best brand 500 GB USB 2 drive

[name]

Hey.

There are various brands that offer an external 500 GB USB 2 drive.
I've noticed that the one from maxtor has a 16 MB buffer while most
other ones have only 8 MB.
Does anyone know of any websites that compare various brands of such
external drives in a test?
I'm wondering what's the best brand to spent money on (the brands
offered here in local shops are
LaCie, Maxtor and Western Digital).


Thanks in advance, kind regards, Niek

 

[Frodo]

I myself would get the Western Digital.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I myself would get the Western Digital.

I would avoid WD. Their disks are fishy. Avaoid Maxtor like
the plague, their external disks are not cooled enough
and die young. LaCie is into design instead of quality.
Get something with a Seagate or Samsung disk inside,
if need be bought separately.

Arno

 

[name]

I would avoid WD. Their disks are fishy. Avaoid Maxtor like
the plague, their external disks are not cooled enough
and die young. LaCie is into design instead of quality.
Get something with a Seagate or Samsung disk inside,
if need be bought separately.

Arno

Thanks for the advice. But surely there must be websites out there that
subject various brands of such external disks (or internal disks for
that matter) to some rigorous testing to determine their reliability?
Also, would it make any difference if I intend to use them primarily
for backup purposes?
That is, storing data on them and having them laying around for most of
the time without having them connected? I would expect this to be a
more reliable (and more convenient) method of backing up downloads
compared to burning stacks of DVDs.
The stuff on my internal disks is constantly being read (because I
share a lot of stuff non-stop on p2p) and this worries me about
potential disk failures.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Thanks for the advice. But surely there must be websites out there that
subject various brands of such external disks (or internal disks for
that matter) to some rigorous testing to determine their reliability?

There used to be reliablility information at storagereview.com. It
was generated from collected user experiences. It vanished at one
time, with them claiming a server crash. Personally I don't believe
that. I believe they were threatened with legal action.

Testing is not enough. You need to operate a larger number of each
disk model in realistic contitions for several years.

So, no, there is not website with this type of data available on
the net, and yes, it would be very useful to have one.

Also, would it make any difference if I intend to use them primarily
for backup purposes?

If it is short-term backup, then reliability can be lower, since the
propability of you actually needing the data is a lot lower than
the (assumed) 100% for data on you primary disk.

That is, storing data on them and having them laying around for most of
the time without having them connected? I would expect this to be a
more reliable (and more convenient) method of backing up downloads
compared to burning stacks of DVDs.

With regard to heat, that prolongs drive life. With regard to
lubricants, I believe the negative effects of not being used are
insignificant today. With regard to lying around, well, depends
on how careful you are ;-)

Disks are far, far more reliable per unit than DVDs. On the other
hand, reliability per GB might not be that much better. Still,
it should not be worse, handling is easier, speed is far better,
and cost is significantly lower. For home/small office backups
external HDDs are the means of choice today. Unless you need
very high reliability, in which case MOD, DVD-RAM (with cartdrige)
or professional tape are better.

The stuff on my internal disks is constantly being read (because I
share a lot of stuff non-stop on p2p) and this worries me about
potential disk failures.

If the disk is cooled well, the constant accesses will not shorten
drive life. But having backup is allways a good idea.

Arno

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

I'm wondering what's the best brand to spent money on (the brands
offered here in local shops are LaCie, Maxtor and Western Digital).

Consumer Reports tested some external dual-interface (USB & Firewire)
drives in their Sept. 2006 issue and rated them (model, overall score,
software rating, minutes needed to back up 1GB with USB2/Firewire):

IOmega Triple Interface Black Series 33090, 84, Excellent, 1/1
Seagate Pushbutton Backup ST3300601CB, 67, Very Good, 2.5/2
SimpletTech SimpleDrive STIU2F36/250, 61, Good, 1/2.5
Maxtor OneTouch III F0IG300, 60, Good, 1/1.5
Western Digital My Book Premium WDGI2500N, 50, Fair, 2/2
LaCie d2 Extreme 300790, 44, Poor, 1/1 (30 seconds for Firewire 800)

You may want to check StorageReview.com and XbitLabs.com

I have a different IOmega, a USB-only model, and its internal drive got
very hot because of poor ventilation. The Seagates I've seen have much
more ventilation area. You may want a drive that can be mounted
vertically because the gravity convection can help a lot with cooling.

If you buy a Buffalo external drive, don't believe their claims that it
uses heatsinking for cooling because the internal drive contacts metal
at ony three points, and it's thin steel, not aluminum, so almost all
the cooling is done by air flow over the drive.

You may be able to buy an internal 500GB HD and an external enclosure
for less than the cost of an external drive. However watch out because
many enclosures are poorly designed and will make the HD run hot
(raising the drive just 1/4" off the bottom of the enclosure can help a
lot), even if there's a fan (one person's WD HD failed soon in a Neo
enclosure). Also you absolutely want the enclosure or at least its
power supply to be UL or CSA approved (check the registration number at
www.ul.com or www.csa.ca) because a nonapproved one can be outright
dangerous (again, that Neo was awful). This is especially important
for enclosures with internal power supplies because external power
supplies are almost always UL approved. Welland makes enclosures with
internal power supplies that are UL approved, and one of their brands
is Bytecc. There's a good thread about enclosures here:

www.fatwallet.com/t/28/496281/

 

[Arno Wagner]

name wrote:

Consumer Reports tested some external dual-interface (USB & Firewire)
drives in their Sept. 2006 issue and rated them (model, overall score,
software rating, minutes needed to back up 1GB with USB2/Firewire):

IOmega Triple Interface Black Series 33090, 84, Excellent, 1/1
Seagate Pushbutton Backup ST3300601CB, 67, Very Good, 2.5/2
SimpletTech SimpleDrive STIU2F36/250, 61, Good, 1/2.5
Maxtor OneTouch III F0IG300, 60, Good, 1/1.5

Ok, so forget about the review.....

Arno

Western Digital My Book Premium WDGI2500N, 50, Fair, 2/2
LaCie d2 Extreme 300790, 44, Poor, 1/1 (30 seconds for Firewire 800)

You may want to check StorageReview.com and XbitLabs.com

I have a different IOmega, a USB-only model, and its internal drive got
very hot because of poor ventilation. The Seagates I've seen have much
more ventilation area. You may want a drive that can be mounted
vertically because the gravity convection can help a lot with cooling.

If you buy a Buffalo external drive, don't believe their claims that it
uses heatsinking for cooling because the internal drive contacts metal
at ony three points, and it's thin steel, not aluminum, so almost all
the cooling is done by air flow over the drive.

 

[Rod Speed]

Arno Wagner wrote

Thanks for the advice. But surely there must be websites out there
that subject various brands of such external disks (or internal disks
for that matter) to some rigorous testing to determine their reliability?

Fraid not, that is too hard to do.

Also, would it make any difference if I intend
to use them primarily for backup purposes?
That is, storing data on them and having them laying
around for most of the time without having them connected?

Yes, if you turn it off when not doing the backup that will help heating wise.

I would expect this to be a more reliable (and more convenient)
method of backing up downloads compared to burning stacks of DVDs.
Yep.

The stuff on my internal disks is constantly being read
(because I share a lot of stuff non-stop on p2p) and
this worries me about potential disk failures.

Doesnt make any difference to the failure rate.

 

[JohnH]

There used to be reliablility information at storagereview.com.
It was generated from collected user experiences. It vanished
at one time, with them claiming a server crash. Personally I don't
believe that. I believe they were threatened with legal action.

Mindless conspiracy theory, its been back for a long time now.

Doesnt cover the externals tho.

Testing is not enough. You need to operate a larger number
of each disk model in realistic contitions for several years.

So, no, there is not website with this type of data available
on the net, and yes, it would be very useful to have one.
to use them primarily for backup purposes?

If it is short-term backup, then reliability can be lower, since
the propability of you actually needing the data is a lot lower
than the (assumed) 100% for data on you primary disk.

With regard to heat, that prolongs drive life. With regard to
lubricants, I believe the negative effects of not being used
are insignificant today. With regard to lying around, well,
depends on how careful you are ;-)

Disks are far, far more reliable per unit than DVDs. On the
other hand, reliability per GB might not be that much better.
Still, it should not be worse, handling is easier, speed is far
better, and cost is significantly lower. For home/small office
backups external HDDs are the means of choice today.

And you are unlikely to lose both the internal
drive and the external at the same time.

Unless you need very high reliability, in which case MOD,
DVD-RAM (with cartdrige) or professional tape are better.

Thats very arguable.

And the other obvious alternative is to write the backups
to other drives on the lan. The main downside with that
approach is that it doesnt protect against fire/flood etc.

 

[Al Dykes]

Thanks for the advice. But surely there must be websites out there that
subject various brands of such external disks (or internal disks for
that matter) to some rigorous testing to determine their reliability?
Also, would it make any difference if I intend to use them primarily
for backup purposes?

I say that vendor and third-party testing results are interesting,
they are irrelevant when applied to the unit that *you* (or I) buy.
You can't apply numbers derived by probability to individual items.

Besides, you get a little Murphy inside each one, at no additional
cost. You have to plan for the death of your backup device, and at
the worst possible moment, a week after you buy it. You'll get a
replacement on warranty, but they can't give you your data back.

 

[Frodo]

One option you can try, buy an bare hard drive, get an external USB case
mail order for $30.
and use Windows XP built in back up software.
You may need to install it off the Win XP CD yourself as some versions of XP
(home version?)
do not automatically install it when you installed the operating system.

 

[name]

I would avoid WD. Their disks are fishy. Avaoid Maxtor like
the plague, their external disks are not cooled enough
and die young. LaCie is into design instead of quality.
Get something with a Seagate or Samsung disk inside,
if need be bought separately.

Arno

How about Toshiba?
<http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe....699&oldCategory=4699&OPTION_ID=119746&tab=1#1>

Is their 500 GB external USB2 drive any good?

 

[name]

One option you can try, buy an bare hard drive, get an external USB case
mail order for $30.
and use Windows XP built in back up software.
You may need to install it off the Win XP CD yourself as some versions of XP
(home version?)
do not automatically install it when you installed the operating system.

Hmmm, I did have an USB2 enclosure and tried using that with a 500 GB
HD, however
it refused to work on two separate computers. I use windows xp pro
(sp2) on both.
How exactly would you install it off the win xp cd?

 

[Arno Wagner]

How about Toshiba?
<http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe....699&oldCategory=4699&OPTION_ID=119746&tab=1#1>

Is their 500 GB external USB2 drive any good?

Toshiba does not make 500GB disks. They only make notebook disks
today. What disks are actually in there is anybodys guess. Possibly
the cheapest available ones....

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hmmm, I did have an USB2 enclosure and tried using that with a 500 GB
HD, however
it refused to work on two separate computers. I use windows xp pro
(sp2) on both.
How exactly would you install it off the win xp cd?

Probably a size limit in the enclosure itself. Nothing you can
do about that, except make sure before buying.

Arno