a-data-sh93

Kia ora tatou:

This e-mail arrived in my inbox the other day, and after reading it, I felt a need to share it with you. So, many thanks, Alan, for getting this to me, and for all the obvious research you have done. I’m going to post this, and then make my reply afterwards.

A word of warning about new Western Digital MyBook USB drives bundled software

At one of Tony’s recent courses he reminded me that I shouldn’t be trusting my valuable data to a Seagate USB drive when he saw me using one, his preferred option being Western Digital. A recent visit to Dick Smith’s sale gave me the opportunity to replace my drive with a Western Digital, so I thought I should share my experience with you all.

It turned out that I could get the old model WD My Book 640 GB for $128 while the new model 500 GB with bundled software was $150. Seeing as I have spent too much recently upgrading my camera, the opportunity of getting the bigger drive on special was too appealing to miss.

When I went to re-format it to NTFS before using it I noticed some trial software loaded onto it, so I decided to investigate if it was worthwhile looking at. I googled the Western Digital site to find out about the software and found that the “SmartWare” software with the new drives is different from that on the older drives. Being naturally curious I googled “problems with SmartWare software” and boy did I get a result ! Hundreds of  complaints about it.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/10/20/review-western-digital-my-book-essential-with-smartware-backup-software/

It turns out that the new software is mounted on a “virtual CD” which your system detects as soon as the drive is connected and nags you to install it, hogs systems resources badly, is very slow, and appears impossible to delete out of your system once installed. Even formatting the drive does not get rid of it. (For an impartial review go to http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h2235.htm , talk about damning with faint praise! )

It appears that WD have now been forced to introduce updates to the software to enable you to switch it off, even if you cannot get it out of your system. See URL

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartware

The moral of the story would appear to be, don’t install it if you can avoid it after updating the software as above. If it is already too late then switch it of by following the instructions on their website after updating the software as above

One further point of interest is that I have a friend who has successfully installed the software and is happy with its performance, but he has modified the software setup significantly so that it does not run full-time in the background, but only while his computer is idle for a period of time, and his demands on his system are not particularly memory intensive.

Finally I should point out that I currently use “NTI Shadow” back-up which is available downloaded at a very reasonable price of US $39.95.  I have set it up to backup my data files every night from my C drive to my Backup Hard Drive D, plus I then backup this drive once a week to the USB drive. (This works for me rather than leaving it at the default of backing up in live time as you work)

I hope you find this useful.

Hi Alan:

Many thanks to sending that through. Frankly, I was not aware of the problems that the backup software can cause, largely because I don’t use it, and, because I don’t use it, it has slipped below my radar. I take a similar approach with flash drives, some of which come with backup software. Because I don’t know the products, I don’t tend to use them. My own Weapon of Backup Choice is Acronis True Image, which is considered by all my techie friends to be the software to go for. Because it appears to be the Gold standard in backup, I have tended to avoid cheaper and less obvious alternatives. I might add, I take a similar approach with editing software. Because I use Lightroom, CS4, and a variety of other applications, I don’t usually load the software which comes with the camera. Inevitably camera-supplied software, at least in my experience, tends to be clunky, system-hungry and usually difficult to use. I guess the same could be said of some of the free backup software supplied with external hard drives.

But there is another issue here, and one which I need to clarify. When I recommended the Western Digital over the Seagate, I was talking about the reliability of the drive itself. All hard drives are classified using MBTF (mean time between failures) data, which gives an idea of how long one can expect a hard drive to last before it falls over. And they will do, sooner or later. So the question is not if, but when. For that reason I’m quite enthusiastic about getting a hard drive with a large MBTF. For that reason, based on the experience of my friends who spend their days fixing computers, sorting out their clients nightmares, and who I presume know what they’re talking about, I have tended to avoid Seagate drives, which seem to have a higher failure rate than the opposition. My answer to the obvious question forming in your minds is that I tend to specify Samsung drives, which are robot-assembled and have a very low failure rate.

But I’m talking here about external hard drives, not the ones where you buy a case, a hard drive and then assemble them (which is what I tend to do anyway). It’s a relatively simple and easy task, involving a few minutes and a couple of small screwdrivers, and then simply formatting the drive once it is plugged in to your system. The drives I’m referring to are the off-the-peg models, like the Seagate Freeagent or Western Digital MyBook drives, which you can buy in any good computer store. I have heard some horror stories about the Seagates dying at a very early age. I’ve yet to hear any about the Western Digital product, and I think I know why. Or released I suspect why. Here is my theory:

a hard drive is composed of a series of spinning platters supported by a central bearing, with a small arm which reads the data. As such it generates heat, and heat has to go somewhere … the Seagate 3.5 inch enclosure stands vertically, and is cooling vents are on the bottom of the case! Somewhere, perhaps when I was doing fourth form science, I remember becoming aware that heat rises, so it seems to me rather strange to have the cooling vents on the bottom. The Western Digital on the other hand, or released the models I have tended to buy, have the cooling vents on the back, and small fans to keep the air flowing. I note that there is now a model out which is fully-enclosed, and I wonder what effect that is likely to have upon the longevity of the drive. Interestingly, according to statistics published by Google, the optimum operating temperature for a hard drive would appear to be between 35°C and 50°C. You learn something new every day … in addition, apparently there are only five hard drive manufacturers: Seagate (who manufacture Maxtor drives), Western Digital, Samsung, Toshiba and Hitachi. Everything else is rebranded.

You can read more here and here and here

My own system for backup drives is to use an external case in which I mount a standard Samsung hard drive. I keep the plastic case and, when the drive is full, swap it out, put it in the plastic protective case, and file it away in my safe. I then put a new 3.5 inch drive into the case, formatted, and then go, off I go.

When I’m on the road or travelling abroad, I take three 2.5 inch 500 GB Adata SH93 drives with me. Apparently they will take a fall onto concrete from a bot 1-1.5m and are waterproof. Perfect for when I want to take my laptop for a swim…When I download files, using Lightroom, it creates one copy on the hard drive and the laptop and a backup copy on one of the external drives. Every week or so I backup the contents of the laptop drive to the second external drive. Then, just before I’m about to come home, I do a third complete backup of all files I have shot on to the remaining drive. Just before I get to the airport, when I’m taking, one copy goes in my camera case, one in my check-in language, and the third in my carry-on luggage. That way the chances are good that at least one copy will make it home.

The file backup application I use is Acronis true image. I use that to backup the contents of my C: drive.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that all hard drives (including external drives) will eventually fail. The trick is to have at least one other backup, and a way of restoring your system, should/when it fail.