School Me On Portable Hard Drives

[silentcropduster]

Hello,

 

I'm looking to get a portable hard drive to use in conjunction with laptop to store roughly 50 gigs of high quality music files. That’s all I plan to use it for, no videos, or pictures.  It's something I should have done like 2 years ago, but just never did. I’m not sure if I should go with a solid state or not? I’m not sure what other options to even consider? My budget is in the $150 range (or less).

 

I was looking at this:

http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-Thunderbolt-Series-9000291/dp/B00A3G461K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375737230&sr=8-2&keywords=LaCie+Rugged+USB+3.0+Thunderbolt

PC Mag claims it's on the higher quality side & it's a solid state HD. No moving parts.

 

Or this: http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-Portable-Drive-301555/dp/B0058VIWXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375738593&sr=8-1&keywords=LaCie+Rugged+Mini+%28500GB%29

 

 

I know some things about portable hard drives, but not all. I’m certain some of you are way more experienced at this then I.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2013 by silentcropduster

[2talltim]

I have the 320G version of this, I think I paid like $50 for it 5 years ago I store all my pics and videos and some financial data on it, never had any problems with it

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Western-Digital-My-Passport-500GB-Portable-External-Hard-Drive-Black/20742271?findingMethod=rr

sent via GS3

Edited August 5, 2013 by 2talltim

[turnone]

Pretty much any hard drive will work. I wouldn't bother with solid state unless you plan to carry it around. Normal hard drives can more easily be damaged. Music file access won't be much different between any of the drives.

[silentcropduster]

Pretty much any hard drive will work. I wouldn't bother with solid state unless you plan to carry it around. Normal hard drives can more easily be damaged. Music file access won't be much different between any of the drives.

 

I will be using it to carry around tho - I plan on hooking it up to my laptop when I DJ events.

[silentcropduster]

I have the 320G version of this, I think I paid like $50 for it 5 years ago I store all my pics and videos and some financial data on it, never had any problems with it

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Western-Digital-My-Passport-500GB-Portable-External-Hard-Drive-Black/20742271?findingMethod=rr

sent via GS3

 

Whats the disc speed tho? I dont see it in the specifications?

[2talltim]

Whats the disc speed tho? I dont see it in the specifications?

It's a solid state

Edited August 5, 2013 by 2talltim

[turnone]

Definitely buy solid state if you want to carry around.

[silentcropduster]

It's a solid state

A 500 gig solid state for $69.99?

sent from double thumbin' it

[ScubaCinci]

Buy a 64GB thumb drive you can throw in your pocket and be done with it. Why mess with a spinning platter drive that's subject to damage from physical shock?

 

I have one of these guys - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220791

Edited August 5, 2013 by ScubaCinci

[mfs81]

Hello,

 

I'm looking to get a portable hard drive to use in conjunction with laptop to store roughly 50 gigs of high quality music files. That’s all I plan to use it for, no videos, or pictures.  It's something I should have done like 2 years ago, but just never did. I’m not sure if I should go with a solid state or not? I’m not sure what other options to even consider? My budget is in the $150 range (or less).

 

I was looking at this:

http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-Thunderbolt-Series-9000291/dp/B00A3G461K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375737230&sr=8-2&keywords=LaCie+Rugged+USB+3.0+Thunderbolt

PC Mag claims it's on the higher quality side & it's a solid state HD. No moving parts.

 

Or this: http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-Portable-Drive-301555/dp/B0058VIWXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375738593&sr=8-1&keywords=LaCie+Rugged+Mini+%28500GB%29

 

 

I know some things about portable hard drives, but not all. I’m certain some of you are way more experienced at this then I.

I've been looking for a portable ext hard drive myself.  I know the other day at wal-mart, they had a Toshiba 1tb for 69.99 usb connection.  I'm gonna head to Micro Center this week to see what they have.

Edited August 5, 2013 by mfs81

[silentcropduster]

Buy a 64GB thumb drive you can throw in your pocket and be done with it. Why mess with a spinning platter drive that's subject to damage from physical shock?

I have one of these guys - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220791[/quote

Would that cause me any issues if it was almost full? Like being slow etc. I have about 50 gigs of music.

sent from double thumbin' it

[Tonik]

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10036

I have been using lacie professionally for years. Never been sad. Up until recently I used them for removable backup disks for off-site storage. That link is to their mobile products.

Being only 50 gb have you considered online storage?

Edited August 5, 2013 by Tonik

[silentcropduster]

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10036

I have been using lacie professionally for years. Never been sad. Up until recently I used them for removable backup disks for off-site storage. That link is to their mobile products.

Being only 50 gb have you considered online storage?

I would be using for djing and some locations do not have internet and have poor cell service which would make it hard to use an online service.

Id just use the hard drive on my laptop...but a while ago my hard drive fried & I lost it all. Luckily I had 2,000+ CDs w the original on it.

But I'll check out LaCie. That's for the link!

sent from double thumbin' it

[ScubaCinci]

Would that cause me any issues if it was almost full? Like being slow etc. I have about 50 gigs of music.

 

Nah...maybe if you filled it 98% or so but you'd have 8GB free and besides, any slowdown would be writes and not reads. I'm guessing once you fill it, you would only be reading from it. You can get 128GB ones for <$80 but they are only USB 2.0 so slower interface but still fast enough to play music, etc from. You may not even have a USB 3.0 port on your PC anyway.

 

I would not use an external hard drive to carry around everywhere - especially if you are going to be in places with a lot of people that could bump or knock it off the table. (i.e.  DJ'ing)

[silentcropduster]

I'm afraid I'd loose it, being how small it is (that's what she said lol)

sent from double thumbin' it

[RHill]

Get a standard external drive to use as a backup at home and store your music on your laptop...I built a 2tb redundant NAS for the same price as that first drive you listed up.

[CBBaron]

50Gb is nothing these days. There are plenty of thumb drives, SD cards and other devices that can handle that kind of data. As mentioned above for portable use get a flash drive. Thumb drives are probably the cheapest and most flexible.

Back up your files at home with an external hard drive. Now you have two copies and pretty good insurance against a loss.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

[jporter12]

For a DJ gig, you really want the files on the laptop's hard drive.  That is the most reliable option for a gig.  What you need is a backup solution, which pretty much any portable hard drive would be sufficient.  From what I remember of DJ software, it works much faster if you have all the files indexed in the program, and for that you would want the files to be local on the laptops hard drive so that it doesn't mess with the indexes when you use the laptop without the portable connected.

[jdonn]

Change your laptop HHD out for a SSD and be done with it. Install your OS and applications to your internal SSD and have an external SSD with your media. Nothing is more responsive then a laptop with a SSD OS... Just the way it is. As far as only having 50 GB... I'm sure you understand that one day, you will have 100... Plan for the future... Get something with more space now and save yourself the energy of having to upload all that data to a new and larger SSD.

[jporter12]

Change your laptop HHD out for a SSD and be done with it. Install your OS and applications to your internal SSD and have an external SSD with your media. Nothing is more responsive then a laptop with a SSD OS... Just the way it is. As far as only having 50 GB... I'm sure you understand that one day, you will have 100... Plan for the future... Get something with more space now and save yourself the energy of having to upload all that data to a new and larger SSD.

 

And still get an external for backup, or at least backup to another computer, if you have one.  For example:  I have all of the photos that I've taken over the years on at least 2 computers, with the exception of the the most recent ones, which reminds me that I need to copy the newest ones over.

[ScubaCinci]

Change your laptop HHD out for a SSD and be done with it. Install your OS and applications to your internal SSD and have an external SSD with your media. Nothing is more responsive then a laptop with a SSD OS... Just the way it is. As far as only having 50 GB... I'm sure you understand that one day, you will have 100... Plan for the future... Get something with more space now and save yourself the energy of having to upload all that data to a new and larger SSD.

I might have a few SSDs I can sell...this is an older pic, I think I have more now.

[silentcropduster]

ahhh, idk what to do...so many options:

 

buy a used/new one from ScubaCinci

 

get a 64 gig jump drive

 

buy a reg 500 ig or so HD

 

use my computers HD and buy a back up

 

get a SSHD

 

ScubaCinci what all do u have (specs) and how much ?

[ScubaCinci]

I'll have to look to see what I have tonight.

[silentcropduster]

I'll have to look to see what I have tonight.

 

alrighty, PM me ur findings please & thanks

[jporter12]

I'll have to look to see what I have tonight.

 

Please don't let me know that you have anything in 120-260 GB range for a really good price.  I don't know that I can resist buying one, since the 60gb OCZ Agility 3 is almost full, using it as my OS and a few applications drive.  I've even move Office to the D: drive recently!