[Tfug] USB drives

[John Gruenenfelder]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 10:29:54PM -0700, Bexley Hall wrote:
>
>Hi,
>
>I have a temporary need for a sizeable archive (to store
>snapshots of a large database during development).
>Seems like 3.5" drives max out around 500G - 750G.
>Anything bigger than that goes to 2.5" laptop drives (?).

Are you sure you don't have that backwards?  The larger drives should always
be the 3.5" not 2.5", right?

>What sort of experience have folks had with these
>external "portable" USB drives?  Assuming I physically
>protect the drive (i.e., so it doesn't get bumped off
>the table!), have they been proven reliable?  Are
>there shortcomings on throughput imposed by the USB
>interface *or* increased rotational delays?
>
>Recommendations on particular models?  I'm probably looking
>for 1-2TB total.  Note that my need is actually only
>temporary so I'll need to repurpose the drive(s) later
>(media server?).  As such, this plays a possible role
>in selecting the device(s) to use.

Personally, I've not used any of the ready-made external drives.  Normally, I
just purchase an enclosure that will hold what I need and has the sort of
connector I want.  On a machine at work I've got a 160GB drive in a small
enclosure.  The box supports both USB2 and Firewire.  I would prefer to use
Firewire, but when I do, Linux always treats it as disk #1, even over the
internal HDDs.  So it's using USB2.  I can't complain, though.  It's been
plenty fast and I haven't had any issues.

In the next few weeks I'll be replacing it with a 1TB drive in an enclosure
which supports eSATA.  But, as I don't have it yet, I can't comment on it.


-- 
--John Gruenenfelder    Systems Manager, MKS Imaging Technology, LLC.
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