SATA / eSATA HDD

[jvora]

Hello :

A few of the DVD that are used to back up Data have begun to fail, thus I am thinking of using a HDD Docking Station to perform the same -

My question : Any idea how long the SATA / eSATA technologies will be around ?

Would hate to inveast time money and effort if just in a couple of years this technology is no longer supported my up coming cmputers OR that these types of HDD are no longer made OR upgraded !

Hope I am thinking about this correctly - if not, do advice !

Jai

[Farmer]

Hello :

A few of the DVD that are used to back up Data have begun to fail, thus I am thinking of using a HDD Docking Station to perform the same -

My question : Any idea how long the SATA / eSATA technologies will be around ?

Would hate to inveast time money and effort if just in a couple of years this technology is no longer supported my up coming cmputers OR that these types of HDD are no longer made OR upgraded !

Hope I am thinking about this correctly - if not, do advice !

Jai

New stuff comes out all the time, but that said you can still get IDE controllers and hard drives, so it's unlikely that SATA is going to disappear too soon (and even if it does start phasing out, you'll have access to it for a long time from that point).

[alain]

Hello :

A few of the DVD that are used to back up Data have begun to fail, thus I am thinking of using a HDD Docking Station to perform the same -

My question : Any idea how long the SATA / eSATA technologies will be around ?

Would hate to inveast time money and effort if just in a couple of years this technology is no longer supported my up coming cmputers OR that these types of HDD are no longer made OR upgraded !

Hope I am thinking about this correctly - if not, do advice !

Jai

The disk size grows so fast you will outgrow you're disks faster.  It's good practice to copy you're content to a new disk from time to time, the disksize probably doubles every two year.  (1TB disks are common now, 1TB is about 200 DVD's )

I don't invest in enclosures anymore, I use the bare disks with a plugin adaptor.  For about 200 euros you"ll have 2 TB disks and an adaptor.  (never store something on 1 medium, I try to use 3 or more)

[jvora]

Thanks Farmer and Alain :

Precisely, I mentioned about the Docking Stations so I can keep swapping the bare HDD and not have the additional expense of the casing.

This approack also permits quick access to the data which the cd/dvd does not permit !


Thanks !!


Jai

The disk size grows so fast you will outgrow you're disks faster.  It's good practice to copy you're content to a new disk from time to time, the disksize probably doubles every two year.  (1TB disks are common now, 1TB is about 200 DVD's )

I don't invest in enclosures anymore, I use the bare disks with a plugin adaptor.  For about 200 euros you"ll have 2 TB disks and an adaptor.  (never store something on 1 medium, I try to use 3 or more)

[Jack Flesher]

I think you've got a good long while before the SATA interface is dead.  SATA3 standards are already in the works once SATA2 transfer rates get close to being exceeded. Currently even the fastest SSD drives cannot exceed SATA2 spec.

[Panopeeper]

A few of the DVD that are used to back up Data have begun to fail

What type and brand of DVD have you used (plus, minus, rewritable)? Have you created the DVDs with verification?

[jvora]

Hello Jack,

Are Sata2 and Sata3 backward compatable ?



Panopeeper,

The dvd brand is "Imation" DVD-R.

Would love to get a local supplier who deals with "archval' cd/dvd, but no sich luck in Mumbai.

Got to make do what "regular" medio is available : (


Thanks,


Jai

[Jack Flesher]

Hello Jack,

Are Sata2 and Sata3 backward compatable ?

Yes.  The connector interface is identical, and SATA2 drives even have a jumper to set them to SATA1 spec so they can be used as SATA1 drives in older devices and SATA3 is supposed to do the same (though it isn't released yet, so all appropriate caveats apply). Of course SATA2 devices can see SATA1 drives and run them fine at SATA1 speeds.


Re DVD's failing, it is an assumed issue with writable and re-writable disks as the hot-melt dyes can migrate over time, or the foil core can corrode in the even of disk delamination -- both of which are likely events over time with variable heat and humidity.  Using Gold foil core DVD's helps, but you still have the dye migration issue.  In the end bare hard drives and a mounting sled like the Voyager Q (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/FWU2ES2HDK/) make a far faster and nearly as cost effective as the cheapest DVDs and a lot cheaper than Blue Ray.  (My local electronics store has 1TB drives on sale for $85 today, and IMO 8-1/2 cents per gig is pretty cheap storage )

[Plekto]

The specs for usb 3.0 are nearly identical as well. I see a move to both as a stable "final" method for data transfers that will probably last a decade or more.  The reality is that usb 2.0 and sata 2 are probably going to be seen as "beta" versions of the final standard ten or twenty years from now.

[joedecker]

The specs for usb 3.0 are nearly identical as well. I see a move to both as a stable "final" method for data transfers that will probably last a decade or more.  The reality is that usb 2.0 and sata 2 are probably going to be seen as "beta" versions of the final standard ten or twenty years from now.

I'm guessing SATA at least will be around for a few years, and it looks like attempts to make faster SATA drives are largely happening with cross-compatibility, I'd bet that something will support the bare drives for at least a half-dozen years--long enough you'll want to start thinking about copying/replacing the drives before that happens.

I gave up on enclosures, something about just having even a few extra cables to hook up actually seemed to be a pyschological hurdle in how often I did backups, and the last thing I need or want is more hurdles there.  I'm just starting to use NexStar single-slot dock, and I wrote up (just yesterday) a quick "first impressions" review of it over at photocrati.com you might want to take a look at if you're in the market.  There's one competing device (I'm blanking on the brand, sorry) and NexStar also makes a dual slot dock as well, don't have direct personal experience with either.

Hope this is helpful!

--Joe

[neil snape]

I copied all my DVDs back to bare Sata II hard drives which I did over an eSata cable for the primary transfers. Now I just connect and swap the HDs when ever via Firewire 400.
Since my primary storage is RAID 0 I have a backup done every morning with Carbon Copy Cloner to a dedicated internal HD. This is also backed up to the external bare drives every once and a while. I don't think I will go back to writing DVDs as they seemed to be unstable. After a few years they started to show read errors but luckily error correction allowed reading of discs. No such problem on hard drives, and I find Sata reliable between connections on what ever machine or device used to read them.

[hsmeets]

I copied all my DVDs back to bare Sata II hard drives which I did over an eSata cable for the primary transfers. Now I just connect and swap the HDs when ever via Firewire 400.
Since my primary storage is RAID 0 I have a backup done every morning with Carbon Copy Cloner to a dedicated internal HD. This is also backed up to the external bare drives every once and a while. I don't think I will go back to writing DVDs as they seemed to be unstable. After a few years they started to show read errors but luckily error correction allowed reading of discs. No such problem on hard drives, and I find Sata reliable between connections on what ever machine or device used to read them.

The only concern I would have about using "naked" drives in a dock: most likely the connectors on the harddisk are not designed for frequently connecting/disconnecting them. Probably this is better with eSata but 'naked' drives only have the normal sata connector. If the connector fails.....