I know that this blog is not dedicated 100% to photography, but I thought it might be useful. As a San Diego photographer, one of the most precious resources is our equipment and this includes our computers. This is where we do all our editing, posting, and archiving.
Now for most of us, if we lost our computers we would be dead in the water and feel like we’ve just lost an appendage. It is painful, but you have to know, you can minimize the pain, by being prepared. I know what you’re saying, again, we get it.
A couple of weeks ago, I needed to find some old pictures that I took, while on the road, a year or so ago. I went to my standard picture location on my local hard drive and nothing. I plugged in my large external hard drive and no files present. I started to panic, when I remembered I had a smaller external drive, as well. I bought a Seagate Free Agent, while in Hawaii. I removed it from its hardened case, plugged it in and … nothing. I tried a different USB port and again nothing. I even tried an old IT trick, by leaving it in the freezer overnight and nada, it was officially dead. After checking the warranty and discovering that it was only for a year, you can image, I was pretty pissed off.
And so begins a new journey of exploring new hardware. I am one of those type people that love researching and I have turned it into an art. I pride myself in that after I finally make a purchase, the price I got will remain the same for a year or two after. Since Seagate appears to have let me down, now for the second time. I will not be burned again. I read some reviews and thought I would try Western Digital. They’ve been around for a few years now, since August 23rd, 1970. They seem to have a good product line, a great warranty, and pretty colors.
I ended up picking up a Western Digital My Passport 2TB USB. At first, I was a little worried, but the drive was rugged, not completely plastic and had a decent color. But that wasn’t the only test, I was doing. I connected it and installed the software eager for a test drive. The software installed easy enough and it did require an update, which I think we are all used to by now. I set it up and noted two different ways to back-up. One back-up by files, which is great if you know what you are doing and two, back-up users information. I chose the latter for my testing and here are my results for 1GB of user data. Total back up time: 01:12:85 minutes and total time for restore 00:33:42 seconds. It is fast and I was using a USB1.0 port, not the 3 that you are able to. I ran the drive through its paces and found now issues. Of course time will tell and I’ll let you know, if it does.
I hope I have not bored you too much. I had fun writing this one. I trust I have given you some valuable tips to think about, before planning your next shoot. It’s not all bad, just be clear and informative, it will save you a lot of headaches. Remember nothing is set in stone and there is not perfect formula, so go out and have some fun.
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