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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 7:53:52 GMT -6
Hey guys, I'm seeking out some opinions on external hard drives. I'm looking to buy a couple of external hard drives and I noticed that Sweetwater has a 36 month, no interest deal going on right now for Glyph, G-technology and Lacie drives. Since I'm probably going to pick up a few other items during this promotion as well, I figured why not go ahead and throw the drives in too. Also, I need the drives but don't have the extra cash right now so it won't do any good to suggest other options, as I'm limited to whatever Sweetwater sells and is including in this promotion. I'm a little torn on which brand to go with though. I'm primarily interested in USB 3.0 connectivity but wouldn't mind the additional option of a FW connection if it didn't significantly add to the cost. I need one 1-TB (or possibly 500 GB) audio-record drive and one backup drive that is at least 1-TB but 2-TB (or more?) would be okay depending on the price. I don't necessarily care if they both are the same model or not, but read/write speed (7200 rpm, good connection speed) and how quietly it operates is of primary concern for the audio-record drive whereas overall size and reliability is of primary concern for the backup drive. I'm also looking to keep this in the $300 to $400 range. So what's the latest scoop on these brands? There are so many conflicting reports out there. I've read bad reports over the years on Lacie but maybe they've gotten things going better in recent years. I don't know a whole lot about G-tech but it seems like I've read some good things. At this point, I suppose I'm leaning towards the Glyph Studio 1 TB ($149) or possibly the Glyph Studio Mini 1 TB ($149) but I'm open to suggestions. The Glyphs also are on sale right now so that's worth mentioning. Oh, and what about bus powered versus dedicated power? I've traditionally had mostly internal drives so I haven't had to worry too much about it but it seems like I've seen some people say that they preferred dedicated power over power from a USB or FW bus, though I'm not sure why? Any thoughts? I'm including a link below to the page for each of the three manufacturers. Thanks. G-Technology | Sweetwater.comLaCie | Sweetwater.comGlyph | Sweetwater.com |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Feb 11, 2016 8:23:18 GMT -6
I have a pair of G-Drives and they've treated me well for years. I've run into a couple dead LaCie drives over the years (I'm an IT guy during the day). No experience with Glyph.
If I were buying for myself, I would stick with the G-Drives.
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 9:00:04 GMT -6
I have a pair of G-Drives and they've treated me well for years. I've run into a couple dead LaCie drives over the years (I'm an IT guy during the day). No experience with Glyph. If I were buying for myself, I would stick with the G-Drives. I've heard that before about Lacie's but wasn't sure if maybe things have improved. What model(s) of G-drive do you have and how quiet is it? |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Feb 11, 2016 9:29:06 GMT -6
I have a Big G-Drive from probably close to 10 years ago. It's not the quietest. Also a G-Drive mini, which seems a bit quieter. If quiet is really a concern (for you audio drive), you should really get an SSD. Save up some cash and grab a Samsung and an external case. Probably run you about $200 for 500GB, but will be super quiet and super fast.
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 10:46:50 GMT -6
I have a Big G-Drive from probably close to 10 years ago. It's not the quietest. Also a G-Drive mini, which seems a bit quieter. If quiet is really a concern (for you audio drive), you should really get an SSD. Save up some cash and grab a Samsung and an external case. Probably run you about $200 for 500GB, but will be super quiet and super fast. I am planning on buying a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB as an internal sample drive but that will be a separate purchase, as Sweetwater doesn't sell these. I had considered getting a SSD for the audio drive too but this will likely spend at least some of the time in a machine room so, while I do want it to be as quiet as possible when it's in the same room as recording, it's not absolutely critical that it's dead silent (but very quiet would be great). That being said, I have seen some people say that the fanless Glyph Studio Mini (HDD) is pretty quiet, hence my interest. |
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Post by NoFilterChuck on Feb 11, 2016 13:51:37 GMT -6
have you considered buying a separate enclosure and drive from newegg/pricewatch? i would never shop for computer equipment at an Audio retailer.
you should know that all of those brands you named all of seagate/WD/Toshiba/HGST drives (possibly unlabeled) on the inside. Enclosures rarely fail, but drives do. So, research the best/most reliable drives, buy those, and stick 'em in a cheap enclosure.
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 14:10:09 GMT -6
have you considered buying a separate enclosure and drive from newegg/pricewatch? i would never shop for computer equipment at an Audio retailer. you should know that all of those brands you named all of seagate/WD/Toshiba/HGST drives (possibly unlabeled) on the inside. Enclosures rarely fail, but drives do. So, research the best/most reliable drives, buy those, and stick 'em in a cheap enclosure. Unfortunately, I need a pair of drives now, as one just died on me and I'm short on cash at the moment to do what you suggest, hence the questions about the ones for sale at Sweetwater. I would prefer to do what you're saying but it's not really an option at the moment. So I'm hoping to hear from anybody who has experience with Lacie, Glyph or G-tech. |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Feb 11, 2016 14:12:43 GMT -6
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Post by NoFilterChuck on Feb 11, 2016 14:17:33 GMT -6
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 14:42:48 GMT -6
Oh no. Not another card!  Thanks for pointing this out though, as I guess it could be an alternative to Sweetwater. I REALLY don't need another card though and 6 months versus 3 years is a pretty big difference in time to pay it off. |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Feb 11, 2016 14:53:14 GMT -6
Oh no. Not another card! Thanks for pointing this out though, as I guess it could be an alternative to Sweetwater. I REALLY don't need another card though and 6 months versus 3 years is a pretty big difference in time to pay it off. $240 or $40/mo for 2 x 3TB 7200 WD drives... www.amazon.com/Book-External-Drive-Storage-Backup/dp/B008S94HXG |
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 14:59:47 GMT -6
I always forget to check Pricewatch. I'll take a look at what can be found there. Some of those USB 3 drives are pretty cheap but I suppose you get what you pay for and the cheapest ones seem to mostly be 5400 rpm. That could work for the backup drive but I need 7200 rpm for the audio drive. |
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 15:47:32 GMT -6
Oh no. Not another card! Thanks for pointing this out though, as I guess it could be an alternative to Sweetwater. I REALLY don't need another card though and 6 months versus 3 years is a pretty big difference in time to pay it off. $240 or $40/mo for 2 x 3TB 7200 WD drives... www.amazon.com/Book-External-Drive-Storage-Backup/dp/B008S94HXG I'm going to read more about these. This might work. Thanks. |
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Post by stratboy on Feb 11, 2016 16:09:12 GMT -6
I have a Big G-Drive from probably close to 10 years ago. It's not the quietest. Also a G-Drive mini, which seems a bit quieter. If quiet is really a concern (for you audio drive), you should really get an SSD. Save up some cash and grab a Samsung and an external case. Probably run you about $200 for 500GB, but will be super quiet and super fast. I am planning on buying a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB as an internal sample drive but that will be a separate purchase, as Sweetwater doesn't sell these. I had considered getting a SSD for the audio drive too but this will likely spend at least some of the time in a machine room so, while I do want it to be as quiet as possible when it's in the same room as recording, it's not absolutely critical that it's dead silent (but very quiet would be great). That being said, I have seen some people say that the fanless Glyph Studio Mini (HDD) is pretty quiet, hence my interest. This. I have had a g drive fail on me. A friend of mine is the chief engineer at a major broadcast video facility. They use lots of drives. He had problems with g drives ( hitachi) as well and recommended glyphs. I've had two glyphs now with no problems ever. I currently run a Samsung Evo SSD as a usb 3 work drive, a 1 TB glyph as a short term storage drive and a RAID as one of several backups. |
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Post by ericn on Feb 11, 2016 17:20:43 GMT -6
Glyph was always the standard , but I do believe they and G Drives are all part of the same colmglomeerate now days.
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Post by NoFilterChuck on Feb 11, 2016 17:52:05 GMT -6
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 17:54:21 GMT -6
Yeah, I wasn't planning on going 3 TB. 2 TB is my limit. I was moreso referring to the brand/model. I still have questions about how quiet those things are though. |
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Post by rowmat on Feb 11, 2016 18:26:19 GMT -6
Many years back I purchased an IBM Deskstar 75GXP hard drive. This drive was so infamous it became known as the ''Deathstar" due to its incredibly high failure rate. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HGST_Deskstar#IBM_Deskstar_75GXP_failuresThe heads would begin to hit the disc platter which scraped the magnetic coating of the the discs. www.astro.ufl.edu/~ken/crash/index.htmlThe first sign of this occurrence was a clicking noise which became know as "The Click of Death" Mine lasted three weeks! A class action against IBM ensued. web.archive.org/web/20060315210819/http://www.ibmdeskstar75gxplitigation.com/IBM denied there was an problem and claimed the failure rate of the drives was within normal parameters. So 'normal' in fact that IBM quit the hard drive business altogether and sold their entire hard drive division to Hitachi! Probably the worse POS I've ever purchased apart from an Opcode Sonicport which failed after three months. I took the Sonicport back to the dealer and was told Gibson had since purchased Opcode and was refusing to honor warranty claims on any Opcode product... Thanks! |
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Post by Martin John Butler on Feb 11, 2016 18:38:29 GMT -6
Glyph's 3 year warranty is seriously a deal maker. My Glyph went dead because I'd dropped it. Glyph quickly fixed it, under warranty over two years after I'd bought it, and I even told them I'd dropped it. I was able to get my data again. Prices to recover day went from $700-$1,300. I'll buy a Glyph next time I'm looking.
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 18:59:33 GMT -6
Glyph's 3 year warranty is seriously a deal maker. My Glyph went dead because I'd dropped it. Glyph quickly fixed it, under warranty over two years after I'd bought it, and I even told them I'd dropped it. I was able to get my data again. Prices to recover day went from $700-$1,300. I'll buy a Glyph next time I'm looking. What model of Glyph is this and how quiet is it? I've heard about their warranty policy and it does seem pretty legit. |
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Post by Quint on Feb 11, 2016 19:02:17 GMT -6
Another question I have is this. What about bus powered versus dedicated power? I've traditionally had mostly internal drives so I haven't had to worry too much about it but it seems like I've seen some people say that they preferred dedicated power (IEC or wall wart) over power from a USB or FW bus, though I'm not sure why?
Is there any validity to this?
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Post by Martin John Butler on Feb 11, 2016 22:48:16 GMT -6
I have the little 500 GB model. I love it because I can take it with me to Apple to work on Logic issues, work on Final Cut Pro training, and even take all my tracks to other studios. I use the wall wart, though it works fine without it. I don't even remember why I chose the wall wart, but figured better to leave power outside than in.
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