Recommendation on external hard drives...

[jdg199]

Requirement:

Transfer files from old to new laptop
Ongoing backup destination
Media storage - music/video to keep laptop uncluttered
Always on & connected to router so Sonos can directly access iTunes music library.​

PCS offer WD MyBook and MyPassport (very little difference between the two!?) and MyCloud (roughly half the space for the same cost but with cloud access)... or Samsung SSD options which are considerably more expensive for the space offered.

The other that I keep coming across is the Seagate BackUp Plus.

Anyone have any views on these or any others? I figure the correct thing to do is always buy as much space as I can afford! Western Digital seem the cheapest in terms of £s per GB but is there a reason for that...?

 

[ubuysa]

If you're looking for media storage and data sharing as well as backups you might want to look at a NAS.

(I figured I'd say that before Tony1044 does! )

 

[Oussebon]

Or Stephen M.

I use both Seagate and WD drives as external backups and they're both fine. Any HDD can snuff it ofc but I don't think there's anything wrong with one or the other and I've seen just as many people swearing off Seagate after a run of bad luck with dead drives as I have with WD from browsing forums.

PC World used to sell exclusive WD My Passports with 5 year warranties (!!) for the same price as you could buy any old external HDD from anywhere else. Those were pretty amazing. That range has expired now afaik though.

PCS offer WD MyBook and MyPassport (very little difference between the two!?)

I think WD Passports tend to be portable 2.5" drives, while Mybooks are usually larger 3.5" desktop HDDs that also need a power source.

and MyCloud (roughly half the space for the same cost but with cloud access

The WD My Cloud offers cloud storage, and also is a NAS. So you can have it on your network and access it and your files from multiple machines with gigabit Ethernet speeds. As a NAS it has a CPU, RAM, and OS to make this possible. I have one (well, a Mybooklive, its predecessor) and it's a great entry level NAS solution.

Samsung SSD options which are considerably more expensive for the space offered.

That's SSDs for you. You don't need one of those for file backups.

 

[Rakk]

Just to throw my experience in as well, I have a WD MyBook and it seems perfectly fine so far (I got it in Jan 2016).

 

[jdg199]

Cheers all - I think I will go for the WD Mybook... 4TB @ £112 on amazon arriving tomorrow!

As my only network need is to stream to Sonos, I dont think I need the MyCloud. I had a cloud service with my old Seagate and it never really worked and I never really needed it to! However, connecting by USB to my Router allowed Sonos to see it on the network and I could then just browse to the file path of the music library on the external hard drive. I assume MyBook will be able to do the same (fingers crossed!)

 

[Oussebon]

If it's a USB 2 port on the router it will bottleneck the drive quite badly. But even then it wouldn't be a fatal issue, it would just make things slower.

 

[jdg199]

Ah, you're right... my old Seagate had Ethernet port which I want to connect to the router... MyCloud it is then! That just cost me another 60 quid!

 

[Tony1044]

If you're looking for media storage and data sharing as well as backups you might want to look at a NAS.

(I figured I'd say that before Tony1044 does! )

Oy!!

Stop stealing my thunder!!

You have a point, though.. . [rollinglaugh]

 

[Tony1044]

I also host my own own private drop box equivalent called seafile.

As well as synching everything saved to the local library it keeps historical copies so if I changed something or it got corrupted or encrypted I can get it back to an earlier version.

Find it much more robust and secure than a cloudy NAS.

 

[jerpers]

I use a MyCloud too. I have my music collection for my Sonos plus it auto backs up new photos from mine and all my kids devices when they hit the Wifi. With 6 phones and 7 tablets in the family it is a godsend to free up their space from the many photos. I have also set up shares so my parents and in-laws can access photos of the little ones.

I did however find it a bit of a bind setting up. There can be a few gremlins such as iphones sometimes need to be forced to sync.