External Hard drive recommendation.

I suggest you use one external hard drive for recording and nothing else.
This will guarantee the best throughput and you can reformat the drive often to keep it that way.

Then use a second drive for your backups.

Hi Shane, a couple of things.  I use a laptop for my work and I use two external hard drives.  I use an Esata hub (that looks a bit like this if you don't know what a hub is http://compare.ebay.com.au/like/111005776662?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes) for my main recording drive, this is because the Esata write speed is quicker than USB 3, although the read speed of USB 3 is faster.  I like the hub because the drive is out in the open, so heat is not a factor and I like the seperate power supply.  You should be able to pick up a hub at your local computer shop for 50 bucks.  I use two Samsung hardrives and I haven't had any problems with them and one has been running for almost 3 years.

Ben

scook


Why not consider buying a standard hard drive and put it in an enclosure like this

+1 to the advice to buy your own bare drive. 


That way you will know what the drive inside is. The biggest market for external drives is for backup, where speed is not critical. Some of the pre-built external drives use "green" drives or even integrate a power saving feature into the controller that slows or stops the drive periodically, and it is often difficult to find out what is in the case by reading the specs.

sharke


Check out the Glyph externals. They come in FireWire, USB and eSata. 

The glyph drives are famously fast and notoriously expensive.

Hitachi Touro.

Ok guys many thanks for the helpful and varied comments. 

Based on what I have read above and through my own research I am going to look into buying a back up external drive and a seperate external drive for recording only.
I already have a couple of 500GB drives that are fine for second back ups but I want to have one large drive for putting all my data on it. I am looking at buying either the Seagate back-up plus Descktop 3TB or the WD my book essential 3TB for the back up drive.

In relation to the sole recording drive I am still undecided. I can see that the Glyph drives are top of the line. The cost however for me is a prohibitive. Recording is a hobby that comes and goes in my life. I have done some in the past and I want to do some in the near future. Long term I'm not so sure but I want to have a good reliable portable system to hand for recording. I will be working with a Laptop with Windows 7 and USB 2.0 & USB 3.0 and a 4 channel audio interface (that I am yet to buy - might do another post on that).

I know nothing about Solid state drives. The Esata hub looks like a viable option but for portability it might not be so good (plus I don't have an esata connection on my laptop). Building my own drive is an interesting concept but I would have no idea of what drives to buy and how to sort out the various connections and get an enclosure suitable for the drive to minimize heat and noise. Does anyone know a spec for building an external hard drive specifically for recording?

Currently I am strongly considering the G Tech G Drive mini 1TB or 750GB for my recording drive. Does anyone have any experience in using this drive? They seem to be built with audio recording in mind. They are also a little more modestly priced than the Glyph's however how do they compare in terms of quality and performance? Does anyone know other pre-built drives that were designed with recording in mind that I could consider?

Many thanks for your helpful advice on a topic that appears to have no clear cut answer.

Slain go fhoil

Lacie Rugged Triple 301984 1 TB External Hard Drive provides universal connectivity . Pleased to transfer 800mb video file in just 8 seconds with USB3.0 (also supports USB2.0). Has all the specs you desired with uncompromising speed and easy setup. 

I wouldn't buy any drive less than 1TB these days except an SSD. 

You may want to consider hybrid drives too.  They are really fast, great capacity and prices.  Be sure to read the reviews.  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7750549

Djspahead

,,, I am looking at buying either the Seagate back-up plus Descktop 3TB or the WD my book essential 3TB for the back up drive. ...
 
For my home office computer I have 3 "my book 3 TB drives." (For my engineering consulting business, I can't afford to lose any data.) My Lab computer has one WD 3TB drive.
 
For my Play Pen (music room). I share one of the office backups and will by buying another WD drive as a dedicated backup drive.
 
I've had very good luck with WD drives (I helped design them!) and would highly recommend them. This week we had a large forest fire in Prescott, AZ 3 miles from our house. I packed up all the hard drives in the car (among other things) and was ready to go in case of an evacuation.
Walt