+1

I've bought Western Digital for years without issues. I've always stayed away from Seagate because I've SEEN failed more often. However, just bought two 2 TB externals from Seagate at Costco because they were $85 each. I'm basically using one as the back up for the other one. Will make my own thread if I experience failure from either.

nm

I will never stop stressing this. DO NOT buy WD external HDs for djing. They are NOT the best at all and not even close. Y'all have gotten lucky. I've done data recovery on a ton of those and the seagate ones. They suck.

Buy yourself a g-drive mini. They're great because they have a heat sink on the bottom and vents as well. Great for hotter environments.

Gio Alex , what your thoughts on the BUFFALO miniStation 2 TB Thunderbolt with USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive which i currently own. Good or bad ?
www.amazon.com

I think the price is great, but the question is what drive is in there and then even more important, are the ports soldered to the board/hard drive? This is/was a problem the cheap encrypted external drives that WD and Seagate made. Basically if the port failed you could not remove the drive and use another enclosure since the port was part of the drive. Ridiculous. I guess it cut on cost for them, but now you would enter this complex recovery process. You can always tell because they were always the super slim ones. I do think venting or aluminum is a good thing for drives you'll be using for performance. Imagining if our mbps did not have vents or a heatsink.

In addition to your question, the Buffalo miniStation pricing is really sus to me. Just having a thunderbolt enclosure alone usually throws things in a $200 price range, then you have a 2TB 2.5HD in there. So I'm guessing it's a 5400RPM and not a 7200RPM. I'd love to gut one and see the inside.

I think it may be a great drive for quick back ups, but not so much for performance.

I've you want to save $$$, and you need/want thunderbolt, and want a cooler (as in cold) enclosure I'd go for the Akitio joints. If not, a G-drive mini.

www.akitio.com

I don't think they make a G-Drive mini in thunderbolt, not sure why. They do make a portable thunderbolt version of the g-drive but it's not a mini. The mini has the vents and heat sink.

www.g-technology.com

If you got mad money to blow, then thunderbolt or usb 3 SSD is the way to go. FFFFFASSSST! Then you can get an elgato or promise drive. Or any brand for that matter to be honest.

With a proper back up system (and you should ALWAYS HAVE A BACK UP SYSTEM), there is no need for recovery.

nm

This is very true, but you know damn well how people roll. Also, most people are not bringing two external drives with them. Think about it.

It's not that all hard drives don't fail, because they all do. It's just that certain ones are prone to failure. Better to be on the safe side. I have multiple back ups, but who wants to use a shitty drive for performance?

Been using Western Digital years and had zero issues (on a pc though). Had been researching for a Thunderbolt to store videos and decided on a G-Drive by G-Technology. The 7200 rpm won me over..because my work horse WD was 7200rpm.
www.g-technology.com

The comments about the Buffalo Thunderbolt I also heard/researched the same thing. Essentially the 3.0 and Thunderbolt shared speeds and like the user said, maybe not the best for a strictly performance external.

The slight to the GDrive mobile was maybe it could have been better at 2TB and not the 1TB that it comes in.

how do you know the drives weren't from user error? Like dropping them or not taking care of them properly.

So anyone had luck finding an empty buspowered thunderbolt enclosure yet?
If not, any good tips on usb3.0 buspowered enclosures? I got 2 ssd's that id like to enclose, a samsung 1tb evo840 and a crucial 512gb m4. Looking for advice.

Thanks, Warp.

They're not cheap but that company Akitio makes them. You should hit them up. Thunderbolt wise.
USB 3.0 enclosures are easy to find. A ton of companies make them. Owc, Acomdata, Akitio... The list goes on.

I personally have used the Akitio ones.

You can always also buy one of these and remove the hard drive.
eshop.macsales.com

Not sure why thunderbolt enclosures are impossible to find. Akitio makes them but they don't advertise them. You should call and ask.

Here are some usb 3.0 ones:

Notice the aluminum casing and heatsink... great for performance.
www.akitio.com
www.akitio.com
www.akitio.com

Some of them were because of that, but it's also because they are cheap drives. The whole soldered port on the hard drive thing is pretty stupid. Trust me on this, I spent years seeing this. It's not like this has happened a few times. I did this for a living. Now, I'm not saying better drives won't fail. There's always user error and there are always malfunctions when it comes to electronics. But there are drives that are less susceptible to failure.

That is just the enclosure (unless G-drive makes their own drives???) - what brand Hard Drive do they typically include inside the G-drive - just curious?

I have been fucking with computers since 1995 (non professional) and every drive that I have ever had fail (2 or 4) have been Seagates

This is true, but the enclosure matters as much as the drive. But very good question. For the longest they were using hitachi. I'm not sure if that's still the case. All drive companies might be using seagates these days, but there are always different tires. Seagate momentus have been really crap drives for a long time. But things change a lot.

I have a G-Tech now . Sad that it only comes in 1TB for now. Thanks all for responses.

.....g-techs come in bigger sizes than 1tb

Not the G-Drive Mini though.

WD

NO. ^

Yes

doubts it

Just as some background I purchased over 300 HDD's last year alone. Some wholesale but over 200 were retail believe it or not. Just a little footage including Best Buy activity as well as some pictures of what I have this very minute www.dropbox.com

Anyways the point is I have a little more than a little bit of experience with external HDD's LOL.

Here are some interesting things I learned -

Copying 1 TB (actual about 910 GB as I leave room for optimal performance)
1 TB, USB 3.0 External Drives.

Toshiba Canvio Slim II takes 4 hours 30 Minutes
Toshiba Canvio Connect takes 5 hours & 45 minutes
WD My Passport Ultra takes 4 hours 30 Mins. +/-
WD My Passport Takes 4 hours 10 mins. (+/- a few mins)
Seagate Expansion Takes 4 hours
Seagate Backup Plus Slim takes 3 hours 20 mins.
G-Technology G-Drive Takes 4 hours

Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt (HDD) not SSD) Takes 2 hours 45 minutes

Seagate is substantially the fastest USB 3.0 drive.
WD's have a substantially longer average lifespan.
Toshiba's are slow and do not stand up to normal abuse.
WD performs faster with Windows than Mac.
WD's run the coolest.
WD, Toshiba & G-technology have the longest (3 year) default warranty.
Toshiba has the best support when you need said warranty service.

These are all based on basic consumer USB 3.0 exlernal drives found at Best Buy, Apple Store, Target & Wal-Mart, etc. I understand there are better drives out there but these are the basics and most popular.


I use all brands and keep no less than 5 backups at any time. I won't bother giving my advice as everyone has their own needs/wants but I will say speed is most important to me so naturally Seagate becomes the obvious choice.

You do realize that we're speaking of performance drives and not back up purposes right? @djdave

Also I did this for a living. When it comes to back ups it doesn't matter as much. I'm speaking about using hare drives for running music/videos. Not a drive you back up to and put away till the next back up.

You also didn't mention glyph. They have the best warranty of all. They cover data recovery as part or their 3 yr warranty.

I didn't mention glyph or buffalo or others as they are not common drives. Just as a sidenote I keep five backups. I assure you the rest of these HUNDREDS of drives are not backups at all and in reality become an individuals primary drive in most cases and I am ONLY familiar with which ones fail etc. because of this. Did you really think I've had experiences with failing drives by employing occasional backups?

I just chose the 910GB database transfer as a universal way to show which drive performs the fastest using a single standard source which does prove its point quite well as this is the only way to show real world read/write speeds without software/hardware analysis. I can go a step further and say the Seagate definitely is fastest but I can not explain why. I literally have no idea why. Internally they are all 5400 rpm drives with similar (almost identical) architecture. Even their USB controllers (some built in and direct, some SATA/USB adapting) are similar in build. Again I don't want to try and add much of my opinions as I can see them flying back and forth plenty here on this thread as it is. Personal experiences and what not leaves just about nothing but variables so I am trying to bring a more controlled assessment is all. None of this is by any means meant to be taken as gospel. These are the numbers I came up with using all four of my current MacBook Pro's (actually the majority was with 3 of my current MBP's and one that I don't use anymore as it has since been replaced by a newer model) but I am not guaranteeing it will be the same for you.

I have no biases and for personal use I don't use any of these with the exception of the Lacie thunderbolt which I know I could catch an earful because of the personal experiences of some. Mine has been great and I am glad I come up with my own. I also use G-Technology thunderbolt.

Again if this doesn't help simply dismiss it. If it does great. I'm not trying to pass any of this off as "hey get this because I said so".

Out of curiosity if you had to choose a USB 3.0 drive which would you say is the fastest in your experience?

I got an Firewire 800 enclosure and used a WD 750gb Black Edition drive for now since I couldn't get them in anything larger.

You find the Firewire fast enough for you?

LOL Business not personal (Royalty free media) but the majority of people want personal receipts thus the reason for retail. It is still possible with wholesale but being I am not an authorized retailer the whole transferable warranty thing becomes an issue............ I think at least............ just didn't care to find out. It also became an issue of an ever changing library so mass producing became more of an issue. Trust me I have considered drive duplicators but with the rate I sold them to how often I had to update it just wasn't worth it. I don't have the time anymore anyways...................

No that would not be royalty free. I keep 5 backups though which I must constantly update as well obviously.

Thanks for sharing dave. And I gotta agree, Thunderbolt is just so much faster.
Great performance on my LaCie 256GB SSD TB (for visuals), but needing more space.
Contemplating an external 500 or even 1TB SSD TB....

I'll get back to you once I get to work @djdave. Good discussion.

I just recently swapped my hardrive out for a 2TB made by Seagate "Back Up Plus Slim" .....its pretty easy just backup your current hardrive to it...boot up from the external...and then swap them out. The only slightly difficult part was moving my Serato libraries

The thing about usb 3.0 is most of my experience was with ssd usb 3.0 drives since I was using them to image hundreds of machines a week at the time. It was just faster to use those. Not cheap but EXTREMELY fast. Faster than thunderbolt in my experience. Especially if you're imaging from ssd to ssd. For instance the drive to a macbook air or retina. I was using the LaCie thunderbolt SSDs, which where the least expensive ones out of all the other brands.

I also had experience with the promise ssd series ones as well, but those were used for performance purposes.

As far as backing up goes this tends to matter less because you're letting the drive sit there and do it's own thing so I tend to say go ahead and go cheap if you're looking at a back up drive. Buy multiples if you have to.

When it comes to performance, the enclosure matters because drives get hot and without proper cooling a drive can and will fail. This is why I prefer a metal/aluminum enclosure.

Not sure if you read the part I wrote about the seagate or WD small portable drives that have the ports soldered onto the drive being an issue too.

More than fast enough, I use this solely for videos.

Good to know. I am assuming you use an older MacBook or do they have adapters to convert? I never got into Firewire as only one of my laptops had the connection but I went straight to USB 3.0 when I had the option. That and thunderbolt obviously. So if firewire 800 works with videos than even the slowest USB 3.0 drive should suffice as USB 3.0 is about twice as fast (real world) as firewire supposedly. Kinda blows a hole in my logic about Seagates being the best choice (again in my experience) as the WD 3.0's would be more than fast enough if FW800 is.

That sounds so insulting. I hope you know what my intentions are and what I am trying to get at. Not that your shit is inferior in any way.................. just trying to use the info you just gave me to make a better assessment on what I know already is all.

I didn't take that way at all. Yeah have a late 2011 Macbook Pro. So this I needed the port for Video and I always have two devices connected to the usb ports I had nothing left for ports.

So I decided to go with Firewire 800 since it was the last port free.

Also, I wanted to use my own caddy and black edition drive since they have fall sensors. I had two unfortunately accidents last year that my drives survived both times.

I decided to stick with this model since.

This is the enclosure, www.vantecusa.com

I forgot to mention it has USB 3.0 as well.

I figured you didn't just had to be sure :) I went from 2008 (0r 2007, can;t remember off hand) right to 2012 so I had the USB 3.0 option. I think if I had a 2011 I would have gotten into FW800.................. not for nothing I probably should have with the 2008.

That's one COOL enclosure............... pun intended LOL. Nice.

Oh I should mention the adapter. I had to use one of those startec 3.5" to 2.5" hardrive adapters.

The 2.5 drive slides into the 3.5 casing that's shaped like hardrive and has the ports in the correct positions to mount into a 3.5 enclosure.

Good to know as I noticed the Black series comes in both mobile and desktop sizes. I am assuming the adapter has slots or holes all over it for cooling purposes?

This is the adapter, ca.startech.com

I know it seems a bit pricey, but it created a very light, fall proof solution.

Hmm not what I expected at all. Seems most are similar to this though. I would have though a swiss cheese/ grid build would be more like it. Maybe it is designed to have the air flow to the right areas.

I'm not sure how the internal configuration is considering heat sinks. But I do know that 2.5" drives do run much cooler than the 3.5's.

Due to their typical RPM difference correct.

What are your thoughts on these?

G-Drive EV 220 vs Lacie 2tb Thunderbolt vs Lacie triple usb 3.0 and FireWire

Also on the g drive is it that much bigger. No stores around me carry to see. I get a great price from a friend with a discount so I'm just curios on your thoughts.

Thanks

Looking to get a USB 3.0 Portable Hard drive as i'm doing videos now.

I currently have a Lacie 2TB Thunderbolt which i partitioned into two for videos and music. I intend to keep this drive as my Music only drive and get a 4TB for videos. The video partition is filling up as expected. I considered just dedicating the entire 2TB to videos but i'm sure i will fill it up in another year or so.

I know lacie has a 4Tb option but the 100% price difference between the USB 3 and Thunderbolt option isnt exactly in my budget. I'm also going to buy a Thunderbolt dock with more USB 3 ports. Thats a one off purchase and i can stay on the USB 3 HD lane. Cant really justify the Thunderbolt tax.

So which manufacturers are recommended now?

I checked G-Tech and they dont make drives more than 3TB in USB 3.0 portable.

I know all drives fail at some point. I do have back ups to a desktop HD.

Thing is, you probably wont find a 4tb usb drive buspowered.
I have that Lacie 4TB rugged raid, it runs on bus power while using thunderbolt, but needs external power when running the usb3 port. So basically, apart from cost & size, and "ruggedness" you dont gain that much from the usb port IMO.

This is bus powered www.amazon.co.uk

Seagate i know.

The Lacie 4TB Rugged is 310 pounds here. www.amazon.co.uk

Cheap too, wonder what the transfer speed is on those Seagate drives?
And yeah, thats the LaCie I have. (Well, one of the many I have...)

I am using samsung TS HDD. It is cheap and provide 540/ mbs transfer rate. moreover it comes connector so I won’t have to buy it extra.
www.thecrazybuyers.com

I think you are using the T5 not TS and it is an SSD not HDD.