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Thread: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

  1. #11

    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    As someone mentioned above RAID controllers can go bad too, and then you're really up a creek. I've had 2 OWC externals RAIDs kick the bucket before their HDs did. In one case I was able to recover the data, in the other not. This has taught me that digital is not now 'archival' as we think of it in film terms. I think mirrored 2 bay drives are the way to go. If the controller kicks the bucket you can yank out one or both drives and read them just fine, and you can transfer them most easily.

  2. #12
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    I too like WD drives. Currently, I use the Gold version of the drives, but that might be overkill.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  3. #13
    Corran's Avatar
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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    Quote Originally Posted by sperdynamite View Post
    As someone mentioned above RAID controllers can go bad too, and then you're really up a creek. I've had 2 OWC externals RAIDs kick the bucket before their HDs did. In one case I was able to recover the data, in the other not. This has taught me that digital is not now 'archival' as we think of it in film terms. I think mirrored 2 bay drives are the way to go. If the controller kicks the bucket you can yank out one or both drives and read them just fine, and you can transfer them most easily.
    One big benefit of "JBOD" arrays is that they can be taken out and read by any normal computer - there is no special software or controller needed, while still having parity drives.

    Digital is the gold standard for archiving, when properly configured and maintained. That's the difficult part for normal people, compared to libraries/institutions/etc.
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  4. #14

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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    Corran, if you have an old-ish computer or two knocking around and some drives, you could look into ZFS (https://www.freenas.org/)

    It's free (as in beer), reliable, expandable, and flexible.

    I've deployed several of these for clients (prebuilt, but could roll your own pretty easily).

    You might want to look into upgrading your computer if it's from 2012, your USB and other speeds are falling a bit behind most current peripherals by now.

  5. #15

    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    Quote Originally Posted by Corran View Post

    One big benefit of "JBOD" arrays is that they can be taken out and read by any normal computer - there is no special software or controller needed, while still having parity drives.

    Digital is the gold standard for archiving, when properly configured and maintained. That's the difficult part for normal people, compared to libraries/institutions/etc.
    I don’t understand how something could require constant attention and be considered archival.

  6. #16
    Corran's Avatar
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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    Take a look at how museums and galleries handle art and its preservation / restoration / conservation. Nothing physical is "forever" - at the very least, it needs to be stored (in the proper environment), maintained, and cared for.

    In contrast, digital files can be endlessly copied with perfect 1:1 accuracy, transferred practically instantaneously and maintained in multiple locations, with very little effort comparatively.

    Of course we can't digitize the actual Mona Lisa for instance, just a reproduction - so the point is moot on that kind of physical piece of art. Digital master files - be they photographic, sound recordings, videos, etc. - are a different topic. But, at least when I was somewhat involved in archival activities at a university, physical media like CDs, tapes, etc. were not considered truly archival. Only properly maintained digital storage systems, such as some of the ones discussed here, would be considered archival. It's been a while though and I haven't looked at the current archival standards for digital files, if they've changed any. Another consideration for actual archivists is access, metadata, and the like. That was something I could never get off the ground at the university (funding).

    Here's something from archives.gov that may be of interest:
    https://www.archives.gov/files/prese...guidelines.pdf

    A story: I used to help a friend of mine in the summers at his business, where he bought and sold collectibles, antiques, and anything of value. I was installing a closed-circuit security camera system for him and running wires through the drop ceiling. I found a piece of art, framed but without glass, on top of a tall shelf unit and was moving it to get to the next tile when he hurriedly told me to be careful with that...it was a one-of-a-kind painting by some famous artist worth in excess of $100,000. It was just sitting there, accumulating dust and junk. Of course he may have been in error, and he did have a penchant for over-valuing things, but he was pretty serious about it at the time. Anyway...regardless of the veracity, that painting was going to need some restoration if he ever wanted to sell it...
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  7. #17

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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    I built a new system last year - 4 x 4TB drives in Raid 10. Plus backup copies on DropBox and Google Drive. And Amazon just started an "all you can store"- unlimited free photo storage so I'm trying it - the big problem is that I have around 8,000 photos on this system and a lot of them are Photoshop files with layers so in the neighborhood of 3 GB each - they take a little time to upload. The desktop system has a 16 core I9 and 64 GB of memory - I also have a 12 core Intel Xeon dual processor 64 GB memory rack server with 8TB of storage going to 16 one of these days in another room.

    I have to say that these Dell rack servers are pretty good and pretty cheap - the one i have was $300 delivered. It took some work but it's happily running Win 10 Pro at the moment. IIRC you don't need to go to Windows Server until you go past two processors. At last count we have 7 systems running on our home network - 2 MacOS and 5 Windows. Obviously I'm doing more than running Photoshop.

  8. #18

    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    Jim,

    Do you take a view on Intel Core processors compared to AMD? I'm on the Mac at the moment but may think about moving over to a alternative at some point, especially if Linux is a serious option.

    Tom

  9. #19
    jp's Avatar
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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    They Intel and AMD are both very capable for what we do and perhaps a Ford vs. Chevy preference when it comes down to it. Currently AMD will be more power efficient for the same amount of work done. If you need a CPU ton of cores for specific purposes AMD is currently a leader in that.

  10. #20

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    Re: endless external HD shuffle Part deaux

    As others have said, these days avoid Seagate. Look for WD or, if you can find them, Hitachi. Just remember that the failure rate for hard-drives is 100% -- it's only a matter of when.

    A storage device can be bought off the shelf, or made with an old pc if it has room for four drives or more. A secondhand and refurbished general-pupose server could also do the job. One can also worry about the power-supply, using a UPS to remove spikes etc. and to ensure a trouble-free shutdown in case of a power-outage (though you will likely need server hardware and software to do that last bit).

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