Storage Drives

Macintosh software/hardware discussion and troubleshooting

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klopeck
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Storage Drives

Post by klopeck »

Hello. What drive of choice are you Mac owners using?

Long story short: I’m looking to acquire another drive to run a session on (track, edit, mix, etc.).

For years I, based on a self-proclaimed “Apple-Guy,” have been running two Western Digital 2TB drives (firewire 400 and USB on both). One for running a session and one for back-up. They have their quirks. In addition to an iMac8,1 I now also have a MacBook Pro with thunderbolt and USB-3. Both computers run DP9.

Thank you for your time.
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monkey man
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by monkey man »

Call me old-fashioned, but I still swear by the WD Caviar Black drives.

Been running 4x2TB drives in the internal bays in my last 3 Macs and 4x1TBs in the previous ones. Didn't even bother to renew them this last computer upgrade when normally I would just for good measure.

I chose WD 15 years ago after bad experiences with other brands, and because Chuck Missler, one of my "heroes", saved the company from financial ruin back, I think, in the late '80s.

FWIMBW, my external-backup and home-stereo drives are all 1TB WD USB3 portables. My media-centre drives (movies, iTunes and music videos run from laptop through TV) are the 2TB equivalents of the latter flavour. I've bought around 20 of them (mostly the 1TB) and haven't had a single failure yet, which is frankly amazing to me

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MIDI Life Crisis
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Anyone buying a HD these days should really try to get an SSD. Spinners just don't make any sense. It's like buying a cassette player to store your best recordings.

DON'T DO IT! Spend the extra bucks if you can.
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klopeck
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by klopeck »

Thank you, I appreciate the quick responses and opinions.

It’s interesting to me that MonkeyMans comments back up my “Apple-Guy” friends’ choice of WD. The reason I was motivated to post here was because the Apple.com store doesn’t offer/recommend WD drives. I would like to think they would suggest what works best for their product. But then again, in todays age of consumerism, maybe they were paid to offer someone else’s product? Who knows? Not me!

SSD's are nice, my MacBook Pro is an SSD. But, for back-up purposes I want something recoverable if/when a crash happens.
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MIDI Life Crisis
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

That's why God invented Time Machine. Preferably dual drive backups with a bootable clone. Overkill? Not really if you're serious about your stuff.
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klopeck
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by klopeck »

That's a good point as well MIDI Life Crisis; and noted. You arguably answered the question, which in review was worded poorly on my part. I was looking for brand recommendations as well as port types (firewire, thunderbolt, USB). I hadn't considered at the time of asking about SSD vs. spinning drives.

So, what exactly are MOTU-DP-version-whatever users recording to, and are you happy with it?
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MIDI Life Crisis
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

All of the above. Most of my externals are spinners. Hitachi drives tend to be noisy. WD drives are good but only the Black series. The green series auto sleep and the others aren't as reliable. Also, all my externals are in enclosures or docks (FW, TB, and USB3). FW are the slowest. TB and USB3 are super fast. Sometimes I'll do a quick and dirty project on my SSD boot drive (partitioned so I can wipe the partition when necessary and leave the boot partition untouched).

Again, I personally will never buy another spinner. SSDs are coming down in price and are really that much faster. They also don't create heat and without moving parts are (IMO) less prone to mechanical failure. Any drive can loose a directory or have a bad sector. Spinners do have the added liabilities noted and otherwise.

Unfortunately, the nMP (trash can) does't allow me to add extra internal drives (at least at this point in development) which is why I need the externals. I'm using dual TMachine and a clone (as noted earlier) and three additional 2TB externals for music projects, video and VI.SFX backup (I don't back those up to TMachine) and one handy-dandy spare for whatever might come along and require a large amount of space. All externals are backups up on the dual (2TB) TMachine drives.

When I moved from my 2008 8 core the trash can, one TMachine somehow was not cooperating. I was VERY thankful to have the redundant backup.
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Phil O
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by Phil O »

WD Black has been my spinner of choice for some time now. Some good deals at NewEgg if you shop carefully. Recently got a Samsung SSD 840 EVO and it's been flawless so far. Fingers crossed.

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Re: Storage Drives

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Phil O wrote:Recently got a Samsung SSD 840 EVO and it's been flawless so far. Fingers crossed.

Phil
YEah, there was some problems with that drive and Fry's had them on sale. Made me wonder why...
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Gravity Jim
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by Gravity Jim »

Samsung 840 EVO SS drives are great. I have 4 of them. MLC is correct: HDDs are the computer equivalent of cassette tapes. The last HDD I decommissioned was a WD Caviar Black.
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wdegillio
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by wdegillio »

I'm using a 500 GB Samsung 850 SSD as my Booting OS and DP (Current) Projects drive, a 480 GB OCZ SSD as a Samples drive, a partitioned 4 TB HGST HD to hold everything else (videos, documents, non-current DP projects, etc.) (Those 3 drives are in external USB3 docks.) The original 1 TB 5400 RPM HD that came stock in the Mac Mini, is a clone of the Samsung Boot drive and is for backup only.

My backup drives are G-Technology G-Mini drives (USB3 or Firewire 800) and HGST 7300 RPM 2 or 4 TB internal hard drives inserted into a Newer Technologies Voyager Q USB3 Dock.
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mikehalloran
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by mikehalloran »

Spinners for backup, definitely, but that's it.

I have not had trouble with any WD drive I bought since 2010. OTOH, drives before that date have had their issues. I will not put a Black in a Time Capsule (heat!) but the Blue do ok … OTOH, the Green run well in a Time Capsule, too, and were what Apple was using for the last few years till they switched back to Seagate. Nowadays, the Caviar Black has a 5 year warranty while the Blue and Green have dropped to 2 years.

Hitachi drives have been very good but they run hotter – no thanks.

For storage on my iMac and the others I take care of, the Samsung 850 SSDs are great and I have been finding them priced lower than the 840 and 845. The EVO has a 5 year warranty; the Pro has a 10 year warranty.

850 1T EVO are around $300 if you shop carefully; $470 for the Pro.

I found a 500G 850 EVO for $159 – no need to consider anything smaller at that price.

I'm trying to decide if I want to spend $725 on a 2T EVO or $950 for a Pro. Since it is my 2010 iMac and I don't think I'll be keeping it another 6+ years, I'll likely go with the EVO but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.
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bayswater
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by bayswater »

Setting aside interfaces for the moment, Seagate is off my list forever.

Caviar Green in an inexpensive USB enclosure has worked well for me for backup. I have a few connected to various Macs and to a wireless router, and these have been totally reliable for Time Machine, scheduled Superduper backup, and general file access on the wireless network.

I put an EVO in my laptop now that OS X does Trim more openly, and if this works out, and it has worked out very well so far, I'll take a deep breath, open up my iMac and put as large an EVO in it as I can afford. No more new mechanical drives.
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mikehalloran
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by mikehalloran »

I put an EVO in my laptop now that OS X does Trim more openly, and if this works out, and it has worked out very well so far, I'll take a deep breath, open up my iMac and put as large an EVO in it as I can afford. No more new mechanical drives.
I have done a few 2008-2011 iMacs lately and have been picking up tricks and shortcuts. Most importantly, there are things you don't have to do such as disconnecting and re-connecting the microphone cable (what a PIA!). Many can be done without removing the screen. The iFixit directions are often way too complicated.

I'll be opening my 2010 soon and it should be the same as your 2009. I've not done a 2010 or 2009 27" yet so if you want to wait a few weeks, I'll see if there are any time and work shortcuts I can find.

Here's the OWC page for the various tool kits, add-on cables and temp sensors.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/imacdiy/

Note that the SSD Upgrade DIY Kits are for adding an SSD to an iMac, leaving the original HD in place.

If you are replacing your HD with an SSD, go to the middle of the page and look at the New HDD Upgrade DIY Kits for 2009 & Later Apple iMacs

The basic 2007 and later Toolkit is all you need for 20" and 24" iMacs. Since I have been updating many (10 at last count), I bought it and the sensors separately as I need them.

You can use double-stick foam squares to mount SSDs in an iMac (only way if you are going to add an SSD) but, when replacing, I prefer one of these sleds. The NewerTech feels like aluminum while the Sabrent is steel or pot metal. Since either allows you to use the original internal mount, weight is not an issue.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UN5 ... ge_o02_s00

Always replace the NV RAM battery. A CR2032 battery works just fine through 2010 iMac (or Mac Pro through 2012).

The BR2032 is recommended for the 2011 or later iMac or 2013 or later Mac Pro due to heat concerns. This was the best deal I found on the BR2032:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KDP ... ge_o07_s00

If you only need one BR2032, you can use the other two in most non-medical CR2032 applications.
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bayswater
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Re: Storage Drives

Post by bayswater »

Thanks Mike. I went through the OWC videos to check that this is something I can do. There are some tricky bits, but there didn't seem to be any showstoppers. I didn't look at the iFixit stuff.

I will have to remove the screen on my iMac, but apparently it's only held on with magnets.

I'll keep your post and go over it when I'm ready to go.

Thanks again.
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