need advice ..anyone know anything about harddrives?

[shockadelica-]

ive been thinking perhaps i should buy another and use that just for photography related things.. i dont know much ..i dont know if this is a good idea
im thinking aswell as being more organised this will also keep my things safer

i dont like the idea of spending thousands of dollars on photo gear and then having what this money is producing thrown on my pc with all my 'junk'

i have a 40gig harddrive at the moment..should i consider partitioning?
if i do partition will i loose what i have?

and if you think buying a seperate hard drive might be a good idea
can you please tell me whats good out there or what to look for apart from the size?

any info or views will be greatly appreciatted

[gstark]

Arthur,

We're glad you made it to the minimeet on Saturday, and I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Good question. My first observation is that 40GB is going to be way too small, especially in the longer term. Storage these days is very cheap, and I've offer to suggestions that you should probably consider using in tandem.

1: Install a DVD burner. Use this as your basic, offline storage solution. Your files should be moved to DVD as often as you feel a need to, and your media should be read on, say, a monthly basis to ensure the integrity of your data on the media maintains its stability.

2: Large HDD are dirt cheap; Leigh and I purchased a total of 750GB last weekend for around $500 total. Invest in a larger drive that can sit alongside your existing drive (what OS are you running?) and you can extend your online storage quite significantly.

[birddog114]

Arthur,
Depend on what type of PC you have, recently new or the old Pentium CPU, some old mobos won't cater the fast drive or large disk, make sure to check your mobo's specs first prior to buy any Hdd.
As Gary said, storage is so cheap now and many way to replace or add on your current system, on another side if you're going to use it for PP then much better do more research, though the old Pentium CPU and lack of RAM may not fast enough for what you're after.

[Holden]

Get another hard drive , you can get a 200 gig hard drive for about $150
Seagate or western digital are good

And as Gary said a dvd burner is a good idea too , you can pick them up for about $80 now

[pippin88]

My setup involves a reasonably large hard drive partitioned in two. On a 120gb drive, it is 40GB for C (That is windows and installed programs) and the rest for D (That is Photos and other storage). This way, because I had everything I wanted to keep on D, even if windows carked it, a format would not lose any important data.
However, I never install any programs on D, as I find it's not too much trouble reinstalling things when I format, and that it's a good way to cull down to what I actually use and clean and speed things up.

Now I've got a 160gb drive to go with that 120, so I have the same setup except I've just divided what I stored in my D previously into D and E. (E has photos and my stuff - D has downloaded bits etc.)

I'd advise everyone to use the two partition method and be religious about storing nothing on the C drive.

I use Seagate because they are quiet (compared to most others) and I've not had problems with them.

[Jamie]

art,

Id recommend getting an external HDD set up, its alot easier than messing about with CD / DVD's and there is no risk of losing data if windows should deside to crash, and the beauty is that you can simply unplug it and take it with you to plug into another pc.

What is it - well its just a small case that contains a HDD with a fan, it connects via a USB port and has its own power supply. Once plugged into your computer it acts as another HDD as if its in your main pc case, some would say its just like a really big folder used for storage.



You can buy a complete setup from here - http://www.pccasegear.com.au/category174_1.htm
Or
You can buy the parts and put it together yourself (no brainer) from here - http://www.msy.com.au/ Parts list - http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf (prices are updated everyday and the prices are very good)

Jamie

[radar]

Arthur,

another option in the external hard disk section, is to get a 2.5" disk in a small case. The advantage of this one is that you don't need an external power supply, they are basically noise free and very light. The disadvantage is that you can't get a drive that is quite as big as the 3.5" ones. And the smaller ones are more expensive.

In the small form factor, last I looked was 100gb. But if portability is what you need, that's the way to go, not much bigger then an ipod. Both would connect via USB.

You can get expensives one like Lacie:
http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10036
but you can get them much cheaper from your local weekend computer markets.

HTH,

André

[sirhc55]

Rather than partition I have a 40Gb for the system, 80Gb for data, 80Gb for photos, 120Gb for movies and 120Gb for music.

I am now looking to a RAID system.

[Onyx]

I second Jamie and Andre's suggestions. I've got both an external desktop hard drive as well as a 2.5" mobile portable hard drive, in addition to the not big enough 40Gb in-built to my laptop.

I initially only got a 60Gb 2.5" mobile portable HD - as radar pointed out requires no external power, just the USB connection, and is packaged in a very compact form factor. However I found out fairly fast that I have an insatiable appetite for storage space, and when it comes to hard disk space, "big enough" never is.

These days, internal hard drives' price per gig ratio is maximised at around 160-200GB sizes. That doesn't mean you can't get them bigger, but the price usually goes up exponentially while the space they offer is only marginally increased.

[birddog114]

One important thing is:
What PC do you have Arthur?
Many options of in and external Hdd as you can read in the past posts but if your PC only support USB 1.0 or no firewire, then the story is difference.
My first post replied to you as secondary of researching your PC prior to venture into buying lot of suff then can't use them on your PC.

[PiroStitch]

I have a 120Gb hdd specifically for photos - non partitioned. It's quickly filling up too :S
Also have a DVD burner which hasn't been put to good use yet for photos :S

40Gb will definitely not be enough

[Pluto]

Whatever setup you have always backup to cd/dvd. The power supply on my mothers computer failed recently and took almost everything with it. The only part in the computer box I could salvage was the floppy drive (big deal). Even the usb cf reader blew.

[Marvin]

If you want to partition your existing hard drive, use Partition Magic. It's easy to do and you don't lose any of your data.
I have an external hard drive and dvd to back up stuff. No problems so far. You might also look at an x-drive or something similar, which you can use as an external hard drive but also to take with you and transfer images when you aren't near a computer.

[Aussie Dave]

Hi Arthur
I'd definitely look into adding another larger HDD, if your motherboard will take it.

I currently have 3 x 80Gb Seagate SATA HDD, the first is partitioned into 3 (C Drive - WinXP, D Drive - All Apps & E Drive - Personal storage and downloads).

The other 2 drives I have running as a RAID setup which is where I keep all my photos and video footage (just for a little extra speed - especially for the video), plus I always wanted to play with RAID.

I've always preffered to install my apps on a different partition (or disk) to my OS, in case the need arises to format and re-install the OS.

There are so many ways you can setup your machine. Mine is certainly not the best, but I find myself being very happy with it and I rarely, if ever, have stability problems.

[shockadelica-]

1: Install a DVD burner. Use this as your basic, offline storage solution. Your files should be moved to DVD as often as you feel a need to, and your media should be read on, say, a monthly basis to ensure the integrity of your data on the media maintains its stability.

2: Large HDD are dirt cheap; Leigh and I purchased a total of 750GB last weekend for around $500 total.

hey Garry, im glad i came to the mini meet.. i was a little quite (as usual) and also because i got 0 hours sleep the night before because i finished work at 4am and wanted to stay awake to come down haha

umm by you saying "your media should be read on, say, a monthly basis to ensure the integrity of your data on the media maintains its stability"

what do you exactly mean?

and may i ask where you bought that 750GB total for $500?
tah

[shockadelica-]

guys whats a good rpm speed for a harddrive????

birddog i currently have a 2 gig pentium 4 with 512mb of ram
running on xp pro with no firewire but do have usb 2.0

pippin88 thats a good idea, partitioning and leaving a partition for just windows

Jamie&radar those external harddrives seem like a good idea, then i could carry my work wherever i needed, running from my usb port would that make it be a little more slower than usual?

whats the difference with the external harddrive and the 2.5" external hard disk section??? sorry im a little confused as to what the 2nd one is


thanks for all your replies
i have no partitions, everthing is in one section...if i make a partition now and install windows xp on it can i then delete the windows im now using then have a partition for the O.S and one for everything else?

sorry about all the questions
thankyou for your time though

[birddog114]

Firstly, I'm sure you have to upgrade the RAM to minimum of 1.0Gb, if the RAM is just a normal RAM, other type of RAM is not worth it and depend on the mainboard, can it cope with 1 Gb RAM or not, more research onto your mobo.
A good review of your case in doing photography same as Pping, if required maybe new CPU and new mobo could be in your next shopping list.

The speed of SATA or PATA Hdd is 7200rpm, transfer rate is also varied.

[shockadelica-]

thankyou birddog, i'll do more research to see if my RAM is expandable

----------------------
my friend at work offered me his brand new 120gb hard drive 7200rpm for $60
and a pioneer dvr-109 16 speed, dual layer also for $60

he has reciepts and said this is roughly 50% to what he bought them

his dad just gave him his old business pc which is apparently really impressive so he now has no use for this stuff he bought and he kind of owes me a favour because i drive him to and from work 3 times a week and because of me he saves $20 per day

i guess im lucky..when you do good, good things come to you

[birddog114]

shockadelica-

i guess im lucky..when you do good, good things come to you

Yes you're lucky but other is not always

[Holden]

i have no partitions, everthing is in one section...if i make a partition now and install windows xp on it can i then delete the windows im now using then have a partition for the O.S and one for everything else?

sorry about all the questions
thankyou for your time though

Yep

One way you could do this is disconnect your old hdd (just so you don't accidently delete anything)
Install your new hdd , format , partition , then install windows
After that reconnect your old hdd back in and transfer across any files you want then reformat the old hdd

Another way is most hdd manufacturers have utillities you can download from their web site (eg. seatools for seagate) that will allow you to patition your hdd and transfer your existing windows install to your new hdd

[shockadelica-]

birddog i think we all have badluck but eventually good things happen to everyone.. even if they are just small things

back 2 the topic
i just bought a seagate 400GB external harddrive online
thanks for those that recommended an external to me..
i never thought of it

Install your new hdd , format , partition , then install windows
After that reconnect your old hdd back in and transfer across any files you want then reformat the old hdd

when i buy that 60gig internal from my friend i think i will do this
though i'll transfer to my external hdd rather than the freshly formatted internal .. thanks for the help

Gary thanks for mentioning the dvd writer, because you mentioned it..i then mentioned it to my friend who happened to have one he doesnt need

[shockadelica-]

Another way is most hdd manufacturers have utillities you can download from their web site (eg. seatools for seagate) that will allow you to patition your hdd and transfer your existing windows install to your new hdd

hey holden which of these is the one i should go for?
http://seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html

[Holden]

Whoops , my mistake it's diskwizard for segate

Either of the first 2 of these http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/dri ... scwiz.html

The first one you make a disk and boot from it , the second you can run from windows

Just above the download link on each one click learn more for instructions on how to use them

[birddog114]

I think you can use the Ghost utilities to do it.
I normally "Ghost" all my new installed or replacement Hdds.
Took me few minutes to complete the task.