Need BIG external drive - what's the best option...?

Soldato
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31 Dec 2006
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I need to get a BIG external drive. Atleast 1TB, possibly more. Looking at the WD 1TB MyBook model which seems good, but do I need to spend that much? I know WD are good, but can I get something equally reliable by buying a normal drive and enclosure separately?

Problem is I can't see any normal drives over 750GB. So is my only option a 1TB solution from WD or someone else?

:confused:
 
As you've noticed no-one yet sells a 1Tb physical disk so to get 1Tb the WD and the equivalents from the likes of Lacie use a pair of 500Gb disks in a RAID0 array. You then have all the disadvantages of RAID0 - if one disk hiccups or fails you end up losing everything on the array. This is probably not what you want from a storage drive.

So what are the options for 1Tb externally?

  • Stick with the WD and the potential risks
  • Go with a pair of drives and 2 caddies
  • There are a few multi disk caddies but they ain't cheap
 
So is the WD 1TB not one drive then? I mean does it appear as a single letter drive on your system, or as two separate drives? Bit confused by this whole RAID thing.

I need it to be contained within one unit, so the WD does seem the best option. I've not seen any multi disk caddies anywhere anyway.
 
The WD unit contains 2 physical disks but because they're configured in a RAID0 array it appears to the operating system as a single 1Tb device which you can then partition as you like. It'll also do RAID1 which mirrors the data on both disks but then you'll only get 500Gb of space.

Couple of multi disk units at the bottom of this page although they are pricey.
 
Just wondering, given the RAID0 configuration, does the WD 1TB drive require any special drivers or installation of software before use, or is it a simple plug and play interface as with all other external hard drives??

:confused:
 
Legend said:
Just wondering, given the RAID0 configuration, does the WD 1TB drive require any special drivers or installation of software before use, or is it a simple plug and play interface as with all other external hard drives??

:confused:


I have used the lacie discs for a good number of years now with no major fault, i have had to get another power supply or two but other than that nothing major, there really easy to install and use, you dont need to know anything about raid set up, as its all done internaly, and the drives appear as a single unit. i have found the my books run hot, are noisy and dont like mac's

so untill i find a better solution ill stay with lacie!
 
as he said the tripile intaface malarky really isnt a help unless youce got firewire pci cards on your machiene, and the raid 0 isnt really noticable on usb
if you can i prefer to use fire wire 400 as it runs a bit smoother
 
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