I'm thinking about doing the same thing. When I first started using Serato I had an external but once I moved to a Mac a few years ago I switched to internal. Now that I'm starting to do video I realize I need to go back to an external. I just hate that I'll have to give up one of my USB ports. I'm not a fan of USB hubs.

I am going to get one that connects via thunderbolt. Its faster and does not tie up my USB ports. It's a few bucks more, but I think it'll be worth it.

Hi guys,
I have been using an external ever since using SDJ ( more than seven years). No issues yet. I just though i'll you know.

Timtim.

Same here.

My entire library is on a 2 tb lacie rugged thunderbolt drive

I have two backs ups on two other USB 3 desktop drive.

How long have you had that LaCie. That is actually one of the drives I am debating on getting. The other is the Buffalo Ministation...

Have it for more than a year, not quite sure when I bought it. I know it's newer than my 2014 MBP.

I partitioned into two, a 500gb space for music only and 1.5gb for video.

Currently lookin at buying the 4tb version, it's just the price that's not too encouraging.

Ive had horrible experiences with Buffalo gear in my IT job. Bought a bunch of drives and a DVR system, all failed within 6 months.

May be better now but the name scares me still.

been rockin my 4tb seagate ext drive for over 4 years, and it's been working great!
it's the one where i can switch out adapters from firewire 800, to usb3 to thunderbolt so it's futureproof.

i have the the old (matte) version, and the new (shiny) version of 4tb's and they're both great.
i also have a 2tb portable drive that plugs off of my usb 3.0 hub

i use glyph 6 tb for 3 years now is thunderbolt and usb 3.0 is super fast and i don'thave any issue

Hey XCAKID,

What machine you running?

Macbook
i7 2.6Ghz
16GB DDR3 Memory
1TB SSD Hard Drive (almost 80% full cause of videos)
El Capitan

whats the model of it? like mine is a 2012 mid year, 9,1.

You could always upgrade to the 2tb SSD

Checking in.


Years. I've changed drives a few times, but I've been doing it for at least 7 years (to date).


Advantages:

- Portability.
- Easy maintenance.
- Having multiple offers the opportunity for simple plug-and-play backups.
- Simplicity of plug-and-play when using others equipment (especially when working with clubs which have all the equipment - computer included - already present).
- Some drives offer hardware AES encryption.

Disadvantages:

- One less USB Port (Not so much of a problem on most PC's, but Apple users may find themselves limited in cases where they only have 2 USB ports).
- Risk of dropping the drive.
- Power requirements (if you're using a 3.5" external drive, or if you have a low-powered USB port, though this has not really been an issue in almost a decade).
- Extra usage of the shared USB bus if only USB 2.0 ports are available. This is a non-factor with USB 3.0.
- Theft. (As with the laptop, someone could steal the individual drive)
- USB Cables -- more specifically, the risk of someone (usually a bad patron) accidentally moving the drive causing the cable to come loose.



- Poor quality control and/or wear-and-tear from plugging and unplugging the USB cable leads to a loose cable connection.

(Observation: Some drive manufacturers place the USB bus directly on the drive rather than using a USB-to-SATA adapter as part of the enclosure, raising the difficulty of recovery in the event of a USB port malfunction on the drive.)



- Seagate.
- Seagate.
- Seagate.

^i agree 90% of his statement with the exception of Seagate.

Personally, it's been my go to for 5+ years now. I've had a couple of other brands go out on me, and this one has not failed on me (yet).

The brand really just depends on the person's experience, so what I'm trying to say is experience may vary.. I think if you stick with one of the well reviewed brands, you should be ok.

I am a Seagate / Toshiba guy myself. Ive had so many western digitals fail on me. SSD = Samsung tho

Back up like weekly

For sure.

I use sync religiously now. www.getsync.com.

I have my master crates at home on an office machine. The masters get updated, then sync'd to my macbook pro's via wifi or ethernet directly.

If my macbook's get stolen, I have my main's at the pad.

Also, if anything happens to my main machine, I got my (2) backup macbook pro's to copy from.

I must note though, I turn off all networking hardware when I am updating my crates (after I download everything) to avoid syncing issues. Then after I am done and close serato and the coast is clear, I turn networking back on and it syncs with my master and backup macbook pro at the same time. It uses torrent technology, so it's pretty damn fast too.

memecrunch.com

Carbon copy cloner is what I use.

Hell the very first external HD I bought like six years ago still works. It's a WD 500gb. It's used as the car audio drive now.

So with drives I will always try to buy what has good reviews but I never take things for granted...every drive will fail at some point it's just a matter of time.

Indeed, I just purchased a seagate expansion 5tb for my asus router. Going to discard my externals now since its been a while.

I've had the same Lacie 1TB for about 6 years and the only problem I ever had was the thunderbolt cord I was using started to have contact issues....luckily I had a backup cord and I just switched. However, you never know when that "issue" will raise it's head, i.e. during a set, transit, etc....so you have to make that assessment rather quickly.

- I'm still using a 2009 MBP w/ a 500gb drive so over time, I needed the space because I use this same laptop for everything so space is key.

- The ability to copy/duplicate/clone using SuperDuper makes it super easy!!

- having to eject the HD every time you move is a very minor pain.

It's always a good idea to swap em out tho. I am pretty active weekly and try not to be too rough with my equipment, but any hard drives with moving platters that get moved around a lot will tend to wear out faster.

I am not saying that Lacie will fail you tomorrow, but it would be wise to swap it out sooner than later, especially with how cheap these 3tb slim drives are these days.

my bad, 2tb USB 3.0 drives.

- Seagate.
- Seagate.
- Seagate.


I have to agree with this statement. I have 2 external hdd's a WD & Seagate

The WD I have had for many years... at least 8 and still works as if it is brand new. Dropped it a number of times, never defragged or formatted it etc... Still works same as the day I bought it. The Seagate is just over a year old and just stopped working one day, no reason just up and corrupted 80% of the files I had stored on it. Never again will I purchase a seagate.

Maybe it's because I also run servers and computers at work, but Western Digital's have given me the worst luck ever.

Everyone has their own experiences I guess.

Negating the Bathtub Curve (i.e.: DOA drives), I've had the reverse experience (as has pretty much everyone I know, and this has been supported by Backblaze's (www.backblaze.com) data as well - though that's begun to turn around according to their last report). For years, Seagate drives have been problematic in my experience.

That said, WD drives have been more reliable over time for me; and I've been seeing even better things from HGST (which operates independently despite being owned by WD).

True that, that's my other option, HGST. Very reliable hard drives.

Problem solved!

www.amazon.com

Somewhere over the rainbow

Wow 1500 for a drive. That's beyond unnecessary for djing

big time, that's just showing off basically.

and.. yeh.. id probably do it if I could justify the cost.. maybe if I need a tax write off or something..

You forget about us video DJ's? ;)