagate or Hitachi.....both real quiet and both have never given me any problems.......I keep my drives about 4 years do a format and rewrite with 1's and 0's and format again then sell with about a year on the warranty..........

I keep 3 copies of all photo files...raws, dngs and final product either jpgs or tiffs (it the final is atiff then there is a layered tiff also....especially if it a sign or poster I have done for a client to use for advertising)...........

Hdd on computer is strictly for software that is being used....if software was purchased as download it goes on a separate hdd storage system of 3 drives along with keys and Certs of Auth....................

Music is done the same way..........movies are my next challenge to archive on Hdd's...................

SamirD

If you've gotten to the point where you are having to think about storage space, it's about time to think about a storage strategy.

Hard drives fail, period. They are not permanent archives. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" applies directly to hard drive storage.

At the least, you should have two external drives, both with a copy of your images. On a regular basis, it wouldn't hurt to rotate a third drive stored in a safe deposit box or other off-site area. And a final piece of a good backup solution would be an online backup somewhere that is also redundant.

This sounds like a lot of work and may cost a bit to set up. But a preventive measure like this is much cheaper than a hard drive data recovery company. Good luck!

bloomphotog

I'd recommend this product: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/642717-REG/G_Technology_GDM4_500_500GB_G_DRIVE_mini_Triple.html

I use G-Tech stuff and have always been impressed. They offer truly professional products that blow the doors off the Lacie/WD/Seagate offerings. Right now I'm noodling the idea of a G-Tech portable SSD for on-location backup and editing.

SamirD

bloomphotog wrote:

They offer truly professional products that blow the doors off the Lacie/WD/Seagate offerings.

You do realize that many of these products use a WD or Seagate drive. I'll usually check the drive specs and warranty and compare it to an internal drive to see who's drive it is.

bloomphotog

SamirD wrote:

You do realize that many of these products use a WD or Seagate drive. I'll usually check the drive specs and warranty and compare it to an internal drive to see who's drive it is.

I do. In fact, I even know that G-Tech is owned by Hitachi - hence, the branding all over their products and website. I am big fan of Hitachi drives, especially the 2.5" lineup.

WD makes also some great drives (Black and Green series), but I am not a fan of their enclosures/controllers. Seagate on the other hand has always given me problems...and their enclosures suck. But take this with a grain of salt...I have friends who swear by these drives. To each his own, I guess.

SamirD

bloomphotog wrote:

In fact, I even know that G-Tech is owned by Hitachi - hence, the branding all over their products and website.

Interesting! Great info!

There's good and bad drives in the mix out there. The most important thing is to see the mtbf (mean time between failures). If that's around 1.2-1.6 million hours, it's a business-class drive.

BradfordBenn

Just to circle back on this one after being out for work for about a week, I decided not to go with a portable hard drive for backup; I still want one for more drive space. I decided to go with a pile of blank DVDs. Part of my ever evolving workflow is to create a contact sheet and do an offline media backup on optical media. So I just bring/purchase DVDs as I travel.

I also do make two media copies when traveling and place them in different places - one checked; one carryon. For critical/real winners of images I will place them into the "cloud" at the hotel using either my own website or Dropbox.

JayClark79

are any of the harddrives able to draw power directly from the laptop? Or is this not a good idea?... How do i know if it is capable of pulling power from the laptop?

BradfordBenn

JayClark79 wrote:

are any of the harddrives able to draw power directly from the laptop? Or is this not a good idea?... How do i know if it is capable of pulling power from the laptop?

Yes, many are able to draw from the laptop. The easiest way to tell is that it will say "External Power Supply" or something similar. So the question as to whether it is a good idea or not is personal preference. I have used both and this is what I can tell you:

1. The external drive that is USB powered allows one to use the drive when away from power (great outdoors, plane, trains, automobile...etc.)
2. Typically the externally powered drives have faster access times as they spin faster
3. A Bus Powered drive will drain the battery faster (simple solution is to unmount and disconnect when not in use)
4. Some drives allow you to do both, which is likely what my next unit will be
5. Some drives require two USB connections to get enough power, so make sure you check that
6. Not all external drives work well through passive USB Hubs