External HDD failure ... and again

EODWTF · Mar 3, 2010, 07:09 AM

I have gone through a few external hard drives in my time and I'm tired of it. First my Western Digital MyBook failed, then my WD Passport, and now my 1.5TB Seagate FreeAgent Desk.....in each situation I opted out of paying for data retrieval specialists .... this most recent failure was a major hit though, I lost years of music collection (18GB) and a super large movie collection (850GB)...so I'm pretty mad. What is the safe solution? I was looking into purchasing an external RAID setup like the new Iomega StorCenter ix2-200. What do most of you guys trust as far as your data? I don't have a desktop, both my computers are notebooks so external would have to be the way to go. If it factors in at all, the majority of the reason I need space is my tendency to download movies and watch them over HDMI to my TV. Should I go with a Western Digital TV or one of those MediaGates?? Maybe the new Boxee box or keep playing HDMI out of my laptop?

Fantasma · Mar 4, 2010, 04:31 PM

My experience says that external storage tends to break easily. Personally, I prefer internal hard disks or large usb flash devices, as they seem to be more robust.

procupine14 · Mar 5, 2010, 07:02 PM

RAID setups are quite expensive. But if that is the way you would like to go it is a quite viable solution. Unfortunately, external HDDs have had a higher fail rate that internal computer drives in my experience as well. I'm not really sure why other than the simple fact that they are always in a small space where lots of heat can build up. The only real solution would be to have multiple copies of your data across multiple devices or to go with a RAID setup to ensure that you do not lose your data in the event of a drive failure. I can't really tell you flat out one way or another about what would work better for your scenario seeing as it is almost a personal preference thing. I personally, have a RAID5 setup in the same case as my Home Theater PC but I am also running a dedicated tower HTPC, not a laptop so that is the main difference there. I will try to answer any of your questions on the subject though.

ET3D · Mar 5, 2010, 08:38 PM

At least for the music, I'd suggest doing a DVD backup. That's really not a lot of data, so no reason to lose it all just because a disk has failed.

Mar 3, 2010, 07:09 AM	#1
EODWTF HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	External HDD failure ... and again I have gone through a few external hard drives in my time and I'm tired of it. First my Western Digital MyBook failed, then my WD Passport, and now my 1.5TB Seagate FreeAgent Desk.....in each situation I opted out of paying for data retrieval specialists .... this most recent failure was a major hit though, I lost years of music collection (18GB) and a super large movie collection (850GB)...so I'm pretty mad. What is the safe solution? I was looking into purchasing an external RAID setup like the new Iomega StorCenter ix2-200. What do most of you guys trust as far as your data? I don't have a desktop, both my computers are notebooks so external would have to be the way to go. If it factors in at all, the majority of the reason I need space is my tendency to download movies and watch them over HDMI to my TV. Should I go with a Western Digital TV or one of those MediaGates?? Maybe the new Boxee box or keep playing HDMI out of my laptop?

Mar 4, 2010, 04:31 PM	#2
Fantasma HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Lorca (Spain) Posts: 757 Rep Power: 63 System Specs	Re: External HDD failure ... and again My experience says that external storage tends to break easily. Personally, I prefer internal hard disks or large usb flash devices, as they seem to be more robust.

Mar 5, 2010, 07:02 PM	#3
procupine14 Why is it Beeping!?!?! Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: USA, Missouri Posts: 1,400 Rep Power: 58 System Specs	Re: External HDD failure ... and again RAID setups are quite expensive. But if that is the way you would like to go it is a quite viable solution. Unfortunately, external HDDs have had a higher fail rate that internal computer drives in my experience as well. I'm not really sure why other than the simple fact that they are always in a small space where lots of heat can build up. The only real solution would be to have multiple copies of your data across multiple devices or to go with a RAID setup to ensure that you do not lose your data in the event of a drive failure. I can't really tell you flat out one way or another about what would work better for your scenario seeing as it is almost a personal preference thing. I personally, have a RAID5 setup in the same case as my Home Theater PC but I am also running a dedicated tower HTPC, not a laptop so that is the main difference there. I will try to answer any of your questions on the subject though. __________________ HTPC/file server: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit - AMD Phenom x4 9850 - 4GB OCZ DDR2 800 (2x2GB) - 1TB WD Black - 4 x 1TB Hitachi DeskStar in RAID 5 - ATi TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner - HIS Raedon 4850 512MB - ASRock N68C-S UCC mobo - OCZ ModExtreme Pro 500W PSU GF's Gaming PC: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit - AMD Phenom 9850 - 4GB OCZ DDR2 1066 - 500GB Western Digital GP - HIS Raedon 5770 1GB - ASUS M3A78-EM - Zalman 650W PSU Media Streamer: Win 7 Pro 64-bit - AMD Athlon x2 3200+ - 4GB SuperTalent DDR2 800 - 250GB SeaGate Barracuda - MSI K9N6PGM2-V2 - ASUS Raedon 5450 SILENT - FSP group 250W PSU

Mar 5, 2010, 08:38 PM	#4
ET3D Hopeless Dreamer Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dreamland, near the pool of infinite graphics cards Posts: 3,057 Rep Power: 105 System Specs	Re: External HDD failure ... and again At least for the music, I'd suggest doing a DVD backup. That's really not a lot of data, so no reason to lose it all just because a disk has failed.