I use it like this for external SSD / HDD and NAS.Introducing the storage area of ​​the Giz editorial department

It will be cheaper on Amazon Prime Day from tomorrow, so I thought it would be better to buy it there if necessary.

Cloud storage has a capacity of about 2TB at most, and it is not enough for people who want to keep a lot of large amount of data such as high-quality images and videos at hand. Inevitably, you will have to increase your own storage, but there are various options such as SSD for HDD, externally built-in, and NAS. Do you have any doubts about which one to buy?

I was curious about that and asked the people in the Giz editorial department "How do you store the data?", But now it seems better to buy SSD + HDD as a set. To summarize the stories I heard, it looks like this.

-SSD: Take advantage of the high access speed to store files that are frequently read and written, and large volumes of data such as photos and videos. It is not a final storage location, but a place to store work data (temporary storage location).

-HDD: Because the price per capacity is low, it is used as a backup data storage & final storage destination of data.

-NAS: It is used in a similar way to HDD, but since it can be accessed by multiple devices via a network, it is an option for people who want to read / save data from smartphones.

The point is that most people use multiple storage methods together. HDDs that are suitable for long-term storage of a large amount of data at a reasonable price are selected as the final storage destination, but since the read / write speed is slow, there are conspicuous cases where data is also placed on SSD and accessed when working. Everyone uses cloud storage to some extent, and many people also store important data in the cloud. For those who take pictures with a digital camera, Amazon Photos with unlimited capacity is a choice for iron plates.

Below, we will introduce how the members of the Giz editorial department actually use various types of storage properly by environment (Mac / Win).

Mac edition

MacBook Pro + Portable SSD + External HDD

I'm using a 1TB portable SSD and a 2TB external HDD for the external storage of the MacBook Pro. Music, photos, videos, and illustration-related data can be stored on SSDs, which have fast transfer speeds and are easy to carry. HDD is used as backup storage using Time Machine. The cloud uploads documents to Dropbox and photos to Amazon Photos, but recently I wonder if it's not as active as it used to be because it can be synchronized with something on a browser basis. If SSD becomes cheaper, I would like to make it an SSD environment, but after all it is safer to replace it every few years in terms of data, so backup seems to be stable with HDD. But SSD is still convenient, isn't it?

SanDisk Portable SSD 1TB [PS4 manufacturer operation confirmed] USB3.1 Gen2 Drip-proof, vibration-proof, shock-resistant SDSSDE60-1T00-J25 Extreme Portable 3-year warranty

16,170 yen

WD HDD Portable Hard Disk for Mac 2TB USB TYPE-C Time Machine Compatible Password Protection 3 Year Warranty My Passport for Mac WDBLPG0020BBK-WESE

28,998 yen

(Yamada Yuus type)

Mac mini + external SSD & HDD

My M1 Mac mini manages data in multiple storages.

Synchronize your Mac's storage with Box's online storage for ongoing work manuscripts and data you want to retrieve right away. Work data with breaks and photos / videos taken will be moved to a 6TB external HDD in sequence. This photo folder is also synced with Amazon Photos. At the same time, a 4TB external HDD is also connected, which is for Time Machine backup.

In other words, the manuscript in progress exists in three places: Mac storage, online storage, and Time Machine. I'm in trouble if my work data disappears!

In addition, the video data being edited, which requires high-speed access, is temporarily stored on a 1TB (960GB) external SSD. After all SSD is fast and comfortable.

Currently, you are using multiple storages properly like this. However, the 6TB HDD is full soon, the external SSD is not working well recently, and it is not compatible with Mac sleep, so I'm sick, so I should buy these at Okawari! I'm thinking.

・ 6TB

[Amazon.co.jp Limited] Buffalo External Hard Disk 6TB TV Recording / PC / PS4 / 4K Compatible Buffalo nasne ™ Compatible Quiet & Compact Made in Japan Failure Prediction Mimamori Signal HD-AD6U3

10,980 yen

・ 4TB

[Limited to Amazon.co.jp] Buffalo external hard disk 4TB TV recording / PC / PS4 / 4K compatible Buffalo nasne ™ compatible Quiet & compact Made in Japan Failure prediction Mimamori signal HD-AD4U3

9,480 yen

・ SSD

BUFFALO USB3.2Gen2 Portable SSD 960GB Business card size Read speed 530MB / s Made in Japan PS5 / PS4 (Manufacturer operation confirmed) Impact resistance / connector protection mechanism Black SSD-PGM960U3-B / N

11,280 yen

(Hisanori Kogure)

iMac + NAS

I used to mainly manage 2TB of iCloud, but it hasn't fit in 2TB for a long time ... The other day, I finally introduced QNAP's 2-bay NAS (4TB RAID1). First, the library of the "Photos" app on the Mac is divided every year with an app called "PowerPhotos". I decided to keep the old ones on my NAS and free Amazon Photo, and sync only this year's photo library to iCloud. The point of this operation is that it can be stored in the NAS and the cloud while receiving some benefits from iCloud and the photo app. The advantage is that you can spend your time without making major changes to your lifestyle, which has been completely immersed in iCloud.

In addition to iCloud Drive, work data is synced to the NAS with a service like QNAP's Dropbox called Qsync.

QNAP TS-230 Toolless Design Slim Design NAS for 2-bay HOME

19,127 yen

(Amito)

Windows edition

Desktop machine + built-in SSD & HDD expansion

The HP OMEN (desktop) of the main machine is loaded with 1TB SSD and 6TB HDD, but I bought a 3.5-inch 2-4TB HDD every two years. What to put in this guy is mainly lossless WAV files and images. The data of CD ripping that has been continued since the 2000s and the RAW data of digital cameras are included. Since it is a digital asset that I want to keep forever, I move to a new HDD every few years so that it is okay if the HDD of the main machine breaks. I try to keep it in a stand-alone state.

There was a time when I was using NAS, but since it is not something that is always energized, I wondered if it would be okay to use a plain HDD.

We are not particular about HDD manufacturers and specifications. For the last four years, I've been choosing Western Digital's WD Blue series. This isn't cool?

Western Digital Western Digital Built-in HDD 4TB WD Blue PC 3.5 inch Built-in HDD WD40EZAZ-EC [Domestic authorized distributor]

12,156 yen

For the connection with the PC, I use the Century's Nude Tribe Standing Series. Physical backup of the storage with the OS installed is easy, so we recommend a model with 2 slots or more.

Century HDD clone function equipped cradle "Nude tribe's stand TWIN" (WEB simple package specification) CROS2U3CP6G_FP

6,269 yen

(Ryota Samurai)

Desktop machine + internal SSD + external HDD

A few months ago, I added a 1T SSD inside, taking advantage of the replacement of my Windows desktop. So, I integrated one of the 512GB HDDs that I had externally into the SSD, removed the second 512GB external HDD because I don't access it so much, and connected it only when I used it. The saved data is the data of Illustrator and Photoshop that I made in the design work, and the photos and related materials that I used.

Also, save family photos in Google Photos and share folders for each month or event. For other useful information found on the net, use Evernote's Web Clipper, and if you leave only the URL in "Bookmark", it will not take up space, and you can also record your writing work and various memos in Evernote. After that, I use 2 HDDs for TV recording. If you install an external device permanently, it's a problem that it gets covered with dust. Eventually, I would like to introduce NAS as well.

(Gensuke Okamoto)

Win notebook PC + simple NAS

I connect a 4TB HDD to a router and operate it as a simple NAS. The specifications of the router are close to this.

ASUS WiFi wireless router WiFi6 2402 + 574Mbps dual band RT-AX3000 with mesh function 3 stories / 4LDK PS5 / Nintendo Switch / iPhone / android compatible

14,946 yen

The main content is a TRPG rulebook that is self-catering and converted to PDF. As you may know from TRPG players, when you try to play TRPG heavy, you need to refer to a lot of big books at the same time (and there are quite a few that are not converted into ebooks!), So you can use it on your PC / My own network storage is the easiest to use for reference on all tablets / smartphones (well, I haven't been able to play TRPG very much these days ...).

I haven't built a RAID, but I'm backing up the original data in Box as a backup when the HDD is blown away.

I put all my work data in OneDrive. It works well with Windows (of course), so I can now work on my work and private PCs without any gaps.

(Taro Kanamoto)

* Prices and other information are as of the time of writing. Please check the sales page as it is subject to change.

June 22, 2021: Fixed typos.