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I currently use a windows 7 PC and I never use the hard drive that came in it. At the moment I work from two 1TB buffalo portable hard-drives that automatically switch on when the PC is turned on.

I need to get some more backup and am looking at a Lacie quadra d2 3TB (v3), does this have an auto-on function and what do you reckon to the product more generally?

Thanks

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I use Western Digital Hard Drives that connect to my network so are accessible from any computer I use. I have a 2TB one and a 3TB one. I also use 2 WD portable Hard Drives (I believe in double, triple backup) for carrying with me when travelling with most of my pics on them. I don't know about the Lacie Quadra. The only one I have ever had issues with was a Verbatim. Had the WD's for a long time and never a problem.

 

Jill

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In my computer I have 2 x 3Tb HD for data only that are mirrored - data kept in synch by Windows; that way I can survive a single disk failure. Then I synch regularly to a third internal HD (will mirror it in due course and synch nightly). I am about to add separate external 4TB drives to copy to for offline storage, probably weekly. I already have a couple of offline backups on smaller drives with some of my older stuff.

 

For a while I tried synching to the cloud but even with fast broadband it is slow. Also do you want your precious data held by someone who can withdraw the service at any times (just happened to me - fortunately I had stopped using it) or a business that can fail. Had that happen too but I had other copies under my own control.

 

That said who ever backed up their film archive? A major archive of JFK photographs in a safe deposit box was turned to ash in the World Trade Centre on 9/11 (nowhere on the scale of the other tragedies, they were only photographs after all).

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I've only used Western Digital's (WD)  I've got one that is ten years old and still

runs like new.  I remember when 1TB externals were $390.00.  Now they are down

to $79.99, Ouch.  I have a dozen 1TB externals.

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Just a point: if you are mirroring disks, building a RAID array or a NAS then try and use disks from different manufacturing batches. Minimises the chance of them having a common manufacturing fault so they don't all fail at much the same time.

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Have been working in IT for over 13 years including 10 years on a network of over 4000 PCs, every manufacture ends up producing a model of drive with issues now and again. IBM did it way back when which resulted in them jumping ship from producing drives full stop.

 

I would have to say Western Digital has one of the highest mechanical failure rates of any manufacture I have come across. At one point Samsung were in my opinion producing the best drives, unfortunately they are now produced by Seagate which are also a company with a chequered past, I (personally went through three 1.5 TB drives in a very short space of time).

 

Would also like to point out that syncing data nightly or even weekly does not help guard against accidental deletion or file corruption. I use a rotation of multiple drives stored externally, this gives me a wide period of time to discover any issues. Also using a system like Shadow Volume Copy (previous versions in Widows 7 / 8) is a really simple way of getting files back which have been deleted. It uses the free space on the drive to retain periodic restore points which can be browsed at the file level. This is however not a form of backup.

 

Totally agree with Martin, cloud backup cannot be relied upon, but I guess can be a good edition to an existing backup routine. Though with my broadband it would take several months to backup my collection :(

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I would have to say Western Digital has one of the highest mechanical failure rates of any manufacture I have come across.

 

I've had many WD drives over the last 15 years or so, and the only failures I've had were the result of using a cheap PSU with dodgy power contacts. I've got half a dozen in use at the moment, some of which have been running daily for several years.

 

Not saying you're wrong, just that my experience is different.

 

Alan

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Forgot to answer about the LaCie... not a fan of that, I've looked at them in WEX (my local camera shop) and like a lot of LaCie, nice looks but a lot to pay for the product.

 

Apart from one lonely Iomega (on sale), I've always used WD externals. I have one My Book (Raid) but now mainly use 1/2TB Elements - three on go at moment on d/top plus a whole bundle more rotated and off site.

 

TBH, I'm a lot less paranoid, even with four drives as backup next to my tower, than I used to be.

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And when my La Cie failed I discovered it had a pair of WD drives in it!

 

Externally I use bare drives and a docking station. Be careful when taking them out though; let them run right down before handling them as there is a strong gyroscopic effect when they are spinning at 5400rpm, or faster!

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And when my La Cie failed I discovered it had a pair of WD drives in it!

 

 

As my experience described above indicates, cheap components elsewhere can cause a drive to fail. It's possible that WD drives are more susceptible to that problem. LaCie don't seem to have a particularly good reputation - maybe that's why.

 

Alan

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If you look at the BackBlaze data, failure rates vary across even the same manufacturer - their data is based on a lot more drives than most of the anecdotal evidence such as mine.

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I agree with WPL; I have a similar long background in IT. That is why I mirror on one pair and will be synching or rather publishing to another pair so that deletions will not be actioned on 2nd pair. Obviously corruption could still go across so like WPL I will be working on a set of cycled offline copies, again adding new versions rather than synching so I can get back to an earlier copy if I have a problem.

 

Just need a bit of extra cash to expand my offline resources having had to rebuild my computer a few months ago.

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Can't say about LaCie sorry.

 

I am using 2x WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo drives to hold and backup files. 4x 2Tb drives within. Mirrored.

 

Allan

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I still use a Drobo (anyone still remember those) as one of four back up sources. I also back up on external HDs when I can be bothered, which isn't often these days simply because I don't shoot nearly as much as I used to. One set of external HDs still backed up monthly and stored off site (box at my bank) because you never know... One of these days I might look into some sort of Cloud-based service but it's the initial massive amount of work that has put me off it so far...

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