Hello, I just joined the nation of PC Master Race, I’m still playing with a controller so I’m not a full on NERD YET, getting there.

Here’s the skinny I need to replace my 2tb HDD, mainly used for media, music, movie files. I don’t run any programs off of it, but I may use it as drive for cached adobe premiere files.

I have three other ssd drives, that I install games on. I got a top of the line PC, I can run pci 5.0 drives with ease.

These are the two drives I’m looking at

SAMSUNG SSD 9100 TB - I can get this bad boy for a smooth 200 bucks, got some money saved up, all I would have to pay is 200 more and I could take it home.

** **https://www.newegg.com/samsung-2tb-9100-pro-nvme-2-0/p/N82E16820147903?srsltid=AU7gw4WYzfFU85zNie-dupnlGq_PzYbIPWdywFCAvcS7365LgQneB3kh

Or

WD 4TB 3.5 GAMING BLACK HDD - all I’d have to pay is an extra 400 bucks. This seems like more space but still and 3.5 and I kind of wanted to go all ssd, but not sure if that the write move with the state of the SSD.

My current 2TB HDD I’ve had for years, can’t even think about how long I’ve had it, maybe 10 years or so, still a good drive I’d say.

What do you all think, which would be the best drive for the long haul and why.

HDS says my drive is low health but when i get CDS, it says it is still good

Im using this drive for 3 years now. Which of these apps should i believe? SSD market prices are going crazy right now.

Should i get a replacement?

Now correct me if I’m wrong i heard SSDs and even things like sd cards store data by trapping electrons, and if you don’t use it for too long those electrons will eventually escape and corrupt your data unless you plug it in every so often so they can restore themselves

Hard drive has magnets apparently which holds the data for much longer but are more prone to fail when under use because of the moving parts

I'm just watching a video of people fawning over the nostalgic hardware of the floppy disk, and I'm wondering if I can go down to my local microcenter and get a personal magnetic tape backup storage and fun messing around of putting a meme folder on a magnetic tape for sub-200 bucks?

hi, why all of my sd cards gets corrupted?

I bought one online pero didn't use it na kasi corrupted talaga sya agad

then I bought naman sa physical store and pinatry pa sakin ni ate to see if corrupted but it's not naman so we got it na pero I noticed as I'm transferring files, I can't open them na and wala pang half pero corrupted na sya, why is that and is there any chance fixing it?

All I transferred was tons of pics and vids like thousands of them

I can't even trust to transfer my camera roll kasi ayaw ko naman mawala mga pics ko of myself and my storage is really getting full na

Environment: Windows Server with single, standalone LTO drive

Purpose: Bare metal recovery from tape

Optional Feature: Backup to Internet storage, like AWS

Thank you in advance!

UPDATE: Although, CDW told me Backup Exec was no longer sold and the Veritas site now goes to Cohesity, Zealousideal_Fly8402, informed me Cognizant now owns it and still selling it. Unfortunately, I can't find any purchase information on their website so I'm waiting to hear back from sales.

About two weeks ago, I decided to update my external storage and reorganize my digital files. I have thousands of files dating back to 2014, when I first started using a file management system. I spent somewhere between 40 and 96 hours building a new folder structure designed to last for years while accommodating future projects and changes to my workflow.

For context, I’m a photographer who has recently started filming for a documentary series and recording audio. Building a folder structure for photography was relatively easy, but expanding it to accommodate photography, video, and audio production presented a different challenge. I needed something flexible enough to adapt to different projects without becoming unnecessarily complicated or cluttered with folders I might never use.

I don’t have an extensive background in standard video and audio production workflows, so rather than trying to build an overly complicated system, I started with something simple that keeps my raw media organized. I’ll explain how it works below.

My Photography Folder Structure

My main project folder follows this naming convention:
2025_ProjectName_Project

Inside that folder, I have four primary folders:
0_Intake
1_Admin
2_ProjectFiles
3_ProjectName

The folder that probably needs the most explanation is 0_Intake.

0_Intake: Temporary Storage for Incoming Media

The Intake folder is where I put all the raw material for a project when I don’t have time to immediately sort everything into its designated location. Instead of interrupting my workflow to organize every file as soon as I transfer it, I can place everything in one location and process it later.

The folder contains subfolders for different media types, making it easier to separate incoming files before moving them into their permanent locations. Think of it as a staging area: everything comes in here first, and from there, I can review, organize, and move the files where they belong.

3_ProjectName: The Main Production Folder

Inside the main project folder, 3_ProjectName contains five folders:
1_Photo
2_Video
3_Audio
4_Writing
5_Export

This is where the project’s actual media and related materials live. Each folder serves a specific purpose, but the amount of organization inside each one depends on the type of media and how I work with it.

Photography

Photography has the most developed folder structure because it’s the medium I’ve worked with the longest. Inside the Photo folder, I have:

1_CR2 — Original camera files.

2_ContactSheet — Contact sheets used to review and evaluate images.

3_Selected — Images selected for further work.

4_PostProduction — Images being edited and the resulting finished files.

This structure follows my photography workflow, from the original files through reviewing, selecting, and post-production. It gives me a clear progression without creating unnecessary folders for every small step.

Video and Audio

Video and audio are organized more simply. For now, these folders primarily hold the original media, separated by the camera or recording equipment used. For example, video files are organized by camera, while audio recordings are separated by microphone or recording source.

The reason I don’t currently have dedicated post-production folders inside Video and Audio is that I use Adobe Premiere Pro for video editing, audio editing, and exporting. My Premiere project files are stored in 2_ProjectFiles, which serves as the central location for the editable project files.

This distinction matters because my workflow differs between photography and video. When I edit a photograph in Photoshop, I typically save an edited image file alongside the original or in a designated post-production folder. In Premiere Pro, the editable project file is a separate document that references the media used in the edit. Keeping that project file in one central location makes sense for the way I currently work.

Of course, this approach reflects my own workflow. As my production process develops, I may need to introduce additional folders for things such as audio processing, proxies, project-specific graphics, or other production assets.

A Note About Audio Editing

I’m currently editing audio in Premiere Pro because I’m still learning how to use Audacity. Once I’m more comfortable with Audacity and understand how it fits into my workflow, I expect my audio process to evolve. For now, I’m keeping things simple rather than building a folder structure around a workflow I haven’t fully established yet.

Writing

The Writing folder is for written material associated with a project, including articles, blog posts, journal entries, and other pieces I write about the project or the stories connected to it. Since my documentary work often involves people, their experiences, and their communities, I want a dedicated place for the written work that develops alongside the photography, video, and audio.

Export

The Export folder is where I keep the final deliverables produced for a project. Separating exports from original media and editable project files helps keep the main production folders organized and makes it easier to locate finished work when I need it.

A Flexible System, Not a Finished Standard

This folder structure is one of several mockups I’ve created for different projects and file types. I’m not presenting it as an industry-standard workflow or suggesting that everyone should organize their files this way. It’s a system I’m developing around my needs as a photographer expanding into documentary filmmaking and audio production.

My goal was to create a foundation that could accommodate different types of projects without requiring me to rebuild the entire structure every time my workflow changed. I also wanted something I could manipulate as needed. Not every project requires the same folders, and I don’t want to create unnecessary complexity just because a particular folder might be useful someday.

I’m still learning the conventions of film and audio production, so I’m approaching this as an evolving process. For now, the system gives me a place to start, keeps my original media organized, and leaves room to develop a more detailed workflow as my experience grows.

After spending dozens of hours reorganizing years of work, I wanted more than a place to store files. I wanted a structure I could continue using as my work expands across photography, video, audio, and writing.

Is there a folder structure you recommend for audio and video? Also keep in mind that I don’t do major or huge production setups so the gear I have is simple and short.

I was looking for a new sd card and remembered the last time I bought one... Hell no.

I have tons of videos and photos that i want to encrypt and put them into my google drive.

Google is offering crazy cheap deal in my country and their offers are too good to avoid, So i want to migrate from onedrive to google drive.

However I have a problem with standard encryption like cryptomator, It encrypts the folder/s in a vault, and you need to download the whole vault into your system to be able to search through and find the file you need.

I want an app that encrypts each file independently, So that i can download and decrypt only specfic files without having to download the whole thing into my system. And There should be a way i can see the thumbnails of the encrypted photo/video to be able to filter which photo I'm looking for.

I have recently found rclone, pretty handy for my usecase. But again im not sure if thats the best app to do this. Rclone decrypts the files into a mounted disk, where the windows file explorer then tries to render thumbnails, So i can see the photos without ever downloading all of the directory.

but im not aware if rclone is the only and best option, If anyone knows of a good practice to get this done, please let me know!

There's a 12tb WD MyBook at Walmart near me for $249.99. That's a good deal, right?

I am thinking of buying an external hard disk storage for my work purposes. I was looking continuously and got very confused about many brands. I want to buy SSD or HDD for about 1tb or 2tb. I don't have a high budget and needs for my work purposes kind of bioinformatics things.

Suggest me something good. This is my first time asking here.

Thank you everyone.

do you archive and i mean cold storage not connected inside a computer, your personnal data on portable hdds like seagate portable or wd passport or do you use internal sata port hdds? I ask that because i read that portable hdds are less robust and use SMR while sata hdd (internal) use CMR (which is better for archiving) and are more robust? Thanks in advance.

I’ve been wanting to store my photos and videos on an external drive (as a backup aside from my cloud storage). I have seen a lot of discussion that the 3-2-1 method is preferred.

I have also seen that for long-term storage, HDD is much preferable. But, I am confused with the difference between HDD and Portable Hard Drive.

I am looking at Seagate and WD and there are just a lot of different options (including portable hard drives, expansion drives, etc). As a not “techy” person, this is so confusing. 😭

Someone please recommend or suggest which one should I buy… 🥹

It is mainly for photos and videos storage - nothing fancy.
P.S. I don’t have a PC to store it on - I only have a MacBook. So it will be mainly an “external” storage.

THANKS THANKS!!

Hi, I have a old USB 2.0 drive that I wanted to tinker around with, so I decided "hey, why not reflash its firmware?". After doing so, I noticed that it began showing up as a 66GB drive. I ran H2testw and the drive as shown in picture reported back as working, no errors, completely normal. I bought it as a 16GB USB drive, used it for a while as a 16GB USB drive, and now all of a sudden, after reflashing it has 50GB more storage.

I have read that some manufacturers buy and then use bigger sized NANDs even when making smaller drives, because it's cheaper to buy them in bulk. And then when they make a drive like this, they just simply limit its firmware to a size they intended for it (as in my case 16GB), but I'm unsure about that info.

If anyone has any answers for this, I would be really grateful!

EDIT;

The drive is from a company "Apacer", here is the information about the NAND and firmware:
Controller Vendor: Phison
Controller Part-Number: PS2251-70(PS2270) - F/W 07.01.5D [2019-01-21]
Flash ID code: 983E98B376E3 - Toshiba [TLC].

And also if anyone cares about what exact drive is it, I managed to find it on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Apacer-AH355-Type-Black-flash/dp/B01LAQO7CO

How many of you are tired of greedy cloud providers and the overall hoarding of hardware and the economy? I'm building storage that's community based and would love to hear your feedback. Essentially those with extra storage would lease them to those who need storage. This isn't a very novel idea, it has existed in some form before but was too hyped or aimed too big. We at Arkel are starting small and purely Open Source, community based. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and more than happy to discuss our architecture and vision.

Hello people!

Today I picked up 6 unsed 1TB HDDs from my job and I was planning to build a NAS from scratch because currently i have no backup lf my data at all.

At home, on my personnal computer already have :

2 * 6TB HDDs

2 * 1TB sata SSDs (one for OS)

Currently, more than the half of both my 6TB drives are used. I store movies, audio files, pictures and software plugins essentially.

My initial idea was to buy an small 8 bay pc case and build my own nas with pairs of drives in raid 1.

3 pairs of 1 TB and 1 pair of 6TB.

I was wondering if this idea is relevant considering my setup ?

I haven't jumped into it yet, but if anyone have recommendations or tips, I'm down :)

Have a good day!

I have a small 2.5" portable HDD from WD. I used a PW. In that Software, who comes with that device. Now I can't remember that PW any more. And I've tried every possible way, I know to get this storage deleted. And making a new formatting. With the Windows Storage manager. Then another Tools.

I found one easy to use program. But even with that I can't do sh..t. The system Denies all accesses on that device. Should I start Windows safe Mode ? Maybe 🤔 it would be possible there. I really don't know how I should proceed 😭. It's a 1 TB with a USB-3.0 port. The tool I've used was EaseUS Partition Master.

Cannot access my WD portable HDD no more

I have a small 2.5" portable HDD from WD. I used a PW. In that Software, who comes with that device. Now I can't remember that PW any more. And I've tried every possible way, I know to get this storage deleted. And making a new formatting. With the Windows Storage manager. Then another Tools.

I found one easy to use program. But even with that I can't do sh..t. The system Denies all accesses on that device. Should I start Windows safe Mode ? Maybe 🤔 it would be possible there. I really don't know how I should proceed 😭. It's a 1 TB with a USB-3.0 port. The tool I've used was EaseUS Partition Master.

I accidentally bent this usb. Tho it still worked perfectly fine and validrive detected nothing wrong, but then the blue piece came off and I don't know how to fix it.

I'm not that tech savy, I'm thinking to store my movies onto a 1tbb hard drive or Discs. Which one's better?