Stability of drive installed in computer vs drive attached via USB?

I am doing a lot of serious digital photography and I am
shooting in RAW - these RAW files are the equivalent of
negatives and I need to be able to store them. I can't
store them on my regular C drive because they will quickly
fill up the the drive and they will also make my nightly
backups large and cumbersome.

I can install an ATA drive in my computer (both SATA
connections are already in use). But if I do this, the
drive will run all the time for no reason. I only want it
to store these files and I would upload files to it once
every few days. The rest of the time, it would be running
just because the computer is on.

I can also purchase a good hard drive (WD, Seagate) and use
an aluminum enclosure that has an on/off switch. I can then
attach it to a usb port (on a hub), and only use it when I
want to upload files or perhaps, look for a particular RAW
file - which would be very rare.

Is there any stability advantage to an installed drive
rather than a good quality USB attached to a hub?

One more question, if I go with USB, are there
recommendations for a good solid enclosure?

Thanks.

Louise

louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote

> I am doing a lot of serious digital photography and I am
> shooting in RAW - these RAW files are the equivalent of
> negatives and I need to be able to store them. I can't
> store them on my regular C drive because they will quickly
> fill up the the drive and they will also make my nightly
> backups large and cumbersome.

> I can install an ATA drive in my computer (both SATA connections are already in use).

You can add more sata ports.

> But if I do this, the drive will run all the time for no reason.

You can set it to shut down on no use.

No need tho, they run fine on all the time.

> I only want it to store these files and I would upload files to it once every few days. The rest
> of the time, it would be running just because the computer is on.

That doesnt affect the life of the drive, or the power used much.

> I can also purchase a good hard drive (WD, Seagate) and use
> an aluminum enclosure that has an on/off switch. I can then
> attach it to a usb port (on a hub), and only use it when I
> want to upload files or perhaps, look for a particular RAW
> file - which would be very rare.

You can also have an internal sata drive which has a switch too.

> Is there any stability advantage to an installed drive
> rather than a good quality USB attached to a hub?

Yes. There's a reason the externals universally only
have a 1 year warranty and the internals have 3 or 5.

> One more question, if I go with USB, are there
> recommendations for a good solid enclosure?

The main problem is adequate cooling of the externals.

It would be better to have an eSATA external drive too if you must have external.

Rod Speed wrote:
> louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote
>
>> I am doing a lot of serious digital photography and I am
>> shooting in RAW - these RAW files are the equivalent of
>> negatives and I need to be able to store them. I can't
>> store them on my regular C drive because they will quickly
>> fill up the the drive and they will also make my nightly
>> backups large and cumbersome.
>
>> I can install an ATA drive in my computer (both SATA connections are already in use).
>
> You can add more sata ports.
>
>> But if I do this, the drive will run all the time for no reason.
>
> You can set it to shut down on no use.
>
> No need tho, they run fine on all the time.
>
>> I only want it to store these files and I would upload files to it once every few days. The rest
>> of the time, it would be running just because the computer is on.
>
> That doesnt affect the life of the drive, or the power used much.
>
>> I can also purchase a good hard drive (WD, Seagate) and use
>> an aluminum enclosure that has an on/off switch. I can then
>> attach it to a usb port (on a hub), and only use it when I
>> want to upload files or perhaps, look for a particular RAW
>> file - which would be very rare.
>
> You can also have an internal sata drive which has a switch too.
>
>> Is there any stability advantage to an installed drive
>> rather than a good quality USB attached to a hub?
>
> Yes. There's a reason the externals universally only
> have a 1 year warranty and the internals have 3 or 5.
>
>> One more question, if I go with USB, are there
>> recommendations for a good solid enclosure?
>
> The main problem is adequate cooling of the externals.
>
> It would be better to have an eSATA external drive too if you must have external.
>
>
how does one add more sata ports? My asus board came with
two sata connections?

Also, how does one set a drive to shut down when not in use
without a switch?

If I only used my external for a few hours at a time, and
got a good aluminum case, would I negate the overheating
problem?

Thanks.

Louise

Previously louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> I am doing a lot of serious digital photography and I am
> shooting in RAW - these RAW files are the equivalent of
> negatives and I need to be able to store them. I can't
> store them on my regular C drive because they will quickly
> fill up the the drive and they will also make my nightly
> backups large and cumbersome.

> I can install an ATA drive in my computer (both SATA
> connections are already in use). But if I do this, the
> drive will run all the time for no reason. I only want it
> to store these files and I would upload files to it once
> every few days. The rest of the time, it would be running
> just because the computer is on.

> I can also purchase a good hard drive (WD, Seagate) and use
> an aluminum enclosure that has an on/off switch. I can then
> attach it to a usb port (on a hub), and only use it when I
> want to upload files or perhaps, look for a particular RAW
> file - which would be very rare.

> Is there any stability advantage to an installed drive
> rather than a good quality USB attached to a hub?

Not really, except that you are more likely to knock over an
external drive than the whole computer with the internal one.

> One more question, if I go with USB, are there
> recommendations for a good solid enclosure?

Get good cooling. And use more than one. Typical sysadmin advice is to
keep at least two independent copies of less important stuff and three
of important stuff. Disks do crash and if you have only one copy, the
stuff is already gone when you notice the problem. With two copies,
you still have one when noticing the problem. With three, human error
on recovery will still only destroy the data if you make at least two
errors.

People havind important stuff on only one disk do generate quite
some business for data recovery outfits. In addition, recovery is
not something that allways works and it is expensive.

Arno

louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Rod Speed wrote:
>> louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote
>>
>>> I am doing a lot of serious digital photography and I am
>>> shooting in RAW - these RAW files are the equivalent of
>>> negatives and I need to be able to store them. I can't
>>> store them on my regular C drive because they will quickly
>>> fill up the the drive and they will also make my nightly
>>> backups large and cumbersome.
>>
>>> I can install an ATA drive in my computer (both SATA connections
>>> are already in use).
>>
>> You can add more sata ports.
>>
>>> But if I do this, the drive will run all the time for no reason.
>>
>> You can set it to shut down on no use.
>>
>> No need tho, they run fine on all the time.
>>
>>> I only want it to store these files and I would upload files to it
>>> once every few days. The rest of the time, it would be running
>>> just because the computer is on.
>>
>> That doesnt affect the life of the drive, or the power used much.
>>
>>> I can also purchase a good hard drive (WD, Seagate) and use
>>> an aluminum enclosure that has an on/off switch. I can then
>>> attach it to a usb port (on a hub), and only use it when I
>>> want to upload files or perhaps, look for a particular RAW
>>> file - which would be very rare.
>>
>> You can also have an internal sata drive which has a switch too.
>>
>>> Is there any stability advantage to an installed drive
>>> rather than a good quality USB attached to a hub?
>>
>> Yes. There's a reason the externals universally only
>> have a 1 year warranty and the internals have 3 or 5.
>>
>>> One more question, if I go with USB, are there
>>> recommendations for a good solid enclosure?
>>
>> The main problem is adequate cooling of the externals.
>>
>> It would be better to have an eSATA external drive too if you must
>> have external.

> how does one add more sata ports?

Add a sata card, costs peanuts.

> My asus board came with two sata connections?

> Also, how does one set a drive to shut down when not in use without a switch?

You can do that with hitachi's drive feature tool with some drives.

> If I only used my external for a few hours at a time, and got a good aluminum case, would I negate
> the overheating problem?

Nope, not if you dont use it in an air conditioned environment.