BIG storage without breaking the bank !!..

N

nuno1959

Registered
hi everyone !
computer ''newb'' here & have decided to put my music/photos/video onto HDD.
i have 10.000 albums ( 35 years of collecting CD's & LP's, plus 400 DVD's ..) & started fiddling around with some W.D. My Book USB drives to ''test the waters'' : so far i have 2 X 1TB drives plus 1 x 2TB drive almost full & haven't ''scratched the surface'' of it ....but am happy w/ the results !
transferring my music in uncompressed/lossless formats - i realize i need a massive capacity external storage unit, complete with back-ups + ''unplugged/stashed elsewhere'' further back-ups for it to be SAFE ( redundancy ?.. )
not having endless funds & being a silversmith w/ excellent fabricating skills & all necessary tools, i'm ready to build something to keep it all, my idea being :
for iTunes/music - 8TB+back-ups, for iPhoto/pics - 2TB+back-ups, for my video - 4TB+back-ups : in one box, two boxes , several ??
googled up the subject & i'm overwhelmed by the vast amount of info & how it branches into related matters : RAID 1, 2, 5, 6, 10 /non RAID, NAS, JBOD, concatenated, spanned, the list is endless !! still, i'm decided & would like to retain the W.D. plug'n play/no fuss simplicity, coupled with the big capacity i need, my computer being a 1 year old alu iMac, i guess either USB or FireWire would do - the My Books play flawlessly through plain USB ...
my ''cry for help'' is that i'ld REALLY need someone to provide me like a parts list of compatible/proven components or point me in the right direction ( a ''how to'' book, DIY Kits, manufacturer site ?.. ) to get the info needed/job done - so far all i've come up with are commercially built NAS boxes people seem to consider not ''so hot'' for what they cost, home built NAS boxes, up to 2, 3, maximum 4TB capacity, but apparently not Mac compatible...
i AM feeling a bit lost here & ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated, thanks in advance
best wishes
Nuno
 
hi earthsaver
& thanks for your suggestion . i will contact them but i'm afraid i'll have to find something equivalent to them only european based - importing from the States is always a bureaucratic mess. no matter how much the ''globalisation'' concept is thrown around , it seems to me things are only global when it comes to big company's interests but not necessarily this planet's inhabitants.. ;-)
cheers
N
 
They ship to Europe. What country don't they ship to? Did you call them and ask (International: 815.338.8685)them?
 
oh no, Satcomer - don't get me wrong !
each time i've bought stuff from the States, ALL went nice & easy . it's when the stuff arrives in Portugal, to Portuguese Customs that all hell breaks loose & the nightmare begins - to the point i can't be bothered anymore because i know one day, i WILL physically attack someone !...LOL...you have no idea how petty these people are !
since if i import from an European Union country none of this happens - because there are NO customs involved.. - , you know what i mean ? it's regrettable since there is SO MUCH stuff in the States one can't get hold off/better prices than here, but it's simply how it is....
 
OK but I am saying is the OWC hard drives use the Oxford chipset that have been more than steady through three different versions of OS x I have gone through. Plus OWC always included every cable that the external ports needed USB2, Firewire and/or Firewire2, in the box that the external came in. Most stores don't do that.

Plus don't buy a LaCie externals. Just search for that brand on this boards help forums and you will see massive amounts of problems.
 
yeah, i hear you !
& that was exactly my idea about them : good looks but crap !
someone suggested i simply buy 4 : http://www.pixmania.com/pt/pt/2763164/art/western-digital/my-book-world-edition-ii.html, plug them in my USB hubs & by un-checking the ''Keep iTunes Music folder organized'' box in the advanced tab of prefs pane, it seems iTunes will ''read & write'' to & from multiple drives .
this , if true, is an interesting notion: it would keep things as simple as can be, VERY affordable : 16TB ( 8TB of data + 8TB of real time back up.. ) for around 1739 € - around 2600$US & if i felt the need to have further back-ups ( unplugged/stashed elsewhere.. ) i could simply buy 4 of these : http://www.pixmania.com/pt/pt/2835976/art/western-digital/disco-rigido-externo-my-b.html roughly for 300US$ each . at this point all i can do is to check what's possible & once i have that info, compare the different solutions until i can choose the more suitable for my case.
so far so good...
cheers
N
 
Just do your homework first on that brand and do some Google searches on that brand to see if others like it or had problems with them.
 
absolutely!
myself i have four of W.D. My Book drives : a 2TB single drive & two 1TB ones. so far , so good - they are quiet, don't heat up even though i have my iMac & the drives switched on 24/7, they stream my music fast, same with video ( i can watch a HD movie without the image ever freezing or other.. ) all in all i'd say they are pretty good. now as far as lifespan....that, i REALLY have no idea but from what i've read about them they are in the ballpark . let's see....
 
absolutely!
myself i have four of W.D. My Book drives : a 2TB single drive & two 1TB ones. so far , so good - they are quiet, don't heat up even though i have my iMac & the drives switched on 24/7, they stream my music fast, same with video ( i can watch a HD movie without the image ever freezing or other.. ) all in all i'd say they are pretty good. now as far as lifespan....that, i REALLY have no idea but from what i've read about them they are in the ballpark . let's see....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top