Hard drive capacity

[spearchucker]

USB 3 may be getting faster, but still going to lag behind current SATA speeds.

I agree completely, plus unless you have a USB 3.0 port, you are only going to get the slower USB 2.0 speed. USB 2.0 is still pretty slow for large file transfers.

[upnorth]

I did a little looking at USB 3 and the current SATA. USB 3 in theory can transfer 4.8 GPS, but in reality max is getting about 3.2 and current SATA is 6.1 and making full use of it.

Don't get me wrong, 3.2 GPS is smoking fast for an external drive, but still a substantial bit slower than the SATA capability.

[Scott K]

I think the 5T uses 3 individual 1.5T drives just housed into 1 box. At least the one I was looking at did. I know they can fail, especialy when you get up in size like this. I have the 1.5T that I leave plugged into my pc all of the time, and the pc only gets shut off when I do updates to it, about once every 2 weeks. I have had that external fail a couple times in the last few year. But I back up my back up every couple weeks when I do the updates to the system.

Is it bad that you buy a storage device to keep all of your files stored safely, and you have to have a back up to store them, then you have to have a back up for your back up

I am just waiting for the SSD drives to get much bigger.

[upnorth]

It may be a bit pricey, but you could look at a NAS(Network Attached Storage) for your backups.

Not sure of how your network is setup, but it would allow for multiple machines to use it.

NAS info

Considering that is can run Raid 5 you have some built in failover and the disk are plug and play hot swappable. Not cheap, but probably more dependable and versatile than just a USB device.

[Shack]

That is a lot of data in one place. Just remember that the external drives can fail as well.

Viva Solid State Drive advancement! It's about time we moved past the last basic moving part(s) beside the CPU and Case fan. Only a mater of time is all that awaits now. Matter of time as in just waiting for prices to fall, the storage areas to increase and for the American PC users to enter the 5-10 terabytes worth of files on average sitting at home waiting to backup. When this happens the SSD drivers should be ripe for the snatching up price wise. Enough to entice me into replacing my Sata drives.

[Shack]

You will still only get usb 2.0 speed and he already said external is not a good option for him.

You know I really can not find where he said this. 4WE did say this:

Quote:

It takes a long time to load all of my info onto a hard drive, so I dont want it to burn out in a short amount of time. I just spent all weekend doing my last update, and that was 620 gig of data. I am in the middle of backing everything up now onto a external hard drive.

A 620 gig transfer on any level is going to take a good amount of time. I believe a large data transfer is what he is referring to and not minor file transfers.

I have been installing 3.0 ports roughly around a year now. Most times they sit empty or your just reducing USB back down to 2.0 to accommodate an existing external HDD backup setup. That is why I had stressed the 3.0 but I feel that is going to be short lived though as nothing beets the ease and transfer rate of my eSata ports and transfer cables. Almost everything else I have down to mp3 players back up and transfer wirelessly, so 2.0 most certainly and I feel 3.0 sadly is never going to take off. How ever, if you find yourself staring at two diffrent makes of 2TB external harddrives on Best Buys shelf, one has 3.0 and the other 2.0, with the same price, I would go for the 3.0.

[upnorth]

Last I did some look at SSD there also some space limitations. And the prices are ghastly. It will be a few years at least before they really take over.

[Scott K]

Shack, the reason the externals arent ideal for me is I need the info asap. When I am talking to someone on the phone, and I am looking up info for them, the extra 2-3 seconds on every click is not acceptable. Especially when my clients pay by the minute they are on the phone with me. That and I can give them the perception that I know what I am talking about more, when they ask me something, and I can get the info to them right after they ask me a question, it makes me look like I knew the answer to begin with, and I didnt have to tell them them just a second, my computer is taking a while to look up the info. Time is priceless when you are a live consultant.

SSD drives are ideal for a quick start up, if you want your computer to start up from being shut off in just a couple seconds, a SSD drive makes that possible, or if you need instant info. SSD drives are spendy yet, and are limited in storage size, but I think in the next frw years they will be getting much cheaper, and should be getting up in the 250gig sizes.

[spearchucker]

Do you really need a laptop for this application? This really seems like a desktop would be better, unless of course your job requires traveling.

[Scott K]

You are right, a pc is ideal for this, but I like to be mobile when I can be. I have in the past, prior to this labtop I have now, just had most of the info on the pc, then use a remote desktop and access the data from my work pc with the labtop. But there is some large lag issues with doing it that way. I know if I had to I could stream line my daily stuff down to 750 gig, and still have a couple hundred for later usage, and dump the remaining onto an external, and pack that with me when I go places. But it is so much more convenient to just have it all on the labtops hard drive. With the new addition of adding the 2nd 1T onto my labtop, it will give me more then enough space to outlast my expected life of the labtop. Hopefully by then SDD will have available 2Tb hard drives. Although I also have been dabbing with Cloud a bit and that may be an option rather then carrying an external along for extra storage. But that is so dependat on internet speed, and when you are tethering, and trying to search, and retrieve data in large quantities at 1 time, it really slows things down.

[spearchucker]

If you are worried about a couple seconds of lag, then the Cloud will definitely not be your answer.

[Scott K]

I was saying Cloud would be a replacement for an external hard drive, for non every day used stuff.

[Whoaru99]

If that computer is your livelyhood I hope you have a real good backup plan, like disk image plus incrementals.

[delcecchi]

Holy cow. What do you do that you need 750G plus of data at your fingertips every day?

That is a lot of data.

[Scott K]

I am an automotive technical consultant, shops call me for information. Sometimes I talk them through diagnostics and repair over the phone, some times I need to fax or email them the information. It is a hotline for auto repair shops to get information on how to repair vehicles.

There is a lot of different year, make and model vehicles out there, and I have information of pretty much all of them. On my laptop I only keep the last 30 years of info, and hot tips.

For an example, Alldata is a little over 300gb alone, Mithchell On Demand is 250gb, Autodata just went over 120gb, then you add on some other data, and programs, 1Tb is pretty easy to fill.

[delcecchi]

wow, that is a lot of data. Interesting.

[Shack]

I sit and dig through just about 6TB's of finally manicured, everything in it's place and simply directory tree'ed for easy access files and folders. Un-backed up at the moment though . I just finished going through and cleaning duped and empty folders and directories along with days manually shuffling to my liking. I just need to order a couple more drives some day to match the backup.

HD filming raw files, HD/SD video and photo editing remnants and finals, the 2000+ high res scanned slides I am repairing and setting to .avi and music for my family when I get around to it, software experiments and development files, operating systems, music, needed software programs and applications, documents, etc, etc., is the source of my data stock pile.

All-Data is a heavy hitter, especially the time to install. Short of OEM manuals, All-Data is the go to. I would think with those many gigs that it would include imports? Those files would bite to loose . I used to have a portal access code many moons ago, provided to me by a Lube-Tech who worked at Tire's Plus prior . Miss that access.

On another note, been out of the Service Industry awhile now and just heard they have these pre-built and all inclusive, All-Data Centers right in shops which the Tech's have access to. My buddy is a SM at a shop which has one and was telling to me about them the other day and going over some issues they are having. Holds the Labor guides and T.S.B's also. His has been dropping its connection to All-Data for some reason. I might be heading down to check it out if All-Data does not get it fixed soon. No more library sized room for manuals anymore. I just kick myself when I think of all the truck loads of OEM manuals I have seen trashed and only took one or two form the pile. I also kick myself for not taking better care of the CD/DVD manuals that turned into floor hockey after installed on the shop PC.

[Scott K]

Shack, all of the Alldata, and Mitchell info is available online, it is just much faster to access it when it is sitting on your hard drive. I also have access to the OE sites as well. Alldata has an online beta version that we have been testing for the last few months, and it is much nicer then the older version.

[PierBridge]

I know I'm in the minority but I prefer Mitchell over All Data.

[Scott K]

I know I'm in the minority but I prefer Mitchell over All Data.

Pier, you are the minority, but you are far from being alone. I talk to many shops a day, and I would say it is a 7-3 odds, in favor of Alldata. I personally favor the OE sites, but most shops cant get access to those, and the ones they can, are not very cheap, or practical for one model. Alldata is my choice over Mitchell, but that is because I grew up from a Ford dealer, and Alldata just photo copies the OE manuals, and puts them in a different order. Mitchell makes their own, or has some one do it for them. Some times they are better, sometimes they are off. As far as my personal opinion, and experience, Mitchell is wrong a few more times then they should be.

[Shack]

Shack, all of the Alldata, and Mitchell info is available online, it is just much faster to access it when it is sitting on your hard drive. I also have access to the OE sites as well. Alldata has an online beta version that we have been testing for the last few months, and it is much nicer then the older version.

Shack said: I used to have a portal access code many moons ago, provided to me by a Lube-Tech who worked at Tire's Plus prior . Miss that access. I will say I miss it again. I miss having that login access.

PB I preferred Mitchell also. More acurate labor times.

[PierBridge]

Not that I use either for work but I find Wiring diagrams in particular much more user friendly with Mitchell than All-Data.

[Scott K]

They are easier for some, especially if you are looking at the electronic manuals, when you scroll over a certain wire, it high lights the entire wire, so it is easier to follow. Wirirng diagrams are Mitchells selling point, but since they are made to rplace the OE, they are wrong on occasions. Like I said, I prefer Alldatas, but mostly because they photo copy the OE diagrams, and I grew up at the dealer, so that is just what I am used to.