# Hard Drive for storage of photos ? Recommendation



## pj111 (3 Jan 2011)

Hi I am looking for a hard drive that I can use to keep photos as a back up. I want it to be fairly light so as I can carry around. I want to be able to plug into usb and transfer files ie not have to plug in for power. I don't want software on the drive that automatically backsup the whole of my pc as I use pc for work and personal use.

Ideally to future proof, 1tb would be nice but I can't seem to find one that does both of the above. I have many thousands of photos.

If anyone knows of one that will do the trick that would be helpful. Thanks


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## PaddyBloggit (3 Jan 2011)

Seagate 2TB External Hard Drive in Argos:



(Sorry about the long url!)

It's €179.99


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## pj111 (3 Jan 2011)

Thanks probably ticks 2 out of the 3 boxes - the third was price.


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## PaddyBloggit (3 Jan 2011)

Pixmania have some also:

e.g. 

Iomega 1TB is €84.90

Have a look:


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## Sue Ellen (3 Jan 2011)

We got [broken link removed] 1TB in DID recently for €67.99 - would it do the same job?

Edit:  Iomega 1TB which I think is the same one from Pixmania quoted above.


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## PaddyBloggit (3 Jan 2011)

That's a good price Sue Ellen ... if I needed one it would tick all my boxes!


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## pj111 (3 Jan 2011)

Thanks to you both - such quick replies.

Sueellen, does this one not need a power adapter to use?

#34968 looks thinner on the DID website than on pixmania site. Dabs site mentions about an adapter ~  
I cannot post links because Im new.


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## PaddyBloggit (3 Jan 2011)

They both look as if they are powered by usb to me.


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## Complainer (3 Jan 2011)

There is always a risk of failure with any device like this. Are you prepared to risk your entire photographic archive for one electrical failure, or for one spilt coffee?

Why not keep your archive online with Picasa or Flickr or similar?


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## pj111 (3 Jan 2011)

The tech spec sheet on your pixmania link says "Desktop hard drive, USB 1.1/2.0 cable, power cable, quick-start guide" yet "The *Iomega Select* *Desktop*'s USB interface makes it easy to hook up to any PC with a USB port"


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## pj111 (3 Jan 2011)

Complainer said:


> There is always a risk of failure with any device like this. Are you prepared to risk your entire photographic archive for one electrical failure, or for one spilt coffee?
> 
> Why not keep your archive online with Picasa or Flickr or similar?


 

Well I have them on my pc which is getting full very quickly. I take a lot of photographs at a large resolution for a project Im working on and Im looking to have a backup of them and to add new ones when necessary.

I keep meaning to back them up as I have another dead pc with the hard disk from it waiting to have other photos transferred from it. I just have to get some type of casing to house the disk drive so I can transfer.


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## boaber (3 Jan 2011)

AFAIK a* Desktop* external hard drive will always have a power adaptor.  A *portable* external hard drive does not.


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## PaddyBloggit (3 Jan 2011)

pj111 said:


> The tech spec sheet on your pixmania link says "Desktop hard drive, USB 1.1/2.0 cable, power cable, quick-start guide" yet "The *Iomega Select* *Desktop*'s USB interface makes it easy to hook up to any PC with a USB port"




The ones I'm looking at are all portable ones ... all usb powered, no mention of power adapters.




This external hard drive requires power:


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## Complainer (3 Jan 2011)

Unless your PC drive is very large, I'm not sure how backup drives are going to help you. Backup drives are great as backups, but not great if the only copy of the photos is going to be on the backup drive.

Have you thought about online storage?


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## pj111 (3 Jan 2011)

I have 500gb on the pc - some of the photos are not required permanently but I want to have them backed up, others of family are already backed up on 320gb hard drive. Cloud computing is for another day. Thanks for your help.


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## PaddyBloggit (3 Jan 2011)

Back up on a portable hard drive and on dvds ... job done


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## boaber (3 Jan 2011)

why oh why didn't I look at pixmania???  I bought this 500GB the other day http://www.currys.ie/Product/IOMEGA-Prestige-Portbl-Hard-Drive-500GB/300338/7.15.0


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## Paddyman (3 Jan 2011)

I have a few Iomega Hard Drives on the go. So far so good. I notice that Pixamania has received some bad reviews for products delivered.  
  I have never used them so I can't say anything definite on that matter.
  For Iomega it is always useful to look at Peats either online or by calling in to one of their shops.


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## pj111 (4 Jan 2011)

Sue Ellen said:


> We got [broken link removed] 1TB in DID recently for €67.99 - would it do the same job?
> 
> Edit: Iomega 1TB which I think is the same one from Pixmania quoted above.


 
Went into DID today and it has a power adapter so it must be a portable one that I'm looking for.


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## stobear (4 Jan 2011)

I have a large collection of photos and videos which I have on an external HDD, but its a mechanical device that is prone to wear and quite delicate to handle, so I have been looking at USB flash drive but my original thought was it would never hold my collection. I use 33GB of a 1TB HDD, and there are 64GB USB available for around 100Euro. Some reviews of these show youtube clips of them being dropped, driven over, washed etc and survive. Its not a mechanical device so is that much sturdier than a HDD.


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## AlbacoreA (5 Jan 2011)

External 3.5 drives all need a separate power supply. 
External 2.5 drives are laptop drive, and get enough power from the USB port. 

There isn't a standard name for the driver you are looking for, different brands use different names for their USB powered drives. I think the max size in 2.5" drivers is 1TB at the moment. Solution to drive failure is to have multiple copies, perhaps on different media. Personally I have 3 external disks. I got rid of my 3.5 disks as the power leads become awkward once you've a few disks. 

Disk1 - Working drive. Most recent stuff
Disk2 - Backup a week or so ago.
Disk3 - Backup a month or more ago

I use Karens Replicator to synch them. Once a year, or 2 yrs I make a DVD backup of the really important stuff. All but one of the drives is encrypted, and they are stored in different locations. Because if you have a break in, or a fire, you don't want them all in the same place. I also do an AV scan on them occasionally too. As the dissk get too small I replace them with a bigger drive and sell the old ones, after wiping them securely. I guess I have about 400GB of stuff I backup. Probably only 200GB of is really important to me. I don't have a good enough connection to back that up online. Also it would take ages and eat up the ISP cap. 

I don't do the above on a strict schedule. Just when it occurs to me.


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## AlbacoreA (5 Jan 2011)

stobear said:


> I have a large collection of photos and videos which I have on an external HDD, but its a mechanical device that is prone to wear and quite delicate to handle, so I have been looking at USB flash drive but my original thought was it would never hold my collection. I use 33GB of a 1TB HDD, and there are 64GB USB available for around 100Euro. Some reviews of these show youtube clips of them being dropped, driven over, washed etc and survive. Its not a mechanical device so is that much sturdier than a HDD.



Be aware that USB drives often have a finite number of times they can be written to and backups/synch software might do that a lot. They are often a lot  slower than a regular hard drive. They can also get lost easily, or just simply corrupted. They are very compact though. 

The is no perfect backup medium. You need multiple backups to get better odds. IMO.


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## grant (5 Jan 2011)

the one i've got looks like a cigarrette box, quite charming... but delicate to handle, sothe things is to make sure it's always in a safe place...


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## pj111 (8 Jan 2011)

Click,  in Dundrum TC, on Mezz,  have a 1TB portable Imega one on sale for €119 reduced from €179. Really light.


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## onq (10 Jan 2011)

Whatever you do, keep your photos on at least two different storage media, preferably not in the same space or building if possible to reduce the risk of losing them through drive failure or catastrophe.

ONQ.


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## michaelm (10 Jan 2011)

Maybe this 1TB Toshiba drive would fit the bill.  I personally avoid Seagate/Maxtor drives.  AFAIK Iomega use Seagate drives.


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## RMCF (11 Jan 2011)

Go with Seagate. 

Been using them for years, never had a problem.


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## PetrolHead (2 Feb 2011)

paulsmoneyon said:


> i think 1TB is too much. Why not just 10-20gb, all of your pictures would surely fit in that kind of memory.
> 
> or you will be using 1TB if you really have TONS and TONS of pictures.





You can never have enough storage space...

Parkinson's Law applies here too.....


I've just ordered and received this via Amazon... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002E7HEVU/ref=oss_product


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## AlbacoreA (2 Feb 2011)

paulsmoneyon said:


> i think 1TB is too much. Why not just 10-20gb, all of your pictures would surely fit in that kind of memory.
> 
> or you will be using 1TB if you really have TONS and TONS of pictures.



Depends on how big each picture is though...


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## JasCal (3 Feb 2011)

There are alot of websites that are springing up to allow people to store pictures online for free.

The settings can be set to private so you are not sharing them with the rest of the web.

It is always good to use several different sources for backing up 'valuable memories'.


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## Sue Ellen (3 Sep 2011)

Sue Ellen said:


> We got [broken link removed] 1TB in DID recently for €67.99 - would it do the same job?
> 
> Edit:  Iomega 1TB which I think is the same one from Pixmania quoted above.





pj111 said:


> Went into DID today and it has a power adapter so it must be a portable one that I'm looking for.



Harvey Norman are advertising a 2TB desktop hard drive in their Back to School & College newspaper for €79.00 at the moment.  Doesn't seem to show up on their website though.


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## AlbacoreA (3 Sep 2011)

Sue Ellen said:


> Harvey Norman are advertising a 2TB desktop hard drive in their Back to School & College newspaper for €79.00 at the moment.  Doesn't seem to show up on their website though.



That would a ok deal, if you can get it.


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## GuitarDave (4 Sep 2011)

Take a look on amazon at a "WD My Passport" hdd...USB 3.0 and 1tb will be close to €80


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## GuitarDave (4 Sep 2011)

GuitarDave said:


> Take a look on amazon at a "WD My Passport" hdd...USB 3.0 and 1tb will be close to €80



Provided your PC supports USB 3.0 that would be an advantage


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## onq (4 Sep 2011)

I use photographs to record my site work and for personal photos. etc..

At the moment I'm using a Western Digital My Book 1Tb - this needs a separate power supply and has both Firewire and USB II connections.

I've previously used a Maxtor.

For occasional or specific uses I have 4Gb and 16Gb USB drives with an Iomega 80Gb USB-only Powered HD - last one was a birthday present.

All are good drives in my experience.

However, all were bought (apart from the Iomega, which was also my first external storage medium when they were offering 100Mb discs) following a lot of review, balancing costs with reported reliability and durability.

If you're buying a very cost effective drive, make sure to check the manufacturer and see who they supply to - it may give an indication of reliability.

ONQ.


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## Niallman (5 Sep 2011)

I have a 1Tb Iomega portable drive since my WD 250Gb external drive went belly-up.  Luckily had all the photos backed up to DVD but lost alot of music.

The Iomega drive seems fine but the one thing I'd say about it is that the jack into the drive is not very sturdy. Its the same width as the USB jack but is much flatter and I can't help but feel that its going to get snapped some day when its plugged in.


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## RMCF (7 Sep 2011)

I backup my photos/music etc on to 2 different hard drives. There's always a possibility that one of them could fail, they are complicated bits of engineering. If one should fail, then I'd buy another and get back to 2 copies on hard drives.

And also keep really important photos on DVDs too. Can never be too sure.


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## michaelm (8 Sep 2011)

RMCF said:


> If one should fail, then I'd buy another and get back to 2 copies on hard drives.
> 
> And also keep really important photos on DVDs too. Can never be too sure.


Do you keep them in two different physical locations, to protect against total loss due to theft, fire or flood?


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## Firefly (9 Sep 2011)

I'm looking into this at the moment also. The online option doesn't appeal to me at all I have to say...especially for something like family photographs/videos...you have no idea who can see them and where they are being  stored. 

I'm planning to buy 3 x 1TB external hard drives from 3 differnt manufacturers. I'll keep one near my PC, one in the attic (wrapped) and the other at my parents place.This should do the job I think. I make that about 200 euro all in without a monthly charge. Does anyone see any shortcomings with this approach (apart from the commitment to making regular backups?)
Thanks,
F


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## Firefly (9 Sep 2011)

Just bought one of these - *2TB* from Pixmania for 61.99 which seems excellent value to me.


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## DrMoriarty (9 Sep 2011)

€15.99 delivery makes it €76.98. Still not a bad price considering most b&m stores are still asking that much for a 1TB drive...


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## tosullivan (9 Sep 2011)

RMCF said:


> I backup my photos/music etc on to 2 different hard drives. There's always a possibility that one of them could fail, they are complicated bits of engineering. If one should fail, then I'd buy another and get back to 2 copies on hard drives.
> 
> And also keep really important photos on DVDs too. Can never be too sure.



I apply the same philosophy. I have two 1TB WD desktop drives and use synctoy regularly to back up all my stuff


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## RMCF (9 Sep 2011)

michaelm said:


> Do you keep them in two different physical locations, to protect against total loss due to theft, fire or flood?



to be honest, I don't, which may negate my whole idea! They will be at 2 different locations in the same house, which may protect a bit against theft, but a fire in the house and they are both goners.

I might start leaving some of my DVD backups of my photos at my parents address to spread the risk.


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## RMCF (9 Sep 2011)

Firefly said:


> I'm looking into this at the moment also. The online option doesn't appeal to me at all I have to say...especially for something like family photographs/videos...you have no idea who can see them and where they are being  stored.
> 
> I'm planning to buy 3 x 1TB external hard drives from *3 differnt manufacturers*. I'll keep one near my PC, one in the attic (wrapped) and the other at my parents place.This should do the job I think. I make that about 200 euro all in without a monthly charge. Does anyone see any shortcomings with this approach (apart from the commitment to making regular backups?)
> Thanks,
> F



To be honest, this is not really any guarantee that they won't fail.

You could buy 3 of one brand and have none fail, or 3 different brands and have them all fail. The failure rate of HDDs , despite what some might tell you, is very low considering how complicated they are.

I would always go with physical backups (DVD, CD) of *really *important things like photos etc as well.


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## Complainer (11 Sep 2011)

Firefly said:


> I'm planning to buy 3 x 1TB external hard drives from 3 differnt manufacturers. I'll keep one near my PC, one in the attic (wrapped) and the other at my parents place.This should do the job I think. I make that about 200 euro all in without a monthly charge. Does anyone see any shortcomings with this approach (apart from the commitment to making regular backups?)



Sounds way over the top to me. The chances of simultaenous failure of both your main PC drive and any one backup drive is tiny, if you keep the drives physically separate, e.g. one in work and one at home. Would you wear three (or even four) condoms when you play around?


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## Firefly (12 Sep 2011)

Complainer said:


> Sounds way over the top to me. The chances of simultaenous failure of both your main PC drive and any one backup drive is tiny, if you keep the drives physically separate, e.g. one in work and one at home.


You're probably right, but they're family photos & movies and they're very important to me. I'll look at DVDs as well. 
By the way, I bought one of these and it came today via UPS




Complainer said:


> Would you wear three (or even four) condoms when you play around?


 A friend of mine once said that sex with a condom on is like having a bath with your socks on!


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## theresa1 (9 Dec 2011)

Just got a WD Elements 2TB external hard drive with no power on/off switch. It says it turns on and off with your computer. My question is - should i still use "safely remove hardware" or just power down my computer so i can safely unplug it?


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## michaelm (9 Dec 2011)

theresa1 said:


> My question is - should i still use "safely remove hardware" or just power down my computer so i can safely unplug it?


Either is fine.  You can probably just unplug it if you're not writing to or reading from it as it is probably 'optimised for quick removal'; (to check this right click on the USB drive icon in My Computer/Computer -> Select Properties -> Select the Hardware tab -> Select your USB drive and click on Properties -> click on Policies tab).


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## theresa1 (9 Dec 2011)

Thank's - just had a bad experience with an iomega - got it from Amazon £90.74 (€108.02 on my c/card).


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## michaelm (12 Dec 2011)

theresa1 said:


> got it from Amazon £90.74 (€108.02 on my c/card).


As an aside, I always pay for amazon.co.uk in GBP as that is invariably, slightly cheaper that accepting the offered euro conversion rate (in may experience anyway).


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## Complainer (12 Dec 2011)

michaelm said:


> As an aside, I always pay for amazon.co.uk in GBP as that is invariably, slightly cheaper that accepting the offered euro conversion rate (in may experience anyway).



How do you know exactly what fx rate will be used when the GBP transaction hits your credit card account?


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## michaelm (12 Dec 2011)

Complainer said:


> How do you know exactly what fx rate will be used when the GBP transaction hits your credit card account?


I don't.  But I've made a note of the Amazon offered euro price on the past 20+ orders I've placed and the ultimate cost on my CC (when charged, converted from GBP and 1.75% FX fee applied) has been less on every occasion.


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