External Hard drive recommendations pls.

[JCcares]

Hi, can someone recommend a good high speed ext drive like the Glyph Atom raid.( or higher than that).Best buy does not carry glyph unfortunately. Thanks 

[MikeRobinson]

I can't speak to any particular brand, but at this point I simply think that you should now opt for SSD technology – "memory chips" – as opposed to "actual spinning magnetic disks."  Not only is this technology probably more long-term reliable, but it also has no "mechanical latencies."  Any portion of the external storage can be retrieved without delay.

Fortunately, this technology has now actually become ... "dirt cheap."  You can buy "multiple terabytes" for a song at virtually any office-supply store.

Edited November 23, 2022 by MikeRobinson

[JCcares]

Thanks Mike for that valuable info I wasn’t aware of. If you have any suggestion please send me a link. Is this close to what you were mentioning? https://amzn.to/3i7wqdK

[lookatthisguy]

Going to respectfully disagree with SSDs being "dirt cheap," in consideration of the financial and technical needs or concerns of some folks. (As an example, as a film composer, I felt the need to buy an NVMe solid state drive for the best possible speeds for tons of sample libraries. Granted, we're in Black Friday/holiday pricing mode right now, but feel free to look at how much 4 TB of that kind of storage can cost.)

I don't think Glyph has a parent company, but LaCie and G-Technology are subsidiary of (to?) Seagate and Western Digital, respectively. The first three are all considered performance brands, but because of that, I feel the latter two companies are also viable options if you need an SSD but also need to be mindful of costs. In addition, I frequently see people recommending the Samsung T5 or T7 drives, but have never owned any. The SSDs I've purchased myself for sample libraries are actually from Sabrent and PNY, and I've had enough luck with them thus far (*knock on wood* that they don't fail me any time soon). Take all that for what you will.

[triplets]

20 hours ago, JCcares said:

Hi, can someone recommend a good high speed ext drive

Samsungs are pretty good. The link you posted of a 4TB ssd for 70 bucks looks like a scam. No way you get that kind of storage for less than 300 bucks that's reliable or true.

Here's 2TB: https://amzn.to/3ErAv3U

[David Nahmani]

I own a Samsung T7 and it's a great little SSD. 

Another great choice is the SanDisk Extreme which is right now available in a 2TB capacity for a lower price: $150 for 2TB (vs $190 for the Samsung T7), so I would go for that one: https://amzn.to/3hVk34f

Note that if 1 TB is enough for you then the Samsung T7 is actually less expensive than the SanDisk Extreme so in that case, I would go for the T7. They really are comparable in performance. 

[David Nahmani]

4 hours ago, triplets said:

The link you posted of a 4TB ssd for 70 bucks looks like a scam.

Whether it is a scam or not I would definitely stay away from that no-name drive that doesn't have a single review. 

If you're interested in reading more about this topic, here's a recent discussion we had on external portable drives: 

[MikeRobinson]

I am not qualified to speak to the wisdom of @lookatthisguy in his particular situation nor choices.  If you are in a similar professional situation, I cannot answer.

However, if you "simply want a big external 'hard drive,'" I suspect that you can find one easily at any office supply store – and that, today, you should always select "SSD = solid-state disk" technology.

When the computer requests information from "a spinning magnetic disk," there are several mechanical delays – "latencies" – which necessarily must occur: moving the read/write head to the proper position, then waiting for the data to spin past it.  With SSD, there are no such delays.  (And: none of the "dreaded 'ominous clicking sounds.'")

And – if presented with the choice between two comparably-priced machines, I would always select the one with the greater amount of RAM.  With a "real-time application" like Logic, "RAM is your BFF."

Edited November 23, 2022 by MikeRobinson

[JCcares]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:06 AM, David Nahmani said:

I own a Samsung T7 and it's a great little SSD. 

Another great choice is the SanDisk Extreme which is right now available in a 2TB capacity for a lower price: $150 for 2TB (vs $190 for the Samsung T7), so I would go for that one: https://amzn.to/3hVk34f

Note that if 1 TB is enough for you then the Samsung T7 is actually less expensive than the SanDisk Extreme so in that case, I would go for the T7. They really are comparable in performance. 

Thanks.I ended up getting the same.I may have to use a USB hub to connect it to the Thuderbolt input on my laptop.Hope that won't be an issue.

Edited December 13, 2022 by JCcares

[dubsak]

Just to chime in here in case folks are unaware, Backblaze regularly publishes data on drive failures by brand (their business is cloud backup so…lots of drives, read/writes). Always worth a look to see which drives have performed best to make your own informed decisions. https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q3-2022/