Hard drive or cloud?


Recommended Posts

So I am looking around for a good external hard drive and looking for opinions from people who have the ones that are below.

1. http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Ultra-Portable-External-Backup/dp/B00E83X9P8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

2. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/828276-REG/Western_Digital_WDBY8L0020BBK_NESN_2TB_My_Passport_Essential.html

3 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/965069-REG/western_digital_wdbuzg0010bbk_nesn_1tb_elements_portable_hd.html

I'd like to stick with WD. I do NOT want an internal one. I just want one I can back up/save files to and just have them there. I have USB 3.0 so that should make things a bit faster.

Cloud wise, I was checking out www.backblaze.com

I have only 2MB upload speed, and I have over 300-500Gigs that I would need to upload, so that's not really favorable. I have a 750 gig now that's completely full.

Atleast I could plug in the external drive and let it go overnight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or you could use both a drive and a free cloud. Not uploading everything to it, but files you do not want to loose in case the drive dies, which is in all possible.

 

The first one, the WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN, is a nice one. I bought it for my cousin. She's been using it for a solid year now, no complaints.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes,

I agree with using both cloud and external also.

 

Several free cloud services that you could use to add up some totals for storage.

 

I've had my 2 external WD hard drives for a couple years at least, which aren't any of the choices you have probably due to that age, and they haven't failed me yet, but for some reason I still don't totally trust them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or you could use both a drive and a free cloud. Not uploading everything to it, but files you do not want to loose in case the drive dies, which is in all possible.

 

The first one, the WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN, is a nice one. I bought it for my cousin. She's been using it for a solid year now, no complaints.

I've thought about that. At 50$ a year that's not too bad. However with external it would be nice to transfer and go.

The most important would new my pictures and videos. Those alone are around 170 gig. So those would take awhile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your pictures shouldn't be all that cumbersome to download again. Backup your videos to DVD. A very simple way with little money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For $50-60 a year, you could get your own hosting plan and get a much greater value for your money than a mere cloud storage.

 

Between a single drive and cloud, I'd choose cloud.

 

Ideally, I'd be looking at something like this 2-drive RAID 1 enclosure if I were you (since you want an external solution).

 

 Backup your videos to DVD. A very simple way with little money.

 

And it's also one of the least reliable methods to store data long-term unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For $50-60 a year, you could get your own hosting plan and get a much greater value for your money than a mere cloud storage.

 

Between a single drive and cloud, I'd choose cloud.

 

Ideally, I'd be looking at something like this 2-drive RAID 1 enclosure if I were you (since you want an external solution).

 

 

And it's also one of the least reliable methods to store data long-term unfortunately.

 

I'll have to check that one out.

 

Why not a NAS? It's a cloud AND a HDD.

 

 

I checked out my terms of my ISP,  I have a 160GIG upload limit a month.   Soooo I am not sure how well that would go with cloud. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well you wouldn't be able to do cloud either. you would still be using your upload bandwidth.

I'll have to check that one out.

 

 

 

I checked out my terms of my ISP,  I have a 160GIG upload limit a month.   Soooo I am not sure how well that would go with cloud. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And it's also one of the least reliable methods to store data long-term unfortunately.

 

and 80% of people do that as well. It may not be the best option, but they still do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

also look at the material you want to upload.  the cloud service may not want it. i use 3 differnet cloud services each with a mirror copy of the other.  the hassle and cost of maintaining raids and battery backups made it the choice for me.  i am 3 years into it and i have not had any calendar appointments set with dates to swap out aging drives since i started using the cloud.  which is kinda nice for me and my data.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would it be worth upgrading your network connection speed or is it unviable?

We have a local cable company monopoly. Go a few miles over and you can get comcast.

So I'm already paying $75 for 15 down and 2up.

When I used to have comcast I had insanely great download and upload for $60.

I can't wait for our town to do the renewal contract I am going to complain and try to get another provider.

I guess I'll just go with a 1TB passport. It has a 3 year warranty so that's not too bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cloud vs Local - control would be the biggest deciding factor for me.

 

When you buy a cloud data plan, you basically outsource your storage needs to someone else. 

 

By storing your data locally, you have full control of it on the hardware level. 

 

It's not uncommon for HDDs to have five year warranty.

 

These are just a few of last minute points I think you should consider.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I'll just go with a 1TB passport. It has a 3 year warranty so that's not too bad.

Just keep in mind that a 3 year warranty only means they'll fix/replace the drive itself if it fails. Anything on the drive will be lost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just keep in mind that a 3 year warranty only means they'll fix/replace the drive itself if it fails. Anything on the drive will be lost.

Yeah. This would just be excess stuff. The more important things will be backed up in two different places.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't read the responses, so if this have already been mentioned, I apologise.

But consider and internal hard drive, a cheap hard drive enclosure with power pack, and just use it as a usb hard drive, then you can simply keep it as a solid backup, external storage, or any of the other possibilities. As there'll be no power going to a drive put into storage, there's no chance of it getting hacked (if the information is sensitive)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

" I have over 300-500Gigs that I would need to upload"

You have that many home videos and pictures? Really? There is one thing to backup Media you have ripped or gotten elsewhere ;) So you don't have to re-rip/re-acquire.. Storing on 2 disks should be good enough for this sort of files.

Uploading it to the cloud I would think only for DR (disaster recovery) for your most important documents. I have a somewhat decent media library - but there is nothing in there I would be concerned of replacement.

If the house burned down, insurance should cover my original copies, cd/dvds/bluray/etc So that is my DR plan..

Now what I do have is a growing collection of video and pictures that can never be replaced no matter how much insurance I had.. Those are video's of my grand daughters dance class, her opening up her xmas presents, etc. This sort of media needs to be protected. If you have 500GB of this data -- you need to make sure you have a DR plan, other media in your house is not good enough. What if tornado, what if fire, flood, etc..

This could be a disk copy you store at a friends, family house - bank? I have this copy along with copy in the cloud. Amazon glacier is a really CHEAP way to store this sort of data online. Your talking 0.01 per GB per month.. I currently have 50GB of such data, so 50 cents a month. This clearly grows over time. But you going to be hard pressed to find anything close to .01 per GB elsewhere.

My point is for cloud storage I would address what you feel needs to go there - 500GB seems like a lot of home movies/pictures to me. Why would you need to store you copy of Casablanca in the cloud is my point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

" I have over 300-500Gigs that I would need to upload"

You have that many home videos and pictures? Really? There is one thing to backup Media you have ripped or gotten elsewhere ;) So you don't have to re-rip/re-acquire.. Storing on 2 disks should be good enough for this sort of files.

Uploading it to the cloud I would think only for DR (disaster recovery) for your most important documents. I have a somewhat decent media library - but there is nothing in there I would be concerned of replacement.

If the house burned down, insurance should cover my original copies, cd/dvds/bluray/etc So that is my DR plan..

Now what I do have is a growing collection of video and pictures that can never be replaced no matter how much insurance I had.. Those are video's of my grand daughters dance class, her opening up her xmas presents, etc. This sort of media needs to be protected. If you have 500GB of this data -- you need to make sure you have a DR plan, other media in your house is not good enough. What if tornado, what if fire, flood, etc..

This could be a disk copy you store at a friends, family house - bank? I have this copy along with copy in the cloud. Amazon glacier is a really CHEAP way to store this sort of data online. Your talking 0.01 per GB per month.. I currently have 50GB of such data, so 50 cents a month. This clearly grows over time. But you going to be hard pressed to find anything close to .01 per GB elsewhere.

My point is for cloud storage I would address what you feel needs to go there - 500GB seems like a lot of home movies/pictures to me. Why would you need to store you copy of Casablanca in the cloud is my point.

I have tons and tons and to a of pictures from incidents that are used for training, re-call of incidents. Also pictures for the press that I took. Videos are included in this.

With this are also priceless personal collections of pictures and videos. None of it is ripped media.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why not a NAS? It's a cloud AND a HDD.

I like this idea. I have a NAS for media for my htpc but I also back up to it too. Acronis is great software too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Personally, i don't think i will ever like to be FULLY and ONLY in the cloud.

    I will never trust enough any service for that.

2. I have never bought a dedicated external drive. I always buy internal ones and use, my much more prefered method of an external adapter. That way i have more options and it's cheaper this way.

i recently bought this adapter and i couldn't be happier http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/node/1741

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went ahead and bought the Passport Ultra.   Nice little HD, can tuck it away.  It's small,  makes zero sound that I can tell.  

 

 

Just wish the USB cable was longer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.