I need an external hard drive recommendation.

[Blue_In_AK]

I've come to the point where I need something other than DVDs to store my pics on since they're basically starting to fill up an entire cabinet and are becoming unwieldy when I'm looking for something specific (despite my nice labeling).

I'm thinking of getting some kind of terabyte or multi-terabyte external hard drive which I think would be much more convenient for organizing and so on. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Duer 157099]

1. Costco

1.5T WD USB3 drive for like $130 or so.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Awesome.

Thank you so much. It really seems worth the outlay, and I'm always happy to give more money to Costco.

[Duer 157099]

3. I got one recently

I was going through the same process as you, wondering about which one to get, from where, etc. And then I walked into Costco, saw one, took it home and started transferring files to it and never looked back. I usually take lots to time to make hardware decisions but with hard drive space, sometimes time is the most important factor.

It comes with a USB 3.0 wire but is backwards compatible with USB 2.0, which is only what my machine has.

It's just one of those "just do it" type things imho.

edit: just looked at the Costco site to see the specifics but I can't find it there. It may only be in the stores. It also had like a $30 instant rebate when I got it a couple months ago. But you know Costco, things disappear.

[Major Nikon]

4. You may want to consider a NAS (Network Attached Storage)

The problem with storing your photos on just an external drive is if that drive ever crashes, all your photos are lost. I have a NAS configured as 2 mirrored drives. If one drive ever fails, everything is saved on the other one. My NAS is older and doesn't have all the features of newer models. The newer ones allow access to your files from anywhere on the internet. Some will allow direct access of photos and videos so you don't have to host them somewhere else if you want to share them.

Another option is cloud storage. For about $75 per year or so, you can get unlimited cloud storage.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Does the cloud storage or this NAS (which I know nothing about) allow you to move things around

and reorganize and so on? I guess what I'm asking is, is it set up as files that you can add things to or whatever? I'd like to organize my photos by topics and subtopics ... i.e., with a heading of, say, Anchorage, and then subtopics like Coastal Trail, Downtown, so on ... or maybe organize by year with subfiles. I'm not sure exactly how I want to do it yet, but I like the option of being able to move things around, which I can't do with my DVDs because they've become "read only."

And, of course, as luck would have it, some of my DVDs have corrupted so that not all pics are accessible. Grr. Although I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me could probably recover them.

[Major Nikon]

6. The NAS I have is pretty simple

It's just a little box that holds 2 hard drives and there is a network (RJ-45) connector that plugs into your network. Once the NAS is configured, you have several network folders that you can map to local drives on your computer. Once they are mapped as local drives, they are just like any other hard drive folder. Any computer on the local network has access to the files. It also has an iTunes server, so my daughter keeps all her music files on it.

I haven't used cloud storage for photos. My understanding on how it works is you store your photos on a local hard drive folder, then you set that folder to back up to the cloud. Any changes you make locally will be reflected on the cloud drive as it backs everything up in the background. You can back up your entire computer if you want.

[rdking647]

7. my complaint about NAS

speed when accessing files over wifi.

[Major Nikon]

8. Mine is hard wired to my network

So I get the full speed of my network between my desktop and the NAS.

[rdking647]

9. if i had that option i would go with it

but im on a laptop with no real way to harwire into my netowrk based on the location of my routor/cable outlet