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Recommend a good hard drive & external case...

S

SkyBum

Senior member
I have a lot of video files and pics from camping trips, parties, etc. that I'd like to share with some of my friends and family. Rather than burn the whole lot multiple times, I'd like to just build a mammoth (im thinking 300+ Gb) external hard drive w/enclosure and then let UPS do the leg work.

I have a UPS acct so I can just print off some pre-paid shipping labels and each person in turn can offload the files they want, upload any files they wish to add, slap the next shipping label on the box and off it goes to the next address. It looks OK on paper anyway.....I hope 10 or 12 trips through the cogs of UPS won't be too hard on the data (heh, i've worked in the SLC hub so I know first hand what goes on in those god forsaken sweat bins of burning hell and torment...ahhh but that's a whole nother story).

Anyhow, I could use some recommendations as for what HD and enclosure to buy. Here are some considerations.

1. I'm not familiar with all of their rig specs, I need something that has plenty of connection options (Firewire, USB 1&2 etc).
2. Plug and play or at least easy setup is very important, a few of these people are not too PC savvy.
3. Good Packaging. I'll be using a second box around the unit's original box but a well organized retail box for all the accessories and easy to understand instructions will be a huge bonus.
4. Speed shouldn't be of too much concern, just a sweet spot between price and speed.
5. Bullet proof.

Any other considerations I should be aware of? Any recommendations for hard drives or enclosures?

Thanks....
 
I would recommend using notebook drives for that type of abuse, but the biggest of those is only 80GB.
. Burning CDs is the way to go. Cheaper (particularly shipping costs) on both the short and long view, and more reliable all around. Get an add-on PCI ATA controller (syba from newegg, dealsonic, et al.) and a couple more cheap burners (or you could use an external Firewire enclosure and FW adapter card - there are two drive ones) and using Nero you will be able to burn 3 or 4 copies at once.. Burn them at 24x or less and almost any CD reader should have no trouble reading them.
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?
 
The Seagate 250-300Gb drives would do. But I don't know that I would be wild about sending any hard drive around the country. 🙂 I have a 160Gb Seagate external . It has both firewire and USB. Five year warranty and nice packaging.
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
Burning CDs is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Nah, like I said, I'm not planning to burn 200gb 10 times over (2000 GB? On CD's??????), just too much of a pain in the ass. I don't care about the shipping costs, my business can pick that up....

Just need some recommendations for a sturdy large drive and a decent, well rounded HD enclosure.
 
Look at the Seagate, They go up to 300GB now. Like I said BOTH firewire and USB ports. No drivers to install, just plug it in and go. Its a nice compact design...more of a square shape. Plus it does have a 5 year warranty that will cover you if some postal guy goes postal on it 🙂 .
 
Well, create a burner array (10 drives) and burn 10 at a time. I suggest reading Bastiat's "The Law" or Hazlitt's (?sp) "Economics in One Lesson". They may help you attain a more reasoned attitude on resource allocation...
.bh.

Here comes the :sun: !
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
Well, create a burner array (10 drives) and burn 10 at a time. I suggest reading Bastiat's "The Law" or Hazlitt's (?sp) "Economics in One Lesson". They may help you attain a more reasoned attitude on resource allocation...
Click to expand...

"More reasoned attitude on resource allocation?????" Are you on crack? So you think buying 10 dvd burners + researching the complexities + setup and execution of a 10 drive burner array is a better use of resources than buying 1 drive and 1 enclosure? When all I gotta do is transfer data and drop it at UPS?

Dude, you gotta be joking!

Seriously though, do any of you have recommendations for a good drive enclosure?
 
I don't see why you need such extreme amounts of storage to do what you are looking to do. Do you really think anyone is going to sit around and watch 150+ hours of your DVD quality home videos or god knows how many pictures you could fit on 300GB's? Forget the oversized 3.5" ATA drives that aren't designed for that much travel. Buy a notebook drive with much higher shock tolerances and a rather universally compatible USB2 enclosure for it. Notebook drives top out at 100GB now, which is still probably overkill for mailing home movies and pictures.
 
Originally posted by: SkyBum

Anyhow, I could use some recommendations as for what HD and enclosure to buy. Here are some considerations.

1. I'm not familiar with all of their rig specs, I need something that has plenty of connection options (Firewire, USB 1&2 etc).
2. Plug and play or at least easy setup is very important, a few of these people are not too PC savvy.
3. Good Packaging. I'll be using a second box around the unit's original box but a well organized retail box for all the accessories and easy to understand instructions will be a huge bonus.
4. Speed shouldn't be of too much concern, just a sweet spot between price and speed.
5. Bullet proof.

Any other considerations I should be aware of? Any recommendations for hard drives or enclosures?

Thanks....

Ah hell forget it, this is going nowhere......
Click to expand...

1. Many harddrive manufacturers sell external HD, some come with USB, some firewire, some both. To be the most compatible choose both.
2. This is where the laptop drive becomes an issue. An external enclosure for a laptop drive can be powered by the USB/Firewire port. A 3.5 in. enclosure requires a power brick.
3. Who looks? You take it out and throw the box away in a month. But think about it this way, would a manufacturer put their product in a box that did not protect it from damage.
4. You have to make the call on this one. Check various price comparison web sites and make your choice.
5. Laptop drive.

So I agree with the folks above. Go with a laptop drive, put it in an inexpensive enclosure ($30-$50) and make your own packaging. Load it up with your stuff and call "Brown".

And I don't think it was going nowhere. You got some good advice.

 
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