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External hard drive for expanding iTunes library?

My hard drive is nearly full and I need to get an external HD for my rapidly expanding music library. I use iTunes and stream the music to my Airport Express to my Marantz SR-7200's DAC . Using a bel-canto eVo 6 and Gallo Ref 3's makes good music to me. All my music files are Aiff(uncompressed) and currently use 106GB. I've read good reviews online about the G-DRIVE 500GB External Hard Drive but I'm curious if any other Audiogoners have used it or could recommend other large,quiet and reliable external hard drives. My computer is an iMac G-5.
Thanks for any help.
Howell
hals_den
hals_den OP
77 posts
 
Thanks for the links Michael. I learned something new and I like the price and serviceablity of the products. But I'm still hoping for comments on the G-DRIVE 500GB which is claimed to dissipate heat well. I don't mind spending more money for quality and reliability. And it seem the consensus is I'll need to buy two hard drives; one active and one for back up. I know this guy who keeps his back-up HD in a safe deposit box and weekly updates it. I'm not ready to go that far.
sufentanil's avatar
sufentanil
782 posts
 
I don't have any experience with the G-drive but it seems to be quite expensive. I respectfully disagree with the poster who said that an external hard drive needs a fan. Hard drives (and computer components in general) are much more rugged than we think. Hard drives are very reliable (certainly much more reliable than vacuum tubes). I have an old computer that kept killing its fans 7 years ago. I finally took the fans out and left the machine for dead, with its 2 hard drives, performing non-critical functions such as the print server and such. Running 24/7 in the 7 years since then, the system continues to function fine. And if you've ever taken apart an external hard drive enclosure shortly after the drive was running, you can pull the HD out and it just feels warm, not hot, to the touch.

Look at it this way: For the price of the G-drive, you could have TWO external hard drives (in other words, you would have the backup unit). Drives don't fail often (user error is a more common reason for data loss), but if it did you'd at least have 2nd drive as the backup.

It all depends on how much you want to spend. If you are OK with the price of the G-drive, then by all means get it. Then get a comparable sized drive for a backup. Simple as that.

Michael
herman
2,282 posts
 
Michael, your advice runs contrary to everything I have ever read on this subject including advice from IT professionals. The difference in $ between running them in a well ventilated box versus the cheaper sealed ones is not much. Why would you want to tempt fate and go against conventional wisdom to save a few cents?

BTW I have taken a hard drive from a sealed external enclosure and it was much warmer than when I ran the drive outside the box. It is a well established fact that running them hotter than you have to shortens their life.
hals_den OP
77 posts
 
I bought the G-Drive for my primary hard drive and I'm now considering Michael's advice for my back up drive. But having never transferred files from one drive to another, are there any easy mistakes I should avoid as to not lose files?
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,328 posts
 
If properly constructed an external hard drive does not need a fan for cooling. LaCie, G-Force and others make metal drive enclosures that are quite efficient at ducting heat away from the drive unit. Since these enclosures depend on passive heat transfer it is important that you place them where they will receive ample air flow and not operate them in a high ambient temperature environment.
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