Storage/External Hard Drives

by **UTwiz** on Mon Aug 09, 2010 2:36 pm

This should probably go in the Ask forum, but oh well.

So I need to get serious about backing up all of these pictures and videos we are taking of Cooper. Anyone have any suggestions for the best way to go about this? I want to be able to interface easily with any storage facility (Stacey will be the one doing it most of the time, so it needs to be really simple). Obviously we are also interested in protecting from loss/damage. We invested in a premium account for an on-line storage/sharing site, but want that to be more of a sharing site (and use as a secondary storage site).

So I ask for opinions/suggestions on the best hard drives out there. Strictly for pictures and videos (no gaming), user friendly, portable, enough space to hold us for a while, preferably a quick transfer.

Thoughts?

by **Drew Corleone** on Mon Aug 09, 2010 3:28 pm

I use the HG Passport. It works great for me.

by **HornMafia** on Mon Aug 09, 2010 4:37 pm

HD passport. Did a lot of research before I bought one and everything said that was the way to go. Just plug and go.

by **Drew Corleone** on Mon Aug 09, 2010 4:58 pm

Oops. HD.

by **U2-Horn** on Mon Aug 09, 2010 5:32 pm

Passport + Acronis True Image

by **Makaveli** on Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:06 pm

I've had one of those passport deals for awhile and it works great and is very simple to use.

I tried to upgrade to a Iomega NAS 2TB Drive to attach to the network about 6-7 months ago. To this point I still have not been able to put a file on it. Actually I thought I did once but I don't think it worked. I can't be sure because none of the devices in the house are able to access it for more than a few seconds before it gets lost again. It freaking blows my mind how complicated it is to use that thing. I have read the entire manual 2-3 times and scoured the internet trying to figure out how to use it. I cannot do it.

by **Makaveli** on Sun Aug 15, 2010 10:35 pm

UPDATE: After being inspired I spent two hours and tried again tonight.

I thought I moved about 6 GB of iTunes Files over to the NAS Drive. And I actually got my WDTV Live to play 1 of the songs. The only problem is it doesn't seem to notice any of the rest of them there. When I view the folder from some computers you can see the whole damn thing but from others, including the WDTV device, it only shows that one song. Well, of course, it's 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny". So I can listen to that, over and over, which is progress.

Go with the Passport.

by **dahorns** on Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:27 am

I purchased a Seagate 320 Gig from newegg
really like, backed-p all of our photos and loaded a bunch of music
easy to use
very portable

Instead of burning CDs of family photos as our back up I use the seagate external HD now.

purchase couple months ago when newegg was having a sale.
CNET reviews, etc had a lot of positive reviews about seagate, for what it's worth

by **UTwiz** on Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:41 am

Thanks everyone.

by **eochs** on Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:41 am

Makaveli wrote:UPDATE: After being inspired I spent two hours and tried again tonight.

I thought I moved about 6 GB of iTunes Files over to the NAS Drive. And I actually got my WDTV Live to play 1 of the songs. The only problem is it doesn't seem to notice any of the rest of them there. When I view the folder from some computers you can see the whole damn thing but from others, including the WDTV device, it only shows that one song. Well, of course, it's 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny". So I can listen to that, over and over, which is progress.

Go with the Passport.

Are those iTunes files purchased from iTunes? Or from ripping cd's or downloading songs? Purchased songs might not play on any non Apple device (iTunes, iPod, iPhone, etc...)

by **Makaveli** on Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:09 pm

that one is not, but many of them are. However I have burned them all to disk and then re-imported them into iTunes to strip off the security. That's not the issue.

The issue is the Iomega NAS is too complicated. I just replaced it today after being inspired by this thread. I got a D-Link Router that has the ability to put a hard drive onboard, which I did.

I'm going to take a hammer to the Iomega just in case there's personal files on their that I don't know about.

With all that said, the D-Link DIR=-685 is pretty cool. I mounted it above the On-Q cabinet so it has great wireless speed/coverage, a 500 GB 2.5 SATA hard drive I plugged into it that is now accessible from any device in the house, and the coolest part is it functions as some sort of online photo frame using framechannel. Right now it's alternating between Stock quotes, Reuters top Headlines, Current Weather, 3-Day Forecast, and some pictures of my backyard. I like this thing.