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Travel Hard Drive options

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Shawn Richman

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Hi everyone,

I have tried to search around so I am sorry if this has been discussed in another thread in-depth.

I am trying to figure out a good option for hard drive storage while traveling. We have just got a Dragon and split our time between Hawaii and Kenya. Off to the Africa side here shortly and trying to figure out where to store all the footage once were over there.

Most of the time, we base camp somewhere, so can plug stuff in and have a little editing spot. We are on the road quite a bit though, and size is an issue as already lugging everything from Hawaii to East Africa.

One of the options I was looking at, is getting a 3.5 inch SATA drive reader and then having a little pelican case with a bunch of 4TB drives or something. Is this a bad idea? Do you think these will hold up to lots of bouncing?

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock

Any other better options? Should I just be looking for a big external G drive / Lacie etc... if so what has everyone had the best luck with?

Thanks for the help!
 
Definitely not the worst idea.

I would buy plastic shells for each hard drive, like these
http://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Stor...38662&sr=8-7&keywords=plastic+hard+drive+case

They don't cost much and they help with static and exposure related damages.

Other than that, a Pelican case is a good idea. If you can get the foam custom cut so the hard drives are each in their own little foam slot, that's above and beyond. And obviously, back up everything (usually when I use bare drives I triplicate my data because theyre so affordable)

If it's in your budget, I would invest in some 1 TB LaCie Rugged bus powered drives, push your selects to them (or all your raws if you can afford the drive space), then mail them to yourself if you can. It just doesn't sit right with me to have all your data in one peli case, especially when you're in a perpetual state of travel.
 
I use a toaster (bare drive) interface as a third backup. I would not plan on using for editing as there is no cooling and the drives can get hot. Also, the bare drives are, well, bare and do not have any protection from static or dust, etc. The drives will need to be protected so individual cases like Keith said or some like this for bulk storage https://www.getprostorage.com/product/prostorage/
 
Thanks for the help guys!!

So I am still on the fence between going down the barebone drive route or getting a bunch of 4tb Gdrive's or similar.

If going for the barebone direction- any recommendations for drives? I am running 4tb WD black drives on our workstation right now and they do seem great. Was thinking of getting 3 or 4 of these for now to start with.

Also like the idea of having a few lacie or Gtech rugged bus powered drives with us in the field so if we need to clear cards we can without coming back to camp. Definitely sounds scary having all the data in one pelican, will have to backup the select shots and put them elsewhere as well.

Definitely like the case idea for the drives as well! Thanks for that!
 
Shawn, what is your budget and how much footage do you plan on capturing each day?
 
Steve,

Was trying to stay under $2k. As for how much footage to be captured. On this trip it wont be massive amounts. I think we will be capturing around an hour or so with the RED a day when we are in the bush. Will probably be out there for the equivalent of 2 weeks.

Was thinking that whatever is captured we will come back and be very picky to whittle away and drop the select shots to much less then the hour.

I know in the future that we will be spending alot more time out there, so if there is a solution that I could add too that is an idea too...

once again thanks for all the help!
 
Yes will definitely have a bus powered USB 3 drive with us in the bush and then have the bulk storage back at camp with the Power connection.

Gonna need it to be USB 3 so unfortunately the Thunderbay mini wont work- could go bigger 3.5 inch drive RAIDS like this one - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/M3QX2KIT0GB/

Then could put in 4 x 4tb drives and raid it for 8tb. or get another for more storage.

pretty good option!
 
I only use bus powered usb3 my passport 2tb drives for the master and the dub drive. Your MBPr 15" computer can down load 2x256gb on the internal battery.
The smallest and most affordable way of keeping your rushes safe while on the move.

Pat
 
I just got back from tracking Rhinos for a few weeks

For wildlife projects I use the 4tb Seagate Backup Plus Fast drives. Its (2) 2.5" 2tb drives in raid 0, so your chance of failure is significantly increased - but I do a secure format to zero them out before leaving, and back up to two of them simultaneously. They write at about 260MB/sec so you can dump cards quick, and are bus powered which is very much preferred when in the bush - I'm usually off an inverter in a vehicle. They are kinda pricey for what they are, but are small and lightweight, space and weight is a premium on small aircraft - and for me the faster I can offload the better in case of limited power.

I'm shooting mostly 6k/60p so quite a bit of footage per day, usually about 3 -4 512gb redmags. So far no problems, as soon as I'm back to town I dump them to LTO-7 tape.

WD has some 3tb 2.5" passport ultra drives now for about $110, save some money and a little weight, but they only write at about 120MB/sec so you double your transfer time.

PS. bring extra of everything you need, trying to find a torx driver or even a usb3 cable in africa will drive you insane.
 
my film is sponsored by AKiTiO so I'm a little biased but I use the thunder2quad mini that travels in a small hprc case. It has four 2.5" drives in a case thats only 7.52 inches x 3.78 inches x 4.53 inches.
 
Thanks for all the ideas!

So I am thinking something along the lines of:

Getting a few USB 3 rugged like drives for in the field and then having a big RAID setup back at camp plugged in.

Any suggestions for a portable raid setup?

I was thinking of getting this enclosure - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/M3QX2KIT0GB/
Then throwing 4 WD 6tb Black drives in there for 24tb of storage all for around $1400.

The other option is going more pre-built like a G raid 12tb for around $800. They use HGST drives. The Promise Pegasus looks great just kinda expensive.

Any negative to putting my own together? cheaper and more storage...

once again thanks for all the help! I hope to one day be the one giving wisdom rather then asking for it.
 
Christopher*Seguine said:
Slower, and double the cost of the Seagate version
Thunderbolt offers no advantage since the drives don't even max usb3
Click to expand...

Yes. Me knows.
But it's not about the Thunderbolt why I like this unit.
It's the built in Raid 1.
You'll have two physical copies in one go.
And that is worth the extra dolla in me eyes.
 
Peter Arnold said:
Yes. Me knows.
But it's not about the Thunderbolt why I like this unit.
It's the built in Raid 1.
You'll have two physical copies in one go.
And that is worth the extra dolla in me eyes.
Click to expand...
As long as it's not your only backup. RAID 1 doesn't protect against physical damage to that one unit or if that unit is lost or stolen. I still prefer multiple backups to multiple devices and then an archive back at home base.

Here's what I'm doing on on an upcoming project that involves a lot of travel and hopping on planes a lot. 2TB SSD custom built USB 3 drives for field backup and a 24TB thunderbolt2 RAID 6 archive backup. Also, due to the nature of the project it is also getting uploaded via a smoking fast pipe to editorial daily, so there will be reduncancy everywhere but speed is also name of the game on this one.
 
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