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Yogesh Kamat
What’s the difference between you and a large corporation? When it comes to data storage, the answer is simple: scalability, protection and performance. In your growing collection of photos, music, videos, email, work and school projects, and other assorted content, you to add extra storage easily and cost-effectively. You need to protect the data you have through simple, yet powerful backup measures. Whether you’re a digital video producer, a graphics designer, a gamer, or just somebody who hates twiddling your thumbs while data moves from Point A to Point B, storage performance is often critical.
Interestingly, when it comes to scalability, data protection and performance, many of the technologies that work for big businesses and cost tens of thousands of dollars can be had for much less in home or SOHO products—if you’re willing to compromise. For instance, you might get the speed but not the protection, or the protection, but not the usability. Very few products on the market today combine all of these desirable storage characteristics.
The importance of reliable data storage and backup can’t be overstated. Talk to anyone who has lost their PC in some natural disaster, watched in stunned disbelief as a project vanished because of a wrong keystroke or power blip, or discovered weeks later that an important file is damaged because of poor performance. If your data matters to you, a reliable, robust storage solution is priceless when a crisis occurs. But if we just said, “You need an external storage and backup solution,” you might go buy some inexpensive drive in a cheap enclosure, a drive that actually meets maybe just a few of the 'must-have' storage criteria.
We need to peek under the storage hood just a little to discuss what separates the toys from the tools.
Better, Stronger, Faster—One Drive or Two?
Imagine that you’re standing beside a large pile of dirt with a shovel in your hand and a wheelbarrow at your feet. Your job is to move the pile onto a nearby tarp in the shortest time possible. Moving the pile takes you one hour.
Now imagine that your friend, endowed with about your same work speed and endurance, shows up with his shovel and wheelbarrow. Now you only have to move half the pile while your friend moves the other half. The job now takes roughly half the time. Moreover, if you had to recombine both half-piles back into the original pile, the job would go about twice as fast as if you did the job on your own.
In the context of hard drives, this idea is called striping. You take a file and spread it across two or more drives to reduce the time it takes to write or (in reverse) read the file. It tech circles, this is known as a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) Level 0. RAID 0 pays off in situations where you need speed, such as loading game levels or saving digital video edit files that can be butchered with dropped frames and errors if the hard drive or the interface can’t keep up with the system.
Sometimes you care more about data protection than speed. The best and easiest way to protect your data against accidental loss is to mirror the data. When you have two hard drives, whatever gets written to the first drive is automatically copied, or “mirrored,” to the second. A mirrored arrangement like this is known as a RAID Level 1. If anything should happen to Disk 1, RAID software pops up to alert you to the problem. In the meantime, Disk 2 instantly kicks into play so you don’t have an interruption in computer operation. Whenever it’s convenient, repair Disk 1.
In the desktop world, mirrored RAIDs are the most common. When you invest countless hours and dollars amassing hundreds of gigabytes of data, you don’t want to take chances on human error or hardware failures. RAID 1 virtually eliminates risk. Also, should calamity strike and you need to run out the door with your external hard drive under your arm, a shock-protected RAID 1 stands a much better chance of surviving jarring and fumbling than a single drive solution.
Other Storage Must-haves
1. An internal RAID solution is a good starting point, if you’re technical and want to open up your computer and add another hard drive. However, for maximum flexibility, ease of use, data redundancy and to have the ability to rotate a copy off-site, you want an external storage solution that can be easily transported. Not only should this be something you can grab and run with at a moment’s notice, but it should also be user-friendly enough to get running anywhere quickly.
2. Product quality and overall product integration are paramount. You don’t want to depend on shoddy hardware prone to overheating, shock damage and premature failure when your data is on the line. Additionally, a storage solution needs software that lets users make the most of their investment. Functions should also be simple to set up and manage. In general, a good software package delivers more bang for the buck versus lesser competing products.
3. Security matters. Today data and identity theft are everyday occurrences. An effective external storage solution should give you the option of protecting your files from prying eyes by creating a password to protect your data.
4. Cosmetics matter. Studies show that consumer devices that are more appealing to the eye get used more often. Call it the iPod lesson if you like. But at the same time, good looks should not impair functionality or effective use.
5. Keep the future in mind. Storage needs to grow. If you need 300GB of external storage today, you’re bound to need twice or three times that amount before you know it. Remember, when everyone thought 10GB was astronomical? Similarly, interfaces improve with time. Today’s USB 2.0, and FireWire 400 (1394a) are transitioning to the faster FireWire 800 (1394b). Ideally, your storage solution should accommodate all of these so you’re prepared for whatever system, or peripheral, you decide to connect with in the future as well as today. Industry-leading external storage solutions offer a combination of interface choices and some even come equipped with all three.
Put it all together and that’s a pretty hefty shopping list. But a thorough external storage solution requires a thoroughly implemented product.
The author is the country manager for Maxtor India.
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