Rugged external hard drives

Google did a study of their hard drive failures and found that with enterprise class drives the brand didn't matter. It was a wash based on the brand. It was primarily heat that was killing the drives.

I recently had a replacement enterprise class drive shipped to me and here is a picture of the shipping container it was sent in.

Nm, still cant upload images from the tapatalk app..... it has 2 inches of medium density open cell foam around the drive

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL
 
If you are worried about data loss, then I wouldnt bother with a big server array as one unhappy loader can mean the death of all of the drives. I would use an offsite backup service for data.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

Evan Kirkendall said:
Anyone have any suggestions for rugged external hard drives? I'm looking for a 1TB drive, firewire is a must. It's gotta stand up to constant travel and usage. Any suggestions?




Evan
Click to expand...

I carry one of these for personal use. The vendor I purchased from included the rack ears and carrying case. I use the case.

For archiving and more mission-critical work we use these although it looks as if they are discontinued.

And, obviously, regardless of what drive(s) I'm using, the only way to be safe is offsite backup.
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

I've looked into SSD drives, but the bigger ones are waaayy too expensive right now.

I'm not really that abusive on the drives. They live in my backpack on tour, and just get jostled around in there. The main issue is just short drive life... I use them all the time. I've got a 1TB apple time capsule at home, linked to another 1TB backup drive. I just need a portable drive for when I'm on tour to store pictures, movies and music.

And regarding the SC48's, Clair recently switched to SSD drives in all of their consoles and failures have gone way down. I've only killed 3 desks as of now. :)



Evan
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

I was going to suggest SSD also. Or maybe looking into military/aerospace drives. They are designed to handle high temperature variations, shock, vibration and high altitudes. Sounds like a challenge, doesn't it? :)
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

Charles Harrigan said:
Google did a study of their hard drive failures and found that with enterprise class drives the brand didn't matter. It was a wash based on the brand. It was primarily heat that was killing the drives.

I recently had a replacement enterprise class drive shipped to me and here is a picture of the shipping container it was sent in.

Nm, still cant upload images from the tapatalk app..... it has 2 inches of medium density open cell foam around the drive

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL
Click to expand...

Wrong. I read that study, and heat was not a factor. They mostly only tested SATA drives, not SAS. There are some other studies out there but most of the data is not diverse enough to draw any over all conclusions.

What the Google study did highlight was that the claimed "MTBF" or AFR was not what the manufacture claimed in the specs.
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

How about two 512GB drives in a small RAID enclosure? I dunno... he said his problem was dead drives. The drives in question are mechanical... IME 3.5" desktop hard drives don't do real well when you lug them around everywhere.
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

Evan Kirkendall said:
I've looked into SSD drives, but the bigger ones are waaayy too expensive right now.

I'm not really that abusive on the drives. They live in my backpack on tour, and just get jostled around in there. The main issue is just short drive life... I use them all the time.
Click to expand...

Most of my drives (if they make it past the infant mortality stage) last 5-7 years. I have drives in my Windows Home Server and a HTPC that run 24/7 unless the OS spins them down during periods of inactivity. For the HTPC, that is infrequent as it is constantly recording TV shows. I've actually never had a drive failure while a machine was in use during normal operation.

I have had MANY (well a few at least) experiences with personally owned equipment in external enclosures fail. Drives that get inserted and removed in caddies, or are a "backup" drive I'd carry along with me to do troubleshooting. I've also had drives die when moving them from one machine to another (rare). Point is, I think it's the mobile use of a 3.5" desktop drive that is what does it. They just aren't that rugged. I do think you'd have better luck with a laptop drive. They seem to be designed with mobile use in mind.

Maybe look for an enclosure that supports that G sensor thing. There has to be something out there.
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

Silas Pradetto said:
Edit: if you really care about your data (like I do), you should be touring with a server with a RAID 5 or RAID 6 array.
Click to expand...

Silas, while RAID 6 is an improvement, RAID 5 is full on kitten killing, sharks with laserbeams EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL.............
Join BAARF, see the light. http://www.miracleas.com/BAARF/BAARF_members_sql.php

The RAID 1 enclosure option is pretty reasonable. My preference is just for frequent backups and a nice padded case for transport of the enclosure.
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

Evan Kirkendall said:
I'm not really that abusive on the drives. They live in my backpack on tour, and just get jostled around in there. The main issue is just short drive life...
Click to expand...

LOL Hartford... They have short life because

Evan Kirkendall said:
They live in my backpack on tour, and just get jostled around in there.
Click to expand...

Pelican case, my good man. I doubt you are wearing them out from use. I've got several TB worth of drives, in use all the time, audio, video, whatever and they haven't worn out. It's the clacking around in the your backpack.

Like Jake says the Glyph stuff is good. We use some. SSD is being used on our in house developed sampler and SFX systems. Spendy though. The big ol' DAW I pilot is using a couple of swapping bays with Seagates and Hitachis. We've got a butt load of LaCies that have done well. Several trips back and forth to Montreal for a couple of years before we started using big pipe SFTP. FWIW, we didn't use a backpack to ship them... ;) For the last motion picture shoot we did we used G-Drives. http://g-technology.com/products/g-drive.cfm We used them with Protools HD and 9, Nuendo and Tascam X48s, they work real well.
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

I am a big fan of the Storm (now part of Pelican) cases. My main kit weighs just a smidge under 40lbs right now and would be carry-on sized if I dared try and carry it on. I have almost everything I need in there... inclinometers won't fit, but whomever I'm working for should have those anyway. Right?

IMG_0777.jpg
 
Re: Rugged external hard drives

yep. One of the 1040 or 1050 cases with a nice little foam insert and one of the Seagate GoFlex drives (about as big as an iPhone in an Otter sleeve) and away you go.
 
Top Bottom