Another external hard drive recommendation

Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
I thought I lost my hard that has all my photos on it when I went down to Florida this week. Discovered where it was hiding when I got back. Got me to thinking. I periodically back up all my edited photos on a thumb drive. All my files directly from the camera go on a 2TB HDD as the SSD in my computer is too small for that. I would like to have two external HDs, one that is constantly hooked up to the computer, and one for easy backup of all image files, including NEFs and all the images I didn't think were good enough to mess with. I do need to start discarding obviously unsuitable files, but that's another issue.

Since I am reading the files from the external when loading them into Topaz, LR, or PS, I am thinking about getting an SSD. First question is will the USB connection negate the faster read speed of an SSD? The second question is whether the extra speed is worth spending twice as much? The third is that I've heard that SSDs don't have a long shelf life, and is that true?

After that I'm looking at brands. I've always gotten WD and Seagate, but I know that brands change pretty quickly in the tech arena.

I'm torn between a 2TB SSD and a 4TB HDD. I currently have my 2TB half full after two years of shooting, and could probably cut that in half or better getting rid of the junk images.
 
BF Hammer

BF Hammer

Senior Member
SSD and HDD each have their unique features.

With SSD, there is no mechanical parts. Files read and write to memory instantly without waiting for parts to move. Also because of this it is far better in a portable role since mechanical shock is less of thing. The main weakness of SSD is that there is a finite amount of times a memory cell can be written to before that cell will not change state again. The control logic of the SSD will lock-out memory cells that are used-up and it will continue to work, with less capacity. I have SSD's in use with PCs that are over 4 years old now and are not locking out cells yet.

HDD we know and are used to, but frankly they fail and are not any better in that regard than SSD. The more they move their parts, the quicker they fail. And 2.5 inch laptop HDD being more robust against shock is pure myth. I have dissected many 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch drives and the truth is that all the parts of a 2.5 inch drive are smaller and more delicate.

And the other truth here is USB v1 and v2 is slower than a typical HDD write speed, way slower than SSD speeds. USB v3 will keep up.
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
As we speak, I'm in the process of integrating a new Seagate 8T drive... As to your question regarding SSD speed. Yes, they're fast. Very fast, when directly connected to a very fast USB port... those speeds drop off considerably when daisy-chained out thru a hub,,, I chose a Seagate Ironwolf drive because they're used in data centers and have a better construction that typical consumer drives... They're designed to run continuously for long periods of time... A hard drive enclosure in <$30 and you can find them with any flavor of USB that you want. The next step up from there is a NAS with multiple drives that's accessible across the network and allows you to swap drives in an out and run different flavors of RAID.
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
Fred, I heard someone, probably on Youtube, talking about Crucial brand drives. Are they worth considering? They aren't one of the traditional drive manufacturers I'm familiar with, but these days brands change fast, and I haven't really been in the loop on this for a long time. I can get a Crucial brand 2 TB SSD, for about the same price as a WD 4TB HDD.
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Clovishound said:
Fred, I heard someone, probably on Youtube, talking about Crucial brand drives. Are they worth considering? They aren't one of the traditional drive manufacturers I'm familiar with, but these days brands change fast, and I haven't really been in the loop on this for a long time. I can get a Crucial brand 2 TB SSD, for about the same price as a WD 4TB HDD.
Click to expand...
I've used them for a few years now... I've replaced about a dozen different Mac and Mac Laptop drives with Crucial SSDs... They're pretty good about having videos that show step-by-step process in replacing drives with their SSDs
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
Thanks, I was a little concerned that they were somewhat cheaper than the old name brands, but that doesn't always mean lower quality.

I may be sorry for not getting a larger drive, but right now I could get two of the Crucial drives for less then a single 4TB. And one of those is more than I really want to spend right now, anyway. In a couple years when I will likely need more drive space, they should be cheaper per TB. Plus, there is something to be said for all your eggs in one hard drive.
 
BF Hammer

BF Hammer

Senior Member
Clovis, just checking on your homework: You do know that the faster and less expensive SSD drives come in the compact M.42 form-factor and interface? They are just a small board with memory chips, similar to RAM. The SATA type that come in 2.5 inch size package are just to work on older computers that don't take M.42. Don't be surprised by a USB SSD that would look like a slightly larger thumb drive.
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
Thanks for the heads up, but these days a smaller than expected digital storage device is not a huge surprise or concern. When you can put 256 GB on a micro SD card, less than half the size of my thumbnail, extremely small storage devices should not be reason for consternation.
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
He's correct...just make sure you understand the interface those M.2 chips sit in... as far as heat dissipation and cooling. They run hot. REAL hot. :(
 
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