External HDD

horse7

2T HDD 49€ https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-ie/products/portable-drives/wd-my-passport-usb-3-0-hdd-recertified?utm_medium=pdsh2&utm_source=gads&utm_campaign=WD-EU-IE-PLA&utm_content=887346893493&utm_term=RWDBYFT0020BRD-WESN#RWDBYFT0020BRD-WESN
Think that's good, price includes shipping etc.

steamsey

But they're recertified. I wouldn't touch them but each to their own. Maybe has a use for something like Xbox games (which can all be re-downloaded if drive corrupts) but I certainly wouldn't use them for real storage - photos, films etc.

Brand new here if you deal with Amazon €65- https://tinyurl.com/2z5kpzea. Or €75 in Curry's.

Mango Joe

Hi OP - thanks for posting this and I don't want to be that person on here who is ungrateful and negative.

I do however want to point out though just so people are aware that these drives are what WD term recertified - “WD recertified products may consist of customer return units and may be repaired.” - So this drive will have a history, how good or bad that was is up to your imagination but if I was a Fortune Teller then I'd be seeing major data loss in your future.

They are also HDDs which are extremely susceptible to damage and loss of data from knocks and bumps etc which is a disaster for an external drive.

In my opinion really in 2021 people should be buying SSD drives only - If 2TBs SSD is too expensive then buy 2 X 1TB - Ugreen do an pretty good USB 3 enclosure that will take any standard 2.5" SSD in seconds without a screwdriver.

Also to note that their so-called spec sheet outright refuses to identify the speed of this drive - Which I couldn't believe as its the spec sheet, what else would be on there - That figure should be front and centre???? I presume its probably hidden on purpose, they are probably criminally slow in that case. Link to this dodgy document here

Finally most HDDs in an external enclosure have standard SATA connectors so a lot of people buy them with a view to repurposing them somewhere along the line - These however have some proprietary circuit board with a USB interface only so you cannot do this.

In all honesty if these were free then they'd still be a bad idea due to the risk of data loss - Which leads me to mention the disclaimer that you're supposed to have multiple copies of any important data etc.

steamsey

steamsey wrote: »

Brand new here if you deal with Amazon €65- https://tinyurl.com/2z5kpzea

That's an older model and doesn't include delivery cost.

I've bought four WD recertified drives over the years and they're all going fine. Obviously you shouldn't keep important stuff on them, but that's also true of a regular hard drive.

Think they're always this price when they're in stock but it's good to know for those who aren't aware that this website exist.

cjlawlor

Thanks OP. It's rare to see all capacities in stock... I've bought recertified WD drives a couple of times over the past 2-3 years and they are both still going strong. I haven't used them for crucial data but for temporary storage or seldom used backup drives, they're great value.

Fine Cheers

Bought one a couple of days ago for my young lad's xbox. Great value.

karlitob

Mango Joe wrote: »

Hi OP - thanks for posting this and I don't want to be that person on here who is ungrateful and negative.

I do however want to point out though just so people are aware that these drives are what WD term recertified - “WD recertified products may consist of customer return units and may be repaired.” - So this drive will have a history, how good or bad that was is up to your imagination but if I was a Fortune Teller then I'd be seeing major data loss in your future.

They are also HDDs which are extremely susceptible to damage and loss of data from knocks and bumps etc which is a disaster for an external drive.

In my opinion really in 2021 people should be buying SSD drives only - If 2TBs SSD is too expensive then buy 2 X 1TB - Ugreen do an pretty good USB 3 enclosure that will take any standard 2.5" SSD in seconds without a screwdriver.

Also to note that their so-called spec sheet outright refuses to identify the speed of this drive - Which I couldn't believe as its the spec sheet, what else would be on there - That figure should be front and centre???? I presume its probably hidden on purpose, they are probably criminally slow in that case. Link to this dodgy document here

Finally most HDDs in an external enclosure have standard SATA connectors so a lot of people buy them with a view to repurposing them somewhere along the line - These however have some proprietary circuit board with a USB interface only so you cannot do this.

In all honesty if these were free then they'd still be a bad idea due to the risk of data loss - Which leads me to mention the disclaimer that you're supposed to have multiple copies of any important data etc.

Sorry to hi-jack but I’d really appreciate your advice.

I have this old external hard drive that I use with my mid-2010 iMac. Both are coming to end of life I reckon. I tried a full erase and full clone on my EHD. A worrying enough warning dialogue box came up. Didn’t write it down unfortunately. So I did a quick erase and did a clone that’s rebootable. Seems to be ok for now but obviously a bit of a worry.

So I’ve two questions

- can you advise on a good quality SSD
- can you advise on the rebootable aspect of the clone. I use a surface pro for work, thinking of moving to windows. If I do a rebootable clone will I have any issues in future with restoring my music and photos in a new OS?

Thanks for your help.

https://www.gear4music.ie/Recording-and-Computers/DISC-1TB-External-Hard-Drive-by-LaCie-eSATA-FireWire-400-USB-20/A0L

Mango Joe

karlitob wrote: »

Sorry to hi-jack but I’d really appreciate your advice.

I have this old external hard drive that I use with my mid-2010 iMac. Both are coming to end of life I reckon. I tried a full erase and full clone on my EHD. A worrying enough warning dialogue box came up. Didn’t write it down unfortunately. So I did a quick erase and did a clone that’s rebootable. Seems to be ok for now but obviously a bit of a worry.

So I’ve two questions

- can you advise on a good quality SSD
- can you advise on the rebootable aspect of the clone. I use a surface pro for work, thinking of moving to windows. If I do a rebootable clone will I have any issues in future with restoring my music and photos in a new OS?

Thanks for your help.

https://www.gear4music.ie/Recording-and-Computers/DISC-1TB-External-Hard-Drive-by-LaCie-eSATA-FireWire-400-USB-20/A0L

Hi there,

I'm not a Mac person so this may be why I'm a little confused by your post - Especially the bit about your external HD being bootable.

Regardless, your main concern seems to be with regard to potentially losing your stored data ie music and photos.

Really for peace of mind with data you need to have multiple copies stored - this covers you in the event of loss, theft, hardware failure, accidental deletion etc.

If your data is stored in the cloud (eg Google Drive) then you're covered if your house burns to the foundations too and so on.

My advice is that if you're a musician or photographer - Go browse their Forums online and see what your peers are using to keep their data safe - Eg there's specialist options for photos that will make it easier to categorise and search them etc.

For SSDs Samsung, Crucial, Kingston and Sandisk all make good SSDs.

karlitob

Mango Joe wrote: »

Hi there,

I'm not a Mac person so this may be why I'm a little confused by your post - Especially the bit about your external HD being bootable.

Regardless, your main concern seems to be with regard to potentially losing your stored data ie music and photos.

Really for peace of mind with data you need to have multiple copies stored - this covers you in the event of loss, theft, hardware failure, accidental deletion etc.

If your data is stored in the cloud (eg Google Drive) then you're covered if your house burns to the foundations too and so on.

My advice is that if you're a musician or photographer - Go browse their Forums online and see what your peers are using to keep their data safe - Eg there's specialist options for photos that will make it easier to categorise and search them etc.

For SSDs Samsung, Crucial, Kingston and Sandisk all make good SSDs.

Thanks for reply. No just a normal Joe. I’ve most things backed up on iCloud. Things got really confusing for a while when iTunes shifted from being their main place to backup and it seems led that I could/had to back up my entire iTunes to the cloud so I didn’t as I didn’t have the space - just kept a hard drive back up.

I thought bootable means that I can boot from the EHD if the internal hard drive fails. I only mention it as it confuses me when it comes to backing up as my photos are in photo and music in iTunes so it makes me wonder if I my current back up would work on a windows machine i future.

More research needed I feel!!

spaceHopper

I've a recertified NAS from WD and so far zero problems, it's raid 2 os if one drive goes down I can replace it and not lose data

jc77

karlitob wrote: »

Thanks for reply. No just a normal Joe. I’ve most things backed up on iCloud. Things got really confusing for a while when iTunes shifted from being their main place to backup and it seems led that I could/had to back up my entire iTunes to the cloud so I didn’t as I didn’t have the space - just kept a hard drive back up.

I thought bootable means that I can boot from the EHD if the internal hard drive fails. I only mention it as it confuses me when it comes to backing up as my photos are in photo and music in iTunes so it makes me wonder if I my current back up would work on a windows machine i future.

More research needed I feel!!

Just an FYI, but be careful here.

Per the iCloud terms, "You are responsible for backing up, to your own computer or other device, any important documents, images or other Content that you store or access via the Service"

Further "Apple does not guarantee or warrant that any Content you may store or access through the Service will not be subject to inadvertent damage, corruption or loss."

KeRbDoG

Mango Joe wrote: »

Hi OP - thanks for posting this and I don't want to be that person on here who is ungrateful and negative.

I do however want to point out though just so people are aware that these drives are what WD term recertified - “WD recertified products may consist of customer return units and may be repaired.” - So this drive will have a history, how good or bad that was is up to your imagination but if I was a Fortune Teller then I'd be seeing major data loss in your future.

They are also HDDs which are extremely susceptible to damage and loss of data from knocks and bumps etc which is a disaster for an external drive.

In my opinion really in 2021 people should be buying SSD drives only - If 2TBs SSD is too expensive then buy 2 X 1TB - Ugreen do an pretty good USB 3 enclosure that will take any standard 2.5" SSD in seconds without a screwdriver.

Also to note that their so-called spec sheet outright refuses to identify the speed of this drive - Which I couldn't believe as its the spec sheet, what else would be on there - That figure should be front and centre???? I presume its probably hidden on purpose, they are probably criminally slow in that case. Link to this dodgy document here

Finally most HDDs in an external enclosure have standard SATA connectors so a lot of people buy them with a view to repurposing them somewhere along the line - These however have some proprietary circuit board with a USB interface only so you cannot do this.

In all honesty if these were free then they'd still be a bad idea due to the risk of data loss - Which leads me to mention the disclaimer that you're supposed to have multiple copies of any important data etc.

I'd have the same worry for any media rather it be flash or spindle, cheap or expensive - it will fail (only a matter of time) so have backups.
In terms of 'recertified' media being a greater risk, take that with a pinch of salt. If you buy such a drive, complete a full read/write test with many passes - if OK then it should live a good HDD life but again, always plan on it failing so backup backup backup!

xckjoo

karlitob wrote: »

Thanks for reply. No just a normal Joe. I’ve most things backed up on iCloud. Things got really confusing for a while when iTunes shifted from being their main place to backup and it seems led that I could/had to back up my entire iTunes to the cloud so I didn’t as I didn’t have the space - just kept a hard drive back up.

I thought bootable means that I can boot from the EHD if the internal hard drive fails. I only mention it as it confuses me when it comes to backing up as my photos are in photo and music in iTunes so it makes me wonder if I my current back up would work on a windows machine i future.

More research needed I feel!!

Bootable does mean you can boot from that drive but you won't be able to boot MacOS on a Surface if that's what you mean? If you're just wondering if you can access the files from the drive then that should be possible but you'd need to check if the filesystem on the external drive can be read by Windows. This used to be a pain in the ass with Apple filesystems in Windows, but it's possible someone has made a program to do it. vFat is a good choice for filesystem since nearly everything can read it.

Your photos and music are just files that Photo and iTune are reading and managing. You should still be able find the files on the drive and view/listen to them in any other program, but there's a decent chance Apple have made this difficult. They don't like you trying to move away from their ecosystem.

karlitob

xckjoo wrote: »

Bootable does mean you can boot from that drive but you won't be able to boot MacOS on a Surface if that's what you mean? If you're just wondering if you can access the files from the drive then that should be possible but you'd need to check if the filesystem on the external drive can be read by Windows. This used to be a pain in the ass with Apple filesystems in Windows, but it's possible someone has made a program to do it. vFat is a good choice for filesystem since nearly everything can read it.

Your photos and music are just files that Photo and iTune are reading and managing. You should still be able find the files on the drive and view/listen to them in any other program, but there's a decent chance Apple have made this difficult. They don't like you trying to move away from their ecosystem.

Exactly what I’m on about. Thank you.

Ordering photos into albums and songs into iTunes. Don’t want to go through that again.

I used to be al about Mac. Mac router, Mac phone, Mac software (no MS office for me), Mac tablet, Mac email address etc. I liked it. I like the premium build. But I drank the look-aid too. I do think there’s something more secure about a company who does software and hardware but what would I know.

I’ve been using surface for a few years now and I’m impressed. But just as expensive of course.

I’m also coming to the end of the line with my iMac, iPhone (x2), IPad and AirPort Extreme. But it’s an expensive hobby to replace all of that.

I use my phone for buying stuff; checking the weather, rugby and the camera. That’s it.

I use the iPad for child school work, YouTube and Netflix.

But the notion of transferring everything somewhere else is pretty daunting. I have made mistakes before.

More research to do.

Alkers

Mine arrived the other day, many thanks OP - perfect for an external drive for xbox games