Protecting external drives

[Paul Fierlinger]

I like to keep a backup of all my current project's files on a Western Digital "Book", which I keep in the trunk of my car (I keep another one in my bank deposit box).

A simple question: How much should I be concerned about this drive being exposed to subfreezing temperatures?

[Allan Black]

I say a lot, especially if you want to bring it straight into the warm editing room and use it; check the WD site for their temperature ratings.

Wrap the rig in a thermal blanket with one of those battery hand warmers the skiers use, leave a high/low registering thermometer in with it. Don't trust those banks either.

Cheers.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Thank you Allan. All I could find was
# Avoid subjecting the hard drive to extreme temperatures.

So I suppose this means I shouldn't leave it in the car during the cold months. Installing an electric warmer is a bit excessive for me. Why do you say I shouldn't trust those banks? Their vaults are fire and water damage proof; better than anything I could rig at home.

By the way, I also carry in my pocket an I-omega external HD with all the most essential files needed to put my project back together again.

In the My Book HD I keep everything, which includes a lot of redundant files so it gets too big for the I-omega drive.

[Alastair Brown]

Hard drives are suceptible to knocks and bumps and then you want to freeze the poor wee soul to death. What kind of animal are you!!!!!!!!

I'd worry about condenstaion forming coming from cold to warm, then add a dash of electricity for fun.....hmmmmmm....not I.

Best I have been able to come up with on a budget, and I am more than happy to be corrected, is a NAS Box with two 500Gb drives setup in Raid so that the info is mirrored on both drives.


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[Paul Fierlinger]

Well, now that you put my soul on the spot I will fill in the details I hadn't planned to bother anyone with. My car is a Honda Element, so my trunk is just what's behind the rear seats. I keep my drive in a plastic zip bag (air tight), in a canvas bag, which is slung over the back of one of the rear seats. When I bring it in from the chill (I have never left it in subfreezing temperatures yet), I let it sit in the house until I get to refreshing its load a few hours later.

On the other hand, I have dropped my I-omega drive twice from pocket on a hardwood floor with no ill effects. Your mirror suggestion would be of little help in case of the house burning to the ground while I am away.

For this reason I keep two backups away from the house. The one in the bank I refresh only once in a few weeks but the one in the car once every two or three days, and the pocket one every two or three minutes (semi-automated).

I am an animator and I draw every frame of my 80 minute film on a Wacom tablet, directly into the computer (I am at 62 minutes now). Each time I finish a frame, all my files are automatically backed up on the I-omega drive.

If my house caught on fire at night and I had to jump out the bedroom window, theoretically I would have everything except the last 2 or 3 days saved in the back of my car. I could drive over to a nearby motel, buy a computer and be back at work in two days.