OT external hard drives for photo work

I'm copying from an offshoot in another thread...
[ Frustrated with DX]

Rita Ä Berkowitz wrote:
Wolfgang Weisselberg wrote:

Hmm. Maybe that I only use SCSI drives is why Windows is so robust
and bulletproof? I get a kick out of reading about all these fools
that use SATA and have nothing but problems.

I have zero problems with SATA drives under unixoid systems.
Wait --- that's wrong. I have encountered a single problem:
Linux 2.4 kernels don't do SATA out of the box.

Sure you do. The idiots that use SATA always use the claim that it is
better because they have more storage space and is cheap. It's the
same idiotic reasoning with the megapixel wars of "high numbers means
better." Sadly SATA sacrifices reliability and performance for space.

But then Windows 95 (not SE) doesn't do USB.

Who cared or even cares since USB and USB2 are a dead slow interface
that wastes overhead? Surely you can do better than that?
Wikipedia broken today?

Rita and other hard drive savy folks, I'm looking for a pair of 500GB
drives for my 2 year old winxp pro Dell 'workstation' laptop for photos
& another for backup. I was told to look at NAS drives (network speed)
but I'd like to be able to take it out on trips & I'm not going to set
up a router for that.

Then I looked at my USB resources in the device manager & it looks like
only one of my ports is even USB2 (not going to help in a backup
situation. What's more I have no idea which port:
Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C2
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C4
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C7
**Intel 8280 1DB/DBM *USB2* Enhanced Host Controller 24CD
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

5-station hub
3-station docking station
3 stations on the laptop
**where's the one marked USB2?

For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

--
Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:49:14 -0700, Paul Furman wrote:

For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

Several weeks ago Staples had 500GB Western Digital external USB2
drives on sale for $129, which came as a surprise since this area
usually has higher than average prices. I prefer the slightly
larger Seagate external drives which have both USB2 and Firewire
ports, but they're no longer stocked by any of the computer stores
that use to sell them. I'd go for a firewire port if you can get
one for the Dell laptop, or a SCSI host adapter if you want to make
Rita happy. g

"ASAAR" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:49:14 -0700, Paul Furman wrote:

For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

Several weeks ago Staples had 500GB Western Digital external USB2
drives on sale for $129, which came as a surprise since this area
usually has higher than average prices. I prefer the slightly
larger Seagate external drives which have both USB2 and Firewire
ports, but they're no longer stocked by any of the computer stores
that use to sell them. I'd go for a firewire port if you can get
one for the Dell laptop, or a SCSI host adapter if you want to make
Rita happy. g

I am using a Western Digital MyBook 1 TB external drive. It is actually 2
500 GB drives that can be used as a 1 TB drive or as a 500 GB RAID 0, which
is the mode I am using it in. It supports USB2 plus 2 FireWire modes. I
have been using the USB2 connection and have been satisfied with the speed.
I paid $400 for it back in March, but recently I saw one advertised for
about $350.

Ron

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
t...

Then I looked at my USB resources in the device manager & it looks like
only one of my ports is even USB2 (not going to help in a backup
situation. What's more I have no idea which port:

My notebook has a similar printout but all three ports are USB2.
It looks like you can't identify which are USB2 from that output.
I suggest you try a USB2 drive in the ports and see if windows suggests
putting it in another USB2 port which is what it will do if you put a USB2
device in a USB port.


PS ignore all the rubbish about SCSI being more reliable as it isnt true.

Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C2
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C4
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C7
**Intel 8280 1DB/DBM *USB2* Enhanced Host Controller 24CD
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

5-station hub
3-station docking station
3 stations on the laptop
**where's the one marked USB2?

For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

--
Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com

dennis@home wrote:

Paul Furman wrote

Then I looked at my USB resources in the device manager & it looks like
only one of my ports is even USB2 (not going to help in a backup
situation. What's more I have no idea which port:

My notebook has a similar printout but all three ports are USB2.
It looks like you can't identify which are USB2 from that output.
I suggest you try a USB2 drive in the ports and see if windows suggests
putting it in another USB2 port which is what it will do if you put a USB2
device in a USB port.

I've got that message about suggesting using another port before...
rarely though & I don't recall why.


PS ignore all the rubbish about SCSI being more reliable as it isnt true.

Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C2
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C4
Intel 8280 1DB/DBM Enhanced Host Controller 24C7
**Intel 8280 1DB/DBM *USB2* Enhanced Host Controller 24CD
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

5-station hub
3-station docking station
3 stations on the laptop
**where's the one marked USB2?

For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

--
Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com

Ron Recer wrote:

"ASAAR" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:49:14 -0700, Paul Furman wrote:


For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

Several weeks ago Staples had 500GB Western Digital external USB2
drives on sale for $129, which came as a surprise since this area
usually has higher than average prices. I prefer the slightly
larger Seagate external drives which have both USB2 and Firewire
ports, but they're no longer stocked by any of the computer stores
that use to sell them. I'd go for a firewire port if you can get
one for the Dell laptop, or a SCSI host adapter if you want to make
Rita happy. g

I am using a Western Digital MyBook 1 TB external drive. It is actually 2
500 GB drives that can be used as a 1 TB drive or as a 500 GB RAID 0, which
is the mode I am using it in. It supports USB2 plus 2 FireWire modes.

Can this be carried around on trips? I'm guessing the RAID 0 means it
keeps a steady backup? I think I like the idea of separate drives, one
of them a faster network drive, the other constantly backed up &
portable by usb. They don't make usb powered drives that big that I know.

I have been using the USB2 connection and have been satisfied with the
speed.

I don't really have any sense of the speed of:
usb
usb2
firewire
scsi
network
????

I paid $400 for it back in March, but recently I saw one advertised
for about $350.



--
Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com

[correction]

Paul Furman wrote:

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a [150GB] drive.
Laptop [80GB] is full.

Paul Furman wrote:


I don't really have any sense of the speed of:
usb
usb2
firewire
scsi
network

SCSI is a bit long in the tooth and comes in a plethora of types. See
the Wikipedia article for details.

Firewire (400 Mbps) is REAL FAST and I used that to transfer to the new
computer last year. Much faster than a 100 mbit/sec Ethernet. I got
real rates on the order of 250 mbits/sec with Firewire. (v. real rates
of about 90 Mbps on the Ethernet. Which is damned fast. ... remember
20 MB hard disks? More than one of those per second... Firewire cables
cannot be as long as Ethernet, of course.

I recently bought a 500 GB for backups and was dismayed that I could not
get it (at the store where I had a $130 credit from a X-mas drawing) in
Firewire. As it's for backup, I settled on the USB 2 version. Very
decent for backups.

The 'next' network (Ethernet) is 1000 mbits/sec (1 Gbit/sec) ... but not
available in appliances (yet, anyway), it's more for networks/servers,
etc., so far at least. Requires a higher quality standard than
"ordinary" ethernet cable.

SATA is even faster with burst speeds of 3 Gbps... but its domain is
mainly (only?) disk drives AFAIK.

Cheers,
Alan

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"Paul Furman" wrote in message
. net...
Ron Recer wrote:

"ASAAR" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:49:14 -0700, Paul Furman wrote:


For regular USB2 it Looks like $160 each, or maybe I get one NAS drive..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=500 gb+hard+drive&x=0&y=0
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/6538/Desktop_Drives.html/mnp/0.0/mxp/0.0/sortDrop/Price%3A+Low+to+High/iso/Y/pn/3

My 250GB drive is full & partial backup on a 15GB drive. Laptop is full.
Maybe add a firewire port or something?

Several weeks ago Staples had 500GB Western Digital external USB2
drives on sale for $129, which came as a surprise since this area
usually has higher than average prices. I prefer the slightly
larger Seagate external drives which have both USB2 and Firewire
ports, but they're no longer stocked by any of the computer stores
that use to sell them. I'd go for a firewire port if you can get
one for the Dell laptop, or a SCSI host adapter if you want to make
Rita happy. g

I am using a Western Digital MyBook 1 TB external drive. It is actually
2 500 GB drives that can be used as a 1 TB drive or as a 500 GB RAID 0,
which is the mode I am using it in. It supports USB2 plus 2 FireWire
modes.

Can this be carried around on trips? I'm guessing the RAID 0 means it
keeps a steady backup?

No, RAID 0 has no redundancy so he is twice as likely to lose his external
drive (if he loses one drive of the pair he has lost everything). I'd
rather have two 500GB drives or have an external drive capable of RAID 1
(which is mirroring).

I have been using the USB2 connection and have been satisfied with the
speed.

I don't really have any sense of the speed of:

Theoretical interface speeds off the top of my head (keep in mind real world
speeds are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay slower when talking about harddrives
since the actual harddrive controllers and hardware are nowhere near as fast
as the interfaces):

usb - 1.5 MBps (12 Mbps)
usb2 - 60 MBps (480 Mbps)
firewire - up to 98 MBps (Firewire800)
network - up to 125 MBps (1000 Mbps)
SATA - 300 MBps scsi - up to 640 MBps
FC - up to 2000 MBps

Keep in mind no harddrives will keep up with those speeds except for USB
1.1. There are also CPU utilization issues and bandwidth sharing issues.
SCSI and FC have the lowest CPU utilization and provide the most bandwidth
for multiple harddrives on a bus (15 harddrives for a SCSI bus and 126 for a
single FC loop and millions on a FC fabric).

Greg
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On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:26:23 GMT, Paul Furman
wrote:

Can this be carried around on trips? I'm guessing the RAID 0 means it
keeps a steady backup? I think I like the idea of separate drives, one
of them a faster network drive, the other constantly backed up &
portable by usb. They don't make usb powered drives that big that I know.

RAID 0 is not for security, but for speed.
It has a failure rate that is higher than for single drives, since
each drive in a RAID 0 array adds to the expected failure rate of the
whole array. IF ONE drive fails, all data is lost.
For this reason, RAID 0 should only be used for temporary storage of
files. If, for example, you use a RAID 0 in your video editing work,
when the final product is done, it should be moved off the array as
soon as possible, to reduce the risk of loss.
RAID 1 is done for security, but offers no added speed at all, and is
available with most dual-drive enclosures.

--
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