External Hard Drives for retina Macbook Pro - Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0

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Level 2

190 points

External Hard Drives for retina Macbook Pro - Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0

I already bought a G-Tech FireWire800/USB 3.0 external hard drive and just bought a second one.

And I just found out that USB 3.0 does not daisy chain (and the G-Tech drives only have one port each), and I also read that USB 3.0 hubs are not working well on the Mac.

I think of selling the drives again (at a loss, of course) and buying a Thunderbolt drive:

Here are the two options:

1. Western Digital:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/890519-REG/Western_Digital_wdbusk0080jsl_n esn_8TB_My_Book_Thunderbolt.html

This drive seems to have two external hard drives. Would it be possible to use one of them as the main external hard drive, and the second one as the back-up hard drive?

2. G-Tech

G-Tech also sells Thunderbolt hard drives like this one here - but it's a RAID 0 drive - can I also use both discs separately as main drive and backup drive without using RAID 0? I just trust G-Tech more than Western Digital:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/858463-REG/G_Technology_0G02272_8TB_G_RAID _External_Hard.html

What's your take on it?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 512 Gb SSD, 16 Gb RAM,

Posted on Aug 2, 2013 9:14 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PlotinusVeritas

Level 6

14,872 points

Aug 2, 2013 10:07 AM in response to Ocean 17

never buy a western digital, ever, PERIOD. Theyre the worst HD

The G-Tech drives contain Hitachi drives, the best made.

There are only 3 HD makers currently, Hitachi, seagate, and WD, ......however Toshiba how has its own HD division, but its made by Hitachi.

In the 3.5" division, Seagate HD are rated best............on another note however, Seagate 2.5" division rates near the WORST

In 2.5" Hitachi HD are rated #1, followed side by side with Toshiba, (made by HItachi)...........bottom in 2.5" is WD, but just above that is Seagate

Avoid WD drives without question

A thunderbolt HD is overkill and the cost isnt justified, its speed doesnt match the spindle speeds for writing, just get a conventional HD USB 3.0

Ive got nearly 100 HD, and of the couple HD Thunderbolts I have, im not impressed at all by its speed VS. cost.

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Answer 2

Ocean 17 Author

Level 2

190 points

Aug 2, 2013 10:29 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

Thanks for your reply, Potinus Veritas.

I also am a big fan of Hitachi Drives, and so far I have only bought G-Tech external hard drives.

So you are saying as of now, Thunderbolt is not worth it as the read/write speed of the 7200 drives creates a transfer speed bottleneck.

I read tests about USB 3.0 vs FW800: the difference in speed seems to be minor. Which is why I originally bought these drives.

I had planned to use them for two years and then SSDs should have become larger and more reasonable in pricing, and also be fast enough to take advantage of the Thunderbolt speed.

In regards to cost: if you buy 8 Terabyte, the cost of Thunderbolt discs and FW800 discs is the same. I just don't know if I'd need so much storage right now.

PS: the G-Tech Raid 0 I linked to: could you actually run the two discs separately as one disc for storage, one for backup?

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Answer 3

Aug 2, 2013 10:38 AM in response to Ocean 17

The NEXT THING which is upcoming now that SSD prices are dropping is Firewire to SSD, or Thunderbolt to SSD.

Now THAT will be a "did you see that?" improvement. A few home brew folks are already making their own.

run the two discs separately as one disc for storage? Yes, I however I have never had the desire or need to setup such a daisy chain. Autonomous data storage for safety is a rule I live by.

Backup VS. storage, is really a distinction without a difference.

My main PDF collection is 14 Terabytes, so............... Yes, it depends on what you need, just remember the religion of storage, 2 copies is 1, and one is NONE.

Never consider any computer a data storage device, rather a data creation ,sending, and manipulation device. Any who thinks any data is safe on any computer, even copied upon multiple partitions is making a mistake

Never backup your data exclusively upon magnetic hard drives or flash storage, nor consider same since magnetic storage degrades over time even under ideal conditions

burn important data onto multiple copies of archival DVDs and store same in cool dark fireproof safes, hidden places, secret places, multiple places

always consider and expect thy computer’s hard drive to completely crash anytime, at all times, and keep a cloned and updated hard drive handy at all times to return to immediate productivity and avoid program and parameter reinstallation and tweaking

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Answer 4

Ocean 17 Author

Level 2

190 points

Aug 2, 2013 10:54 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

I currently have two copies of every file. One sits on my desktop, one is on old hard drives elsewhere in the apartment in case of a break-in.

I am thinking of renting a safety deposit box for that.

Or creating a cloud storage account - only last time I checked the prices where as high as the clouds as well.

In regards to my cloned hard drive: still working on that. Just got Carbon Copy Cloner and getting familiar with that.

So, basically, I'll keep the drives I bought for now (saves me also time, not only money).

Once those get full there will hopefully be the next generation of SSD Thunderbolt drives around.

I'm regularly weeding out files I don't need to keep my database tight and not weighed down by too many files.

I'm a photographer, and I know colleagues who keep every image they ever shot. I usually throw away two thirds and keep the best. Which makes it easier to find good images (who wants to look through all the blinkers and bloopers of a two year old shoot?).

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Answer 5

Aug 2, 2013 10:26 PM in response to Ocean 17

your best offsite storage option is a private www site. 70$ a year. 500 gig storage 15$ a year .com registration fees

buy a firebox for $40. keep it in basement with HD in ziplocks to prevent moisture

also PRO photographers use Taiyo Yuden DVD blanks. theyre archival rated for 120 years. junk retail dvd arent even rated for 20

JVC makes Taiyo Yuden. you can order them online or via ebay

never trust multiple magnetic storage for all backups. important needs optical as well

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