External Drives vs Toasters

[Matt W.]

I am used to using external 3.5'' drives (or RAID arrays) for each project with one for backup, typically ESATA drives hooked up to Mac Pro ESATA cards.

However I am perfectly happy using USB3 WD My Passport Ultra 2.5'' portable drives (100MB read/write) or 2.5'' SSDs (400MB read/100MB write) with a USB toaster.

Does using drives outside cases pose any threat of harm? I assume clients would like delivery on a 2.5'' USB portable, but is there any harm in working from or backing up to a 3.5'' internal drive housed in a toaster? Could it get zapped by static electricity or some such or is this totally ok? Could save some money this way...

 

[John Marchant]

I've been using bare drives in USB3.0 or Esata docks for long enough to have a very large shelf full... No issues for me, I keep them in antistatic cases and they look like good old tapes in the archive

That said, clients always prefer a bus powered 1 or 2tb USB portable for delivery/transfer as it's simple to handle.

 

[Paul Lee]

Yes, bare drives! Get Hudzee cases.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Suggest you do not use toasters in the field. If you do, keep them as clean as possible and pay attention to where you place them physically. In the suite they're fine.

Cheers - #19

 

[Paul Lee]

What Blair said

 

[Matt W.]

Thanks! 3.5" internal drives for backup 2.5" external for clients.

 

[Chad Lancaster]

Could get OWC on the go drives, the usb cases with no drives are only 29.99

 

[Marc Wielage]

I also agree with Blair. Do not take drive docks out in the field. Much too much risk of contamination and flakey behavior from dust and dirt, plus I don't think they'll hold up well being dragged to and from different locations. I use eSATA drive docks all the time in my home studio for different applications and they work fine for backups.

BTW, handy tip: old Betacam videocassette cases are the exact right size for bare SATA drives. Plus they seal it completely on all four sides and keep the dust out.

 

[Matt W.]

I also agree with Blair. Do not take drive docks out in the field. Much too much risk of contamination and flakey behavior from dust and dirt, plus I don't think they'll hold up well being dragged to and from different locations. I use eSATA drive docks all the time in my home studio for different applications and they work fine for backups.

BTW, handy tip: old Betacam videocassette cases are the exact right size for bare SATA drives. Plus they seal it completely on all four sides and keep the dust out.

Cool, thanks for the advice. I'll stick to it.

First time I've felt bad that I got started shooting digital just after betacam lol. I missed the moire and enormous slow camera, but I also missed the convenient tape cases I guess.