Computer Storage Update

As I reported yesterday, one of my backup hard disk drives died (or at least the power supply did) the other day.  Don't ask me why but I have kept almost all the stuff I have ever downloaded.  You just never know when you might want it.  I reckon I still have the very first movie I ever downloaded!  So to cover the loss of the dead drive I re allocated/backed up stuff all over the place.

Every now and again I get a message saying that a file on a back up hard drive is locked and cannot be moved.  This can be the very first indication that hard drive may be on the way out.  Another sign is being told to run Check Disk as there may be some faulty sectors on the drive.

Or you take your drive to someone else's computer, plug it in the computer doesn't 'see it'.  Each of these symptoms is a little sign that a hard drive may be on the way out.  It doesn't mean the drive is dead, it just means it is no longer working entirely reliably at 100%.  When a hard disk drive does this a few times I reckon it is time to retire it and replace it with something you can rely on.

I have several 1TB portable drives which have been 'retired'.  I haven't thrown them out, I have kept them and use them as 'storage drives' and keep backups of backups on them.  They get used possibly 10 times a year to backup so are not in the hurly burly of everyday hard drive use.

When the power pack on my very old 2TB drive died the other day, I was able to switch stuff about onto retired portable drives.  What exactly was on what drive I couldn't remember but I had all bases covered.

I did some research and found I could buy a 4TB Seagate desktop drive online for around $160 delivered.  The website also said the hard drive would come from outside Australia.  This is an excellent price as even on special, they usually sell in the shops for around $200.

The toaster only toasts bread on one side so we were in the market for a new toaster from our local electrical store.  Whilst there I thought I would see what the best price was they could do on a 4TB drive.  I expected to pay more than the online advertised $160 delivered price.  I eventually bought one for $180 which I reckon is a pretty good deal.

And we got another $5 off the toaster too!

With a huge 4TB drive it means I won't have stuff all over the place.  Everything will be in one spot on the extra large drive, I may have to share the other files around a little though when I create backups of the major backup!