Hard drives?

[Graham]

  Ok. I'm looking to "tidy up" my storage system and I'm hoping you can help me spend some money.

       My current method is try to keep the HD in the PC free of pics and store them in 2x external HD's.
       Currently I have a WD MyBook 500gb and a Western Digital 400gb as backup. These are now about 3/4 full so I'm looking to replace them and increase capacity
       by getting 2X identical 1TB drives. I'm thinking I could poke a cable through the ceiling and keep one in the loft space away from Mr Burglar (Please say if there's a reason I should'nt do that.).
       I want them to be permanantly connected to the mains power and "Auto Start" when the PC starts up (The WD MyBook does that but the Freecom dos'nt.).
 
       So. What to get and where to get them?  I have no Brand loyalty to worry about and I just want them to store pics and nothing else.
       Please don't start talking about Raid Configerations or anything like that as I will get all confused and possibly become quite ill.
       Other than that any advice will be most welcome.
                       Thanks in advance.  Graham.
       
       

[picsfor]

As always budget comes in to this a bit.
The difference in cost between a 1tb and 1.5tb is not that great, eg - a 1tb Iomega drive will cost the same as a 1.5tb Western Digital.
That doesn't mean WD are any less as good - it's just one of those things.
To be honest i have a WD plugged in the back of my iMac for use with Time Machine and 2x Iomega drives with which to provide original copies of files as they come out of a camera and then the tiff, h-res and web jpg versions of a processed file.

I've never had any issue with any of them, though i've had concerns over Freecom drives and tend to steer clear of them nowadays.
I suspect the comments you get will very much come down to peoples personal experiences.

Where to buy? Amazon can be quite good. If you look in PC World during a Bank Holiday sale they've been known to offer EHD's as loss leaders...

As for Mr B. - i would have to advise against a loft, purely because in most house fires & similar, that is nearly always the one area that gets trashed. Not sure what your broadband situation is, but you could have a second EHD connected wirelessly and only switched on for back up via synchronisation. That way there'd be no cables to give the game away and it needs only to be switched on when you download or have processed some pictures to back up, and can be stored in a cupboard or similar out of sight..

Finally, what is wrong with putting a second drive inside your computer upon which you can put all your pictures. This will give the best and fastest access, and then use a single EHD to back up to.
You might find that this way you could not only save a bit, which might allow you to take the 1.5or 2tb route - but it will give you exactly the same sort of security and still leave you main C drive empty.

Next..

[anglefire]

I would go for Qnap NAS drives on GB Lan - probably twin bay job. And as Andrew says, put a 1tb (Or 1.5tb) drive in the PC and backup to the NAS drive.

As for loft, not sure I would.

[Jonathan]

What Anglefire said about the QNAP - except I prefer the single drive ones because they are fanless.

Re loft.  Hmm.  The fastest way to kill a hard drive is heat.  Most lofts get very hot or very cold (or both) so it's not ideal.

If you're worried about burglars then maybe go for physical security rather than concealment.  The Mac in the gallery is chained down with a bike chain.  A burglar could cut it in <10 mins (or much less if they damage the computer beyond resale) but I reckon they are more likely to pick up the stereo next to it and go.  Lots of enclosures have Kensington slots.  Bolt a staple into the wall and chain to those.  It won't stop a determined well equipped thief who comes looking for it but it will stop 99% of real burglars.

[Colin]

NAS drive connected by ethernet could be anywhere in the house but like the others I agree that the loft is a bad idea. The NAS drive could even be in a large cupboard or if you have a friendly neighbour even in their house with a properly routed cable.

[Graham]

    Thanks for the replies chaps, that's just the kind of help I'm looking for.
    I'm going to have to go and Google words like "Qnap" and "NAS drives" but that's all part of the fun.
    Regarding the loft thing, there was a bit of thinking out loud going on there and I can see that it's probably not the best idea what with the temperature range the dust and the badgers!
    Iv'e got LR3 and I'm trying not to play with it untill Iv'e sorted the storage and backup.
                   Thanks again.
                                                Graham.

[picsfor]

Iv'e got LR3 and I'm trying not to play with it untill Iv'e sorted the storage and backup.
                   Thanks again.
                                                Graham.

Good move on waiting with LR3 until you've sorted out the storage issue.
Try www.qnap.com - that should get you there.

NAS is a simple way of saying access storage via the internet. It means that your hard drive could be left round some one else's house which would mean you'd have to be damn unlucky to lose both h/d's at the same time...

[Graham]

  Oh right.
              Thanks for that and the link Andrew.
              I'm now thinking along the lines of a 1.5tb in the pooter and another 1.5tb external as backup, which seems the simplest solution (That NAS thingy sounds interesting though )
              I'll keep the loft for lofty type things, like the two 500gb spare EHD's I will then have!
                                          Cheers for now.   Graham.

[Colin]

NAS actually stands for Network Attached Storage. It conventionally means a drive that connects via an ethernet cable to your router and any computer on your network can see it. As it is connected to your router with some careful setup of the router it could be available over the internet. I have a NAS drive and my son uploads photos of my grandson to it for us. The thing to bear in mind for this is your internet upload speed, it could take a long time to upload large raw images to any internet storage device. QNAP is just a brand of NAS drive there are lots of others out there. I even saw a device this week that allows you to plug in up to 4 usb devices to a usb hub and then connect all four of them to your network via ethernet and it was only £35 IIRC.

[anglefire]

Qnap is just a brand as Colin says, but having had others, it is by far the best built and robust that I've found.

But they are not particularly cheap. The have GB connection, which does help, though it is still slow compared to an Esata drive for example.

What I also like about them, is that you can plug in a USB or ESata drive and backup the NAS drive to it - By 1Tb drive is set up this way, though I still have to get a second 1.5Tb drive to do this to the other NAS drive I have.

[Graham]

     Hi Mark.
                  Yes, I'm starting to get my head around it now.
                  I don't mind paying a bit extra if it gives me reliability and a bit of peace of mind, that's my attitude weather I'm buying cameras or frying pans.
                                     Cheers for now.
                                                   Graham.

[anglefire]

What Anglefire said about the QNAP - except I prefer the single drive ones because they are fanless.

The dual bay one I have does have a fan - but at least with one drive in, it doesn't make any more noise than the single bay unit.

In short, I wouldn't be put off by the fan - it is well controlled.