[mecharmor25]

While I don't store info that often, I do however collect and keep certain files and some from way pack in 1997 all the way to present. Currently I probably have about 1TB of information.

As for DVDs, because I only try to play safe, they are all Taiyo Yuden and Verbatims and in DVD specific jewel/plastic cases. Thus this takes a lot of physical space in my room, which is why I am planning on using those 1TB harddrives instead of having to deal with over 200 discs as well as trying to wait out until SSDs (solid state) becomes cheaper and bigger.

Does anyone find that using more than one hard drives and having duplicate data on each drive reliable? If I have 2 harddrives with duplicate data, is there a chance that both will go out at pretty much the same time?

 

[masta.g.86]

If I have 2 harddrives with duplicate data, is there a chance that both will go out at pretty much the same time?

Not really. I used to have an external 1TB drive. (2 500GB in RAID0) One of those drives died and I was royally screwed. I lost all of my transcoded DVDs. Thankfully, I didn't get that far along in that endeavor and of course I still had my originals.

I'd recommend having 2 drives with the exact same data on them with one of them being an external drive so you can disconnect it and store it away as necessary. The "off-time" it spends in a closet or some other safe place will allow it to avoid the wear-and-tear of constantly running.

 

[skoreanime]

You probably mean RAID 1?

The chance of both hard drives failing at the same time is nil.

 

[masta.g.86]

You probably mean RAID 1?

I would recommend against RAID1 because that would require both drives in the computer case, (lowered reliability) or an external "box" drive (less convenience). One internal backup drive and one external backup drive will suffice. It's what I use.

The chance of both hard drives failing at the same time is nil.

Agreed. You're more likely to be attacked by a shark or struck by lightning than have both drives "just fail" simultaneously.

 

[skoreanime]

I don't think the HDDs reliability is lowered just because it's in the computer tower and running. Hard drives are meant to last for quite awhile (minusing SSDs). What's the point of putting a back up HDD on the shelf if it's going to fail when running?

 

[masta.g.86]

What's the point of putting a back up HDD on the shelf if it's going to fail when running?

Because it's not plugged in.

The purpose of the external drive is to keep the wear-and-tear that internal drives undergo to a relative minimum by allowing you to simply just unplug them. I know people use them as an extra HDD because they're easier to install, (just plug it in) but that's not why they exist. Long-term archiving is their purpose.

 

[skoreanime]

There's no need nowadays.

Most motherboards have a powersave feature where the storage/back up HDD stops running when not in use. I have it on mine and it's nifty. Yes, there's a slight lag when the HDD starts up, but it's better then working with a power and USB/e-SATA wires

 

[mecharmor25]

Is the hard drive reliability also relative to its capacity and how much of a "new release" it is? This is because I heard the the 1.5TB drives are still considered "experiemental" or too new even though its out. Newegg has quite a lot of negative reviews on these big terabyte sized drives it seems.....

 

[D.D.]

Consider RAID 5 or RAID 6

 

[mecharmor25]

But in the case of brand, should I go with Western Digital? It seems to be the suggestion given to me by former 1tb seagate consumers saying that the latest seagate firmware causes the drive to crash.

 

[Princess Garnet]

Most motherboards have a powersave feature where the storage/back up HDD stops running when not in use. I have it on mine and it's nifty.

That's actually Windows Power Scheme settings doing that. Windows has had that functionality built into it for a long time (as far back as at least Windows 2000, and probably as far back as Windows 95).

 

[skoreanime]

Really? I've never noticed it with XP...must not be default then

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

its not.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I can't remember. The default scheme is called "Always On", but it isn't literally always on. I think it turns the monitor off after so many minutes, and that's probably it, but I edited mine, so I can't remember the default. I used to have mine turn off after not in use on my old PC with two hard drives, but waiting for it to turn back on got annoying, fast, so I set it not to turn anything off. If I'm not going to use it for a bit, I turn the monitor, if not the whole computer, off.

 

[Gameman]

Does anyone find that using more than one hard drives and having duplicate data on each drive reliable? If I have 2 harddrives with duplicate data, is there a chance that both will go out at pretty much the same time?

Chances are pretty slim....

I have some rare one of a kind files and stuff one my WD 1 TB MyBook and I trust it....No duplicates....

The only thing I have in duplicate is my collection of ps2 games which I rarely use/play..... just because they are so tricky to rip and come across....

 

[skoreanime]

Chances are pretty slim....

I have some rare one of a kind files and stuff one my WD 1 TB MyBook and I trust it....No duplicates....

The only thing I have in duplicate is my collection of ps2 games which I rarely use/play..... just because they are so tricky to rip and come across....

 

[Phil]

PS2 games are perhaps more plentiful them every other system combined

 

[PCXL-Fan]

Too bad tape drives are so insanely expensive because the tape media itself is reasonably price

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16840108001

sure its expontentially slower then other media but your data can potentially last for decades upon decades.