External hard drive for expanding iTunes library?

I've had too many external drives fail--three 250GB drives by Lacie and one by Maxstor. I just do not believe those drives are designed to be on 24/7.

I highly recommend the Terastation RAID boxes. The 1TB version is down to $600, and nets you about 700GB with RAID5 protection. I used to run a commercial RAID drive, which sounded like a 747 taking off and I had to put it in a soundproof enclosure in my garage. The Terastation is very quiet, and I'm just fine with it sitting on the shelf across the room.

In my application, I was running several different music servers off the same basic library of data files; leaving then on 24/7 is a lot easier than running downstairs to turn on a drive. If this isn't the case, then by all means turn it off. I'd note that Lacie drives I was using were the FA Porsche design ones, which I will be the first to admit may compromise heat dissipation for style. The maxstor drive I blew up was some odd blue organic shape looking thing.

Hmm... Michael, isn't a terastation a "file server"? If you can put together a two drive RAID1 for $500, you are doing pretty well. But, your net cost is $2/GB--$500/250GB (this is assuming you are buying 250GB drives and using RAID1, which nets you 250GB of usable storage). My Terastation cost $600, but nets me 700GB of storage with the more efficient RAID5 spanning four drives--about $0.85/GB. So, in some ways, the Terastation is still cheaper. In further defense of the Terastation, I'd note that it can be operated as a USB drive, if that is what you want.

As far as speed goes, streaming 44.1/16 bit audio is about 1.4 mbps. I believe the Terastation's highest transfer rate is about 150 mbps (although there is a jumbo block mode that runs 450 mbps). Maybe that isn't 800 mbps firewire (which isn't, I believe, a sustained rate), but its fast enough by several orders of magnitude. There are those streaming 1080i and 720p content from terastations.

As far as the G-Drive goes, "pro photo" doesn't have the same goals as high end audio. I do image processing on my machine, and have an expensive WD Raptor drive that spins at 10K RPM for that. For image processing, fast is the end all be all, which means they are looking for high RPM drives configured in striped arrays. Think xServe RAID set up as RAID 0+1.

Bottom line is that for image processing, I'd prioritize transfer speed over redundancy, and use DVD ROM as a backup. For audio, I'd prioritize redundancy over transfer speed.

Michael, I'm still confused about what you are calling a file server. As far as I'm concerned, a box on the network that serves up files is a file server, and a NAS qualifies. No, its not as fast as my Dell PowerVault either, but it didn't cost $3K and it isn't loud as a 747 on take-off.

I've backed up 600GB off my terastation overnight. 600GB/(8 hrs x 3600 sec/hr) = 0.02GB/s = 160 mbps... Would it be faster configured in RAID0? Yeah, probably (and I can configure it that way). It also works as a printserver, BTW. And, I gather it will run slimserver on a standalone basis.

So, you get slower performance ripping CDs, organizing tunes, and d/ling to your portable. Ripping CDs is not a process that is storage drive limited--99% of the time there is (if, like me, you use EAC) CD reader dependent and processor dependent for the compression. D/ling to a portable? Yeah, maybe a bit slower, but I usually do that overnight and, frankly, the speed of that is probably more dependent on the interface to the portable. Organizing tunes is a big topic, but I find that as long as the XML library file is on my local fast drive, searching isn't an issue. If I want to retag 10,000 files, well, yeah, it takes a while. I don't do that very often.

So, I still don't understand why you advocate RAID 0. Especially as a low cost option. The speed--for audio--is overkill. And, now you seem to be saying $500 for the RAID 0 server *and* you still need a NAS to back it all up. Why not something simple like the terastation or similar boxes?

Yes, but... RAID 0 doubles the number of drives as well, and it doesn't give you any redundancy protection. Frankly, I've backed up my RAID 5 as well anyway--no way I want to rip that many CDs again and do all the indexing and get all the artwork. Once is enough...

Sure your friend's isn't on a hub versus a switch or something? At 16 mbps, it would have taken four days to back mine up, and it was overnight. Maybe I'm underestimating overnight using 8 hours, but I'm not underestimating by a factor of 10--it was overnight...

As far as building your own, I built my last computer and, while I won't claim to be any sort of computer genius (last system I built was a Z80 on an S100 bus), it isn't purely plug-and-play. I had to work out a fair number of oddball issues, and some of them took some time and research. Not sure everyone is up for that. I like the terastation b/c it is basically plug-and-play. Its not perfect--multiple access is a lot slower than my PowerVault, for example--but it is pretty good protection versus the consumer USB/firewire drives so many use. After the number of failures I've had with those, I'm much more comfortable with the idea of my catastrophic failure being two drives failing at the same time...

Guess everyone is going to have their own comfort zone here. Part of the reason I'd advocate not giving away or selling the original CDs. Those are, ultimately, the last backup...

*sigh*

You bought a drive for reliability that doesn't have a fan? How hot is the case in terms of degrees over room temp? I really hope you consider backing up your data in another form...

In this vein, I'd also note that I can't hear my drive at all--because its hooked up to my network, not my computer. Which means its in a nice, cool basement a long, long way away from my listening position.

;)