External Hard Drive Recommendations?

[CC268]

Hey guys,

 

I've been shooting quite a bit of 4K footage lately (I don't do this professionally, just for personal use e.g. vacations, etc) and I really need something to archive old footage as my 1TB HD on my desktop is full.

 

The amount of options out there is a bit overwhelming. I do like the Lacie Rugged HDs, but you do pay a bit of a premium for them. The other option is to go with normal HDs and then buy a docking station for them. I originally thought about going with an NAS system like Synology, but that gets expensive quick. 

 

What do you guys recommend?

 

Thanks!

[Wh0_Am_1]

Well external HDD are just an HDD in a fancy enclosure, but you tend to get a better value on the external HDDs. I currently I would recommend picking up this 8tb unit from Seagate for $140 USD it also has an included USB hub built in with 2 USB ports.

[Fullmental]

18 minutes ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

Well external HDD are just an HDD in a fancy enclosure, but you tend to get a better value on the external HDDs. I currently I would recommend picking up this 8tb unit from Seagate for $140 USD it also has an included USB hub built in with 2 USB ports.

If you have any desire to shuck the drive from this enclosure down the road, I'd get the Expansion Desktop model instead, it's much easier to open up the enclosure on this one and I think it uses faster drives instead of the archive drives in the other model:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STEB8000100/dp/B01HAPGEIE/

 

At least, the 5TB model I have of that ^ was a desktop HDD and not an archive one. Of course, if an archive drive is more for your use case, then it might not matter as much.

[TheEpicDuck]

If you're buying a 2.5" drive i would go with Seagate since they use SATA to usb adapters inside. I've tried Toshiba and WD and they are USB only.

[CC268]

14 minutes ago, Fullmental said:

If you have any desire to shuck the drive from this enclosure down the road, I'd get the Expansion Desktop model instead, it's much easier to open up the enclosure on this one and I think it uses faster drives instead of the archive drives in the other model:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STEB8000100/dp/B01HAPGEIE/

 

At least, the 5TB model I have of that ^ was a desktop HDD and not an archive one. Of course, if an archive drive is more for your use case, then it might not matter as much.

Thanks - someone else actually recommended this same model. I wasn't aware that the drives are actually removable/replaceable? Would be nice if it was at least USB 3.1, but I suppose that isn't a big deal.

 

Other option is to buy some Seagate Barracuda's and a docking bay. That might be overkill for just storage though?

[CC268]

14 minutes ago, TheEpicDuck said:

If you're buying a 2.5" drive i would go with Seagate since they use SATA to usb adapters inside. I've tried Toshiba and WD and they are USB only.

Yea Seagate seems like the way to go.

[Fullmental]

1 minute ago, CC268 said:

Thanks - someone else actually recommended this same model. I wasn't aware that the drives are actually removable/replaceable? Would be nice if it was at least USB 3.1, but I suppose that isn't a big deal.

 

Other option is to buy some Seagate Barracuda's and a docking bay. That might be overkill for just storage though?

Nah, I'd just get the external drive because it's cheaper, honestly. The equivalent internal desktop drive is $199 if you buy it on its own. Now, you know exactly what you're going to get with that purchase, but that's a $60 premium.

 

It's up to you if you want to spend that extra money, but personally I wouldn't. You also definitely don't need USB 3.1 for a mechanical drive, that would really only matter if you had an SSD. The drive will hit its mechanical limits long before it hits even half the USB 3.0 bandwidth cap.

[CC268]

43 minutes ago, Fullmental said:

Nah, I'd just get the external drive because it's cheaper, honestly. The equivalent internal desktop drive is $199 if you buy it on its own. Now, you know exactly what you're going to get with that purchase, but that's a $60 premium.

 

It's up to you if you want to spend that extra money, but personally I wouldn't. You also definitely don't need USB 3.1 for a mechanical drive, that would really only matter if you had an SSD. The drive will hit its mechanical limits long before it hits even half the USB 3.0 bandwidth cap.

Thanks for the response! My only real complaint is I would prefer something that is removable/replaceable (hence my idea about a docking bay). 

 

Thanks for clarification on USB 3.0 vs. 3.1 - I forgot about the mechanical limit of the HD.