Rapid advances in technology have now made it not only possible, but practical and affordable to have a desktop sized external hard drive that holds one Terabyte (TB) or more of digital storage.
A terabyte is equal to 1,000 Gigabytes (GB), and as those that work with demanding tasks like professional video editing and audio recording, gigabytes can fill up almost as quickly as chunks of 50 or 60 megabytes used to. For professionals like this, high performance drives that can rapidly store large amounts of data are essential. Here are some essential features to look for in external hard drives for intense use:
eSATA connections - A type of connection to your computer, like USB or Firewire, that can transfer up to 3GB/s. You may need a seperate eSATA card if you do not have a very recent, high end computer, but it is very much worth it if you have very demanding applications.
RAID - or Redundant Array of Independent Disks. This means that the data is written, mirrored and divided among multiple drives in the unit. This provides improved security from data-loss / failure as well as improved performance.
Here are a few external hard drives from major manufacturers that fit the bill, and can also be found at very reasonable prices.
Western Digital Mybook Studio II
The Studio II is the most powerful as well as most energy efficient version of the MyBook. It has a quad interface (USB, FireWire 400/800, and eSATA) and is RAID enabled. The Studio II also uses internal drives with GreenPower technology that conserves energy and does not need a fan, resulting in a more quiet drive. Naturally it includes all the backup software, automatic power down and power saving / data protection features of other WD drives.
Lacie Big Disk Quadra
A high end drive excellent for demanding applications like video editing / audio recording, the LaCie Big Disk Quadra is a RAID drive with sizes up to 3TB. It can stand vertical or be stacked in a rackmount configuration, and also uses the fanless aluminum cooling design for quiet, reliable performance. It has user-friendly features like an application shortcut button on the drive, backup software, and setup assistant to properly format your drive.
Fortunately these drives are becoming incredibly affordable, often less than $250 through sites like terabyte-drives.com, where you can also find more info.
