OntheRez Offline Upload & Sell: On
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Doesn't really matter if you use a Mac or a PC - drives and enclosures are essentially the same. Only current exception is that Apple is pushing the Thunderbolt interface which while blazing fast doesn't have much support over on the dark side
From 30+ years of using a wide variety of types (anybody remember Bernoulli?), interfaces: serial, pre-ATA, SCSI, ATA, SATA, eSATA, FW, USB, etc., and likely drives from every maker, I can safely say that some percentage will fail no matter what or why. Someone (can't remember who to credit) once noted that read/write to a hard drive is analogous to flying a Concorde from NYC to Paris 6" above sea level.
I strongly endose CamperJim's remark. You don't need them all. I doubt 5% of my files survive and some percentage of that is kept for sentimental reasons. (I also shoot >10,000 clicks a year.) I keep a fast SSD for immediately holding and work. It backs up to an internal 1TB drive (a WD I believe) nightly, and then to an external eSATA - an OWC Mercury Elite also 1TB. I don't have verifiable data, but I also am skeptical of non-server use of massive 2, 4, 8, TB arrays. Yes, big organizations with real IT people use these and more, but they are redundantly backed up and have hot swap spares always available. I'd hate to lose a 4TB setup as I just don't want to invest the time and money into the whole thing. OWC is highly recommended and while they are Mac oriented virtually any of their products work with any operating system.
I note that you are using Backblaze. They did a somewhat controversial analysis of their drive failure rates An interesting read.
I'd suggest not getting overly concerned about brand and concentrate on interface speed and multiple copies. I'd also echo Allen in noting this isn't the place to buy cheap. If nothing else you get longer warranties.
Robert
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