Joseph, so as I get started going down this Aperture path, I know that I will sooner or later (probably sooner) I will need some external storage. I have been looking around and there are many different options. I know that Thunderbolt drives are supposed to be out soon, at least the reasonably priced options, but there are some good deals on the basic Drobo 4 drive boxes. You have any suggestions? Is FireWire 800 fast enough for the masses?
Thanks, Mark
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External storage
#1
Mark,
Check out Joseph’s answer to this question for what he thinks about the Drobo.
Thomas
Mark,
If you’ve read the article Thomas links to, you know I’m no longer a fan of the Drobo, unfortunately. Of course there are loads of happy customers too, so do your homework.
I think in general G-Tech and LaCie are good, reliable brands. That doesn’t mean they never fail, but they’ve been around for a long time and have a good reputation.
I’m a big fan now of the Promise drives, which can be expensive but are industrial class machines. I have friends in the “mass storage” industry who say these are as good as they get.
If you’re buying naked drives, avoid Western Digital (WD), buy Seagate if you can.
Yes FW800 is fast enough for general use, but of course as soon as you need to copy 50GB you’ll wish it was a lot faster ;-) I’d love to say “only buy Thunderbolt” but there just aren’t enough cheap ones yet to say that.
@PhotoJoseph
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Mark,
I like Joseph like the G-Tech drives. In fact I am in the process of upgrading to all G-Tech drives. Just yesterday purchased my second G-Technology 2TB G-RAID External Hard Drive Array. This drive runs a 7200rpm with 32mg cache so they are fast. Also have the G-Technology 750GB G-DRIVE mobile Hard Drive which I take on the road with me. Looking to pick up a second one of those soon.
These drives are connect to my MacBook Pro 2.66 (June 2009 model) which I hope to replace soon. The next G-Tech I am looking to get is the
G-Technology 3TB G-SAFE External Hard Drive Array.
You may want to view this video Chase Jarvis TECH: Complete Workflow for Photo and Video. Chase uses G-Tech in a big way and he does use Aperture. Most of us will never have to go to this extreme.
I find that Aperture runs very fast via these drives when connected with FireWire 800. But I also connect using the eSata express card via the MacBook Pro.
But anyhow I do not feel you can go wrong with G-Tech drives.
Best,
Stu
Stuart
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