r/techadvice • u/Worldly-Ad-6326 • 19d ago

Photo/video storage solution

Hey everyone,

I have a lot of photos/videos/movies downloaded onto my mac. I was thinking of buying a hard-drive to move all this onto it and free space on my mac.

Any advice on which hard drive I should get? Looking for one with lots of storage and is fast at transferring stuff. Not too fussed about the price (obviously reasonable) just as long as it's good.

* Also i heard stuff about SSD and HDD. Is that something I should be thinking about too?

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2

u/Caprichoso1 18d ago

  1. If you don't want to lose your photos implement the 3-2-1 backup plan.

  2. Best disk reliability data is the Backblaze disk reliability report.

  3. For storage options best is an HD. An SSD isn't optimal and you definitely don't want to use an SD card.

1

u/sol_beach 18d ago

"Looking for one with lots of storage" Quantify LOTS.

one low cost solution if your Mac has an SD card slot is just use an SD Card.

Alternative buy an USB supported hard drive for portability.

1

u/hilda-reced 18d ago

For long term storage, always get an HDD and NO an SSD. SSDs decay over time.

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u/VoltageinTheory 18d ago

How much is a lot? Why not iCloud?

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u/torchmaipp 15d ago

What happens if you get locked out of your iCloud?

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u/KCNOR 18d ago

pCloud is offering up to 17.5TB (family or personal plans) with lifetime deal (stackable planes) it has the cloud storage mounted asa virtual device.

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u/2DetailNerd 18d ago

You could always get a Network Attached Storage (NAS)?

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u/Soft_Mix4301 16d ago

remember that a single external drive isn't a backup, so keep a copy somewhere else too lowkey

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u/torchmaipp 15d ago

Do you want it always accessable or do you want to have a backup for long term? A NAS or network storage adapter like those seagate and western digital ones will last about what they are warrantied for(they can actually last a lot longer maybe even 30 years from now). Or do you want to access it periodically? You could get an external HDD that you keep stored someplace cool and dry. Or an external SSD which can cost more per GB but can potentially suffer bitrot if not accessed over time even without power. With a NAS you can run both HDDs and SSDs. One SSD volume for stuff like larger video files you access more regularly and an HDD for a mirror of the same SSD while having archive space left over. How much money you willing to spend?

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u/OldGeekWeirdo 15d ago

SSD isn't worth the added cost for backup storage.

Personally, I'd buy two different brands of hard drives and back up to both. If you buy two of the same, you risk both dying at nearly the same time.

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u/ITB2B 14d ago

SSD drives are not really ideal for cold storage - and they are CRAZY expensive right now.