Hi Guys, so I basically run IT support for a family friend, who absolutely loves to download movies and TV shows. He's absolutely technology unfriendly, though I've managed to teach him torrents, how to convert files for an apple TV and the basics.

But yeah, I bought him an iMac about 2 and a half years ago with a 2TB HD (the biggest I could fit in) and that's now full. So I basically need to buy him an external, however, I'd move his whole iTunes library onto this, so think about 2tb being full already.

I've had a quick look around, and this is what I can come up with. http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/4TB-WD-My-Book-V2-USB-30-External-Hard-Drive/21849450

Yes, it's in NZ, so the prices are gonna fucking blow, but around $500 is the limit.

Just wondering, is this the best option? Is 4tb as high as you can go? The 6TB HDs appear to be 2x3tb.

 

Yeah, 4TB appears to be the largest single drive you can get. The 6TB drives with 2 3TB disks are most likely set up in RAID to read as a single disk though, so if you're worried about having to deal with adding multiple drives, it shouldn't be an issue.

You could also go the route Jon suggested and build a NAS setup. 4TB drives are around $200-$250, and 3TB are $150-$180, while a 2-bay NAS enclosure can be had for as little as $100 (these are all AUS prices; not sure how much bigger the NZ markup is). You could also get a larger enclosure (4-bay, maybe) and a single 3 or 4 TB drive, which would leave options open for expansion in the future. Check for drive compatibility; some enclosures support drives up to 4TB, others will only take up to 3TB drives.

Example: this enclosure with this drive would give you 3TB of storage now with the ability to go up to 16TB. They also make a 4TB version of the same drive, but it would put you over budget by about $50.