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Home Entertainment Center => Hardware => Topic started by: Neumatic on May 31, 2016, 01:00:09 pm


Title: Hard Drives
Post by: Neumatic on May 31, 2016, 01:00:09 pm
So for the past... however long... I've been using WD MyBook external hard drives.  I like 'em, but they filled up.  Both 4 TB models.  So I was looking for an 8TB model, but the MyBook versions are these huge bloody boxes that are just RAIDs of two 4TB drives put together.  And over 300 bucks.  Meanwhile, the Seagate 8TB "Personal Cloud" is a sleek, discrete box for much less, so I bought that.

But ho ho ho, I had NO idea how LONG it would be to transfer 4 TB of data.  First, I can't just group them all and drag and drop, because the bloody computer starts freezing up after half a day or so, so I have to do the transfers piecemeal.  Are you kidding?  And second, there's the file system.  Look, I lay out my windows and folders in a specific way that's easy to use and pleasing to the eye, I take a lot of pride in that.  I've customized my own interface over the years and I like it.  This stupid thing resets everything into alphabetical order and uniform window size every time I plug it in.  Every time.  That's so aggravating.
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Mac on May 31, 2016, 03:13:55 pm
Why can't things remain simple?
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Neumatic on May 31, 2016, 04:07:27 pm
I suppose if I was better at combing through mys tuff I wouldn't have to upgrade to the edges (or be able to make do with a 6 TB drive), but I'm a digital packrat.
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Neumatic on May 31, 2016, 04:20:25 pm
Okay, I found an 8 TB MyBook... I think I'll get that, and use this "Personal Cloud" for my long-term storage.  I'll see if I can find it in a shop rather than send out for it, I'd like to not do that if I can avoid it.

I should also look into getting a USB 3.0 hub since I don't know how old/what standard my TARDIS hub is, and the wire is starting to fray.  It's probably time for an upgrade.
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Neumatic on June 08, 2016, 07:36:56 pm
All right, but my 8 TB MyBook, no fuss no muss.  I plug it in, and it's on, it shows right up on my screen (the other one takes at least ten minutes to do this).  I eject and replug, everything's in the same place it was last time.  Success!  Except now... where's all my icon art?  All my folders have icon art so I know what's in there and so browsing 15 years worth of files is easy on the eyes.  But there aren't any showing up!  Ack!  It's always something.
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Mac on June 08, 2016, 07:49:04 pm
A forum exist to figure it out?
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Neumatic on June 08, 2016, 08:11:50 pm
I think it's just another symptom of the crappy Seagate thing.  250 bucks down the drain, I guess.  Maybe I can return it but I gotta go empty it and clear it out and ****, I dunno.
Title: Re: Hard Drives
Post by: Neumatic on June 08, 2016, 10:29:22 pm
Wow, transfers that took a few evenings on my Seagate are zipping by on my WD.  It's like going from a Yugo to a... well, I don't know nice cars, but a nice car.  I don't know why I ever thought to change brands.  I honestly don't even know if I'll keep the Seagate, it just seems so backwards and broken by comparison.  I might keep it for emergencies, but after this file juggling, I don't think I'll keep it hooked up.  Just don't see the point.

I might keep my two fours going until I can justify buying another 8 TB, though... I gotta figure out the best way to do that, in terms of organizing space on my shelf and messing about with all the bloody wires.