WD RE4 black edition HDs

[Digital Technophile]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

Thanks Per, indeed versus Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, and OCZ that says a lot considering those competitors should be leaders in memory technology. However, I usually consider StorageSearch.com as a pretty definitive source of information pertaining to enterprise class SSD technologies as they have been tracking the progress of this segment since the late '90s. As of the 1st quarter 2011, Intel has been ranked 9th, but against the whole of SSD manufacturers. I don't ever discount anything Intel does as they are the 400 pound gorilla of silicon and semiconductors. Even if they get of to a bad start with a particular technology, they usually end up on top. BUT, it's also fascinating to note they were the pioneers of the SSD way back in the early 1980's. Heck if not for them, we wouldn't even know what 8086 meant, probably typing this out on some MOS tech based architecture!

And no worries for the salt mate...I have a pretty big salt shaker right here I use to remind myself to make back ups. Even though my WD3200JB is still rock solid reliable, that contains some pretty important data; again size matters and I've got a 30GB virtual machine disk. I suppose I can RAR it into 7 pieces and back to DVD-5, or even 4 pieces to DVD-9. What methods of backup (nonvolatile) would you recommend? Do you trust "cloud" storage? Doesn't seem safe, not that I'm harboring sensitive nuclear secrets and such; just that without VPN and encryption, I'm not sure if I should trust it. I'm always open to suggestion and trying something new.

[Per Hansson]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

I do not trust "Cloud" storage at all, and never will.
It is simply not possible for it to be reliable, that is my opinion of it anyway...

I simply backup to an external USB disk drive, I use Total Commander to do so, it has a very nice "how do you want to handle file replace" dialog...

I absolutely despise the crap that some big HDD makers release, automated stuff that they say work but which you really never get any overview of what the *** it is doing...
I guess I'm just old-school and prefer to do it the way I know it works...

[Uranium-235]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

using xcopy (windows), or teracopy (download) is what I use. though teracopy gets on my nerves sometimes

[Wizard]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

Xcopy and like that does not gather up everything is not suitable, I used to "bit-bang on DOS" old days (very late 1980's) and it was horrible especially with files that can't be copied in easy manner. I prefer bit-level imaging on HD to HD like acronis. For backing up CD, DVDs etc, I use imaging program to turn them into .iso images as well.

Cheers, Wizard

[Digital Technophile]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

@Per :In terms of convenience, USB HDD probably the way to go, but I just cannot trust them anymore in any form factor.

@Uranium :Are you using xcopy and teracopy to HDD? I'll have to check them out; I'm guessing they backup to most media, to which I am still feeling good at this point with DVD-5 in terms of cost and longevity. I've been since considering breaking down and getting a Blu-ray burner for the sole purpose of data archiving (25GB, sure sign me up!). I also found this new optical disc tech on Wikipedia, which may cause me to wait a little while longer before investing in a new storage technology.

@Wizard (and everyone) : Back when the cash was flowing, I bought Gear Pro Mastering which is admittedly more than a small-time consumer needs, but they now offer some more reasonably priced editions (though the Mastering edition is the only product they offer that will burn Blu-ray, if you have version 8. Guess which version I don't have )

But my recent storage nightmare and consideration of the many options SSD's offer today got my mind working...I envisioned a form of solid state disk that uses ROM chips as a write-once storage medium. Consider this-I'm currently re-ripping over 50-60 some odd audio cd's back into mp3 format for consumption over digital media. Since these files never change, doesn't it stand to reason that a write once, ROM chip-based SSD technology could be created for long term storage?? I think if such a thing could be created, would greatly reduce the amount of data needing backing up in the first place. Though I'm not fully capable of carrying out such a daunting task, the architecture wouldn't be so difficult to conceive. Though at a glance, the cost of enough EPROM or EEPROM chips to achieve a desirable amount of storage would be a prohibitive venture, which is probably why it hasn't been attempted. Comments?

[toastygoodness]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

if you can't trust mechanical HDs anymore, switch to DAT. that's usually safe...ish.

in all honesty, if you can't trust a USB HDD in any factor, then you can't trust any HDD.

just get HDDs that are decom'd by large companies and stuff, they're usually good stuff. they are just required to throw good HDDs away every year or whatever depending on their IT policy. I know NU does the same.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: WD RE4 black edition HDs

if you can't trust mechanical HDs anymore, switch to DAT. that's usually safe...ish.

in all honesty, if you can't trust a USB HDD in any factor, then you can't trust any HDD.

just get HDDs that are decom'd by large companies and stuff, they're usually good stuff. they are just required to throw good HDDs away every year or whatever depending on their IT policy. I know NU does the same.

Certainly if I had a supply reasonable priced (real cheap) hard drives, that could be an avenue worth exploring. I still need online storage and when my fortunes change again I'm going to build a file server. I've several mobos hanging around I'd like to put into service. The only thing missing? HARD DRIVES! I've seen a few here flambasting RAID-5 and myself have began to read up on RAID-6. Any input on RAID-6 versus nested RAID modes like 1+0 (striped mirrors) etc. (or even RAID? One other factor these boards I have is that all but one is strictly PCI based (at least one has 32bit 66mHz bus speed). Not many options other than 0/1/5/1+0 on PCI bus. I did see LSI actually offers a PCIe based card that offers RAID-60 (ie, 6+0, or striped RAID-6 arrays, wheew, that's a LOT of disks ) Any recommendations here?

Also check out this link, really leaning that direction in terms of data backup/archiving. With that kind of storage, I have no problems living on the edge with hard drives. Though a quick search on the 'net hasn't revealed any resellers, much less competing manufacturers, so it seems some waiting is in order.

Cheers