Backup Drive Recommendations

[volfan6415]

Ok so I have been using the 2 tb Seagate go flex desktop as my backup drive

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent ... ate+goflex

However, I have gone through 4 of them now.

They work for awhile and then eventually it seems like they burnout from overheating.

What external drive would you guys recommend to use as a backup drive....

Thanks

[crawfish]

I've been using a dock and bare drives for years, most recently a StarTech USB 3.0 dual dock, which is da bomb. It's fully as fast as my prior dual eSATA dock, and I like the separate power buttons. The largest drives I've tested it with are my 2 TB Hitachis, but StarTech says it works with 4 TB drives.

About the two power buttons. With two drives running, the dock shows up in the Windows notification area "Remove safely" icon as two identical AS2105 devices, which is not very useful, unless like me, you TrueCrypt everything. If I do want to eject just one and power it down, if I guess wrong, it will error out as still in use, because I won't have dismounted it in TrueCrypt. Otherwise, it's a minor PITA to have to "remove" each AS2105 device. But I do like the flexibility.

BTW, I can fit four 3.5" hard drives in a standard bank small safety deposit box, with some room left over for other stuff. So I really like bare drives plus a dock for backups. For "real" enclosures, I've had good luck with various Vantecs, again putting bare drives into them. I've never bought a pre-assembled drive/enclosure device.

[CyberSimian]

They work for awhile and then eventually it seems like they burnout from overheating.

I am wary of buying external USB drives in cases that seem to have no ventilation. Are the dots on the sides of your Seagate ventilation holes or merely cosmetic embellishments?

Anyway, the USB drives that I use are the Western Digital "My Book" range, which have ventilation grills both top and bottom, and on half of the rear panel. The lower-spec versions are also "green" drives, so spin more slowly, make less noise (virtually silent), consume less power, and generate less heat. I have a mixture of 2TB and 3TB drives (there is currently no 4TB version, although I believe that one is scheduled for release later this year).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[leroys1000]

I have seen external cases that have fans for cooling.
Might want to check out one of those and buy a drive separately.
Put it together yourself.
There are also network storage cases that have cooling and
can use more than one drive but they are usually expensive.
I had a Seagate I bought on ebay burn up after 3 days.

[volfan6415]

They work for awhile and then eventually it seems like they burnout from overheating.

I am wary of buying external USB drives in cases that seem to have no ventilation. Are the dots on the sides of your Seagate ventilation holes or merely cosmetic embellishments?

Anyway, the USB drives that I use are the Western Digital "My Book" range, which have ventilation grills both top and bottom, and on half of the rear panel. The lower-spec versions are also "green" drives, so spin more slowly, make less noise (virtually silent), consume less power, and generate less heat. I have a mixture of 2TB and 3TB drives (there is currently no 4TB version, although I believe that one is scheduled for release later this year).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

They are cosmetic. The venterlation is horrible and I have seen the temps on the drive get as high as 60 C. The four I have been through have all been warranty replacements.

I think these drives weren't really meant for as much abuse as the windows server backup process uses.

[volfan6415]

I've been using a dock and bare drives for years, most recently a StarTech USB 3.0 dual dock, which is da bomb. It's fully as fast as my prior dual eSATA dock, and I like the separate power buttons. The largest drives I've tested it with are my 2 TB Hitachis, but StarTech says it works with 4 TB drives.

About the two power buttons. With two drives running, the dock shows up in the Windows notification area "Remove safely" icon as two identical AS2105 devices, which is not very useful, unless like me, you TrueCrypt everything. If I do want to eject just one and power it down, if I guess wrong, it will error out as still in use, because I won't have dismounted it in TrueCrypt. Otherwise, it's a minor PITA to have to "remove" each AS2105 device. But I do like the flexibility.

BTW, I can fit four 3.5" hard drives in a standard bank small safety deposit box, with some room left over for other stuff. So I really like bare drives plus a dock for backups. For "real" enclosures, I've had good luck with various Vantecs, again putting bare drives into them. I've never bought a pre-assembled drive/enclosure device.

I am leaning towards this approach as it would allow me more control over the hard drives used for backup.

[volfan6415]

They work for awhile and then eventually it seems like they burnout from overheating.

I am wary of buying external USB drives in cases that seem to have no ventilation. Are the dots on the sides of your Seagate ventilation holes or merely cosmetic embellishments?

Anyway, the USB drives that I use are the Western Digital "My Book" range, which have ventilation grills both top and bottom, and on half of the rear panel. The lower-spec versions are also "green" drives, so spin more slowly, make less noise (virtually silent), consume less power, and generate less heat. I have a mixture of 2TB and 3TB drives (there is currently no 4TB version, although I believe that one is scheduled for release later this year).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

I had an older version of one of these that I used for awhile. Do you use this with home server backup? Or windows backup for that matter as they are the same thing.

[Shackleford]

My main external drive is in an aluminum case, everything else I use a dock.

[CyberSimian]

I had an older version of one of these that I used for awhile. Do you use this with home server backup? Or windows backup for that matter as they are the same thing.

I use my Western Digital "My Book" external USB drives to store my "off-line" recordings library. It is "off-line" because it is usually powered down. In the HTPC I have a "Favourites" drive (a bare version of the 2TB "My Book" drive), and that drive spins all of the time. I don't back up recordings (although I do take drive images and backup data files, but using my own backup program).

I get the impression that you would like to know whether the "My Book" drives are robust enough for "always on" server use. I do not use mine that way, and have no experience of using the "My Book" drives in that sort of scenario (but I suspect that they are not intended for server use).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[RyC]

The My Book drives are just WD Green drives. I've used several drives pulled from My Book drives as well as store bought WD Green drives in my server for always on TV storage and there hasn't been a problem with reliability. If you're worried, you could try WD Red drives which are designed for NAS

[blueiedgod]

Pull the drives out of enclosures and put them in a NAS or case, and make sure they are well ventilated.