External hard drive storage

[Mokele]

Ok, my lab is thinking about getting some external USB2.0/firewire harddrives to store data on, because we're using a ****load of memory up with all the video clips we use for motion analysis.

 

Is there anything in particular we need to know about these things before we buy one? Subtle flaws, tricks to working with them?

 

Are there particular brands that are very good or very bad?

 

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Mokele

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I would actually suggest a network hard drive if you have a network. If you have a firewall, it can be a pain to set up, but once you get it they're great.

 

Look for drives with Ethernet ports, as those are the network drives.

 

 

I'd also like to point out that you can also buy an external enclosure and mount your own drive inside. It's not as easy, but it means you have more freedom over what sort of drive you'd like to use (any regular desktop drive would work) and what you want it to look like.

 

edit: I recommend Iomega.

[5614]

If you did get external then you'd want USB2 and not USB, but you said that... they're quite simple things really.

 

I spose you could check the rpm rating of the HDD (hard drive disk) itself. What I mean is that inside a HDD there is the actual data part which spins, so the standard spin is 7200rpm, you really do not want slower than this and faster isn't soo comon, so basically just get a 7200rpm one. 90% of HDDs being sold today are 7200rpm anyway, it's something that most people don't look for or care about really.

 

As for names, well, anyone really. Maxtor & Western Digital spring to my mind.

[Mokele]

Well, the trick is that we have 2 networks, and they don't connect (and often don't connect within the network). The idea behind the external hard drives is that they'd be easily portable (the 2 networks are in different places), and each of us could keep their personal video clips on their external HD.

 

The external enclosures sound good, though. They'll work with any desktop drive and through USB or firewire?

 

Thanks!

Mokele

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Yes, I think most of the external enclosures will take an ATA or IDE drive and let you use USB or FireWire with them.

 

Although you have to be very careful when the drive is running, as normal hard drives aren't designed to be bounced around--you could scratch the disk and ruin your data if you move it too much.

 

edit: \/ what he said down there

[5614]

I think what he means by "external enclosure" would be the type of thing which you plug your internal HDD into and then it has a USB cable coming out of it. The idea is that you can use your internal (IDE) HDD disk through a USB port.

 

It's an internal to external or IDE to USB converter.

 

If that isn't what he means, well, you could buy one of these!

[Mokele]

Thanks for all the input guys! We're gonna likely go with some commercial Iomega 250 GB units, rather than anything fancy, though I suggested the network drive as a possibility for another function, and my prof seemed receptive to it.

 

Mokele