Best external Storage

[Fwilly]

I have almost filled up my hard drive with a whole bunch of videos. I was looking for a storage that can transfer data very fast, I don't really know whats a good rate for that. It would probably be in the 3 Terra byte kinda range. I don't really know what to look for as far as that goes.

 

[Will Vincent]

What kind of computer are you running, and what type of connections do you have available?

eSATA? 3Gbps or 6Gbps transfer rate?
USB3.0?
Thunderbolt?

Or are you on a PC that has available PCI express expansion slots so you could add a card to provide fast external storage connectivity?

Those are the first questions that need answering...

Beyond that, when it comes to speed, RAID is your friend. RAID0 being the fastest -- but has no fault redundency, so you won't want to rely on it for long term storage.

For longer term storage, but not necessarily editing from the storage drive, RAID5 is probably a good choice, you loose a bit of the overall available drive space, but if one of the drives fails, you can replace it without loosing any data.

If you're just looking for a simple way to dump data to an external drive for longer term storage, and overall speed isn't as big an issue, a 3 or 4TB hard drive in an external drive enclosure with eSata, USB3 or thunderbolt (or all of the above) connections would be the easiest, and least expensive option.

So... whats your budget? What's your computer environment and expansion options within it? and, What is your ultimate goal/intended use?