About external hard drives

[Justin Thyme]

I'm ready to buy an external hard drive and there are three office
supply/computer stores here offering 500GB units for about the same price,
$80-90, made by Western Digital, Maxtor, and Seagate. (Maybe Seagate and
Maxtor are the same company now; the Seagate box says "Maxtor technology" in
one corner.)

Would anyone with experience care to recommend one of these over the other?
(I know that two of them claim a 5-year warranty.)

TIA

Ken Bland

 

[TRCSr]

I would suggest that you look at IOmega before you buy. They have an
extensive line of drives at reasonable prices. I have used their external
drives for many years and have not had any complaints, yet. My machine
currently has two IOmega USB drives connected to it and my wife has one on
hers. One of my drives is used exclusively for backups and the other is
partitioned for regular data use; hers is used strictly for backups.

HTH

TRCSr

 

[Malke]

I'm ready to buy an external hard drive and there are three office
supply/computer stores here offering 500GB units for about the same price,
$80-90, made by Western Digital, Maxtor, and Seagate. (Maybe Seagate and
Maxtor are the same company now; the Seagate box says "Maxtor technology"
in one corner.)

Would anyone with experience care to recommend one of these over the
other? (I know that two of them claim a 5-year warranty.)

I've been very happy with Western Digital MyBooks.

Malke

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I'm ready to buy an external hard drive and there are three office
supply/computer stores here offering 500GB units for about the same price,
$80-90, made by Western Digital, Maxtor, and Seagate. (Maybe Seagate and
Maxtor are the same company now; the Seagate box says "Maxtor technology"
in one corner.)

Would anyone with experience care to recommend one of these over the
other? (I know that two of them claim a 5-year warranty.)

TIA

Ken Bland

Western Digital every time..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[David B.]

Seagate.
You'll find you get different answers from different people, all a matter of
opinion as far as mfg's go.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I'm ready to buy an external hard drive and there are three office
supply/computer stores here offering 500GB units for about the same price,
$80-90, made by Western Digital, Maxtor, and Seagate. (Maybe Seagate and
Maxtor are the same company now; the Seagate box says "Maxtor technology"
in one corner.)

Seagate agreed to purchase Maxtor in December 2005. Maxtor had had
significant problems.

Would anyone with experience care to recommend one of these over the
other? (I know that two of them claim a 5-year warranty.)

I own a mix of WD and Seagate drives. My primary system uses Seagates, the
laptops have WDs.

All manufacturers go through periods where their products are better or
worse.

HTH
-pk

 

[TompangBuddy.Com]

Hello,

Some Seagate external drives have 5 year warranty periods but note that this
only covers the hard drive, not the data inside the hard drive (the same for
all other manufacturers).

 

[Ken Blake]

I'm ready to buy an external hard drive and there are three office
supply/computer stores here offering 500GB units for about the same price,
$80-90, made by Western Digital, Maxtor, and Seagate. (Maybe Seagate and
Maxtor are the same company now; the Seagate box says "Maxtor technology"
in one corner.)

Would anyone with experience care to recommend one of these over the
other? (I know that two of them claim a 5-year warranty.)

$80-90 sounds like a very good price, but I just wanted to offer another
alternative you should consider.

An external drive is nothing but a regular internal IDE drive mounted in an
external box with a USB connection. Besides choosing an external dive, you
could also choose to buy an internal drive and an external box. You'd have
to mount the drive in the box yourself, but it's extremely easy to do, and
takes under five minutes even if you're all thumbs.

You may not beat that $80-90 price (an external box is usually around
$20US), but I think it's worth your while to see what you can buy like that
and compare models, specs, prices, etc.

 

[Justin Thyme]

$80-90 sounds like a very good price, but I just wanted to offer another
alternative you should consider.

An external drive is nothing but a regular internal IDE drive mounted in
an external box with a USB connection. Besides choosing an external dive,
you could also choose to buy an internal drive and an external box. You'd
have to mount the drive in the box yourself, but it's extremely easy to
do, and takes under five minutes even if you're all thumbs.

You may not beat that $80-90 price (an external box is usually around
$20US), but I think it's worth your while to see what you can buy like
that and compare models, specs, prices, etc.

My sincerest thanks to each of you. After my original post I spent much of
the afternoon looking around for others' comments on various sites. No one
manufacturer made a product that everyone endorsed, but there seem to be
fewer objections and more recommendations for Western Digital than the
others. And yes, I learned that Seagate and Maxtor have become one company.
I had neglected IOmega, although the name was quite familiar to me.

Once again, thank you all.

Ken Bland

 

[JD]

My sincerest thanks to each of you. After my original post I spent much of
the afternoon looking around for others' comments on various sites. No one
manufacturer made a product that everyone endorsed, but there seem to be
fewer objections and more recommendations for Western Digital than the
others. And yes, I learned that Seagate and Maxtor have become one company.
I had neglected IOmega, although the name was quite familiar to me.

Once again, thank you all.

Ken Bland

Are you going to tell us what you decided to buy?

 

[Justin Thyme]

Are you going to tell us what you decided to buy?

Sure, if you're interested. Western Digital $89.99 at Best Buy. Haven't
opened the box yet.

Ken Bland

 

[Justin Thyme]

Sure, if you're interested. Western Digital $89.99 at Best Buy. Haven't
opened the box yet.

Ken Bland

I didn't mean to be so abrupt, JD, you probably wanted to know more about
the drive?

Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500 GB, USB 2.0 includes AC
adapter. Assembled in Thailand with drive manufactured in Malaysia or
Thailand.

I think the price was about the same at Amazon.com and Tiger Direct. They
would've paid the shipping but I got the drive faster buying locally.

Ken Bland

 

[JD]

I didn't mean to be so abrupt, JD, you probably wanted to know more about
the drive?

Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500 GB, USB 2.0 includes AC
adapter. Assembled in Thailand with drive manufactured in Malaysia or
Thailand.

I think the price was about the same at Amazon.com and Tiger Direct. They
would've paid the shipping but I got the drive faster buying locally.

Ken Bland

I was just curious as to what you decided.

I use WD drives in my computer and then I have two USB enclosures that
contain WD drives.

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

 

[buddy b]

Seagate agreed to purchase Maxtor in December 2005. Maxtor had had
significant problems.


I own a mix of WD and Seagate drives. My primary system uses Seagates, the
laptops have WDs.

All manufacturers go through periods where their products are better or
worse.

HTH
-pk

No on Plaxtor,
ok on Western Digital with caveats, usually ok.
One Seagate I bought 9 months ago sounded as if it was wobbly but barely
noticble now.

I just ordered the following to make my own external drive:

http://www.supermediastore.com/galaxy-metal-gear-3524-screwless-series-external-enclosure-case.html

Galaxy Metal Gear 3524 Screwless Series - 3.5 External Enclosure Case
(Free Ground Shipping)
Get Free Shipping
Product Code HD-008-2901
Manufacturer Galaxy Metal Gear Box
Mfr part # 3524UAS
Product Ratings

This External Hard Drive Enclosure Case is a portable storage drive case
that incorporates USB 2.0, 1394 Firewire & Serial ATA interface! The
hot-swappable Plug and Play feature gives anyone great convenience on
the road or when using the drive with different computers. Blue LEDs
light up the bottom of this case giving it a really cool appearance. Get
yours today!

http://www.supermediastore.com/west...7200rpm-caviar-gp-hard-drive.html#description

Western Digital WD10EACS 1000GB SATA300 5400 to 7200RPM Caviar GP Hard
Drive

As hard drive capacities increase, the power required to run those
drives increases as well. WD Caviar GP makes it possible for
energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and
the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy
conservation.

Features

Reduced power consumption - WD has reduced power consumption by up
to 40 percent compared to competitors´ drives with the combination of
WD's IntelliSeek™, IntelliPark™, and IntelliPower™ technologies.

Helps enable eco-friendly PCs - WD Caviar GP drives yield average
drive power savings of 4-5 watts over competitors´ drives making it
possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher
capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured
reliability, and energy conservation. This power savings equates to
reducing CO2 emission by up to 13.8 kilograms per drive per year - the
equivalent of taking a car off the road for 3 days each year. By using
environmentally-conscious PCs with our WD Caviar GP drives on board,
large organizations with many desktop computers can minimize their
carbon footprint and save real money on electricity costs.

Assumes that a car produces 1.60 CO2 pounds per Kwatthoursyear.
Calculation of automobile emissions depends on the car's gkm emission
levels and kmyear of driving.

Cool and Quiet - GreenPower technology yields lower operating
temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet
PCs and external drives.

Perfect for external drives - External drive manufacturers can
eliminate the need for a fan in a high-capacity product with a WD Caviar
GP drive, the coolest and quietest in its class. External drives with WD
Caviar GP drives on board can save up to $14.00 per year in electricity
costs.

IntelliPower - A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate
and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power
savings and solid performance. Additionally, GreenPower drives consume
less current during startup allowing lower peak loads on systems as they
are booted.

IntelliSeek - Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power
consumption, noise and vibration.

IntelliPark - Delivers lower power consumption by automatically
unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.

Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) - Employs PMR technology to
achieve even greater areal density.

StableTrac™ - The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce
system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking,
during read and write operations. (750 GB and 1 TB only)

Ideal For

PCs, external storage, and other devices that require lower power
consumption and cool, quiet operation.
Product Specification
Brand Western Digital
Capacity 1000GB
Interface SATA 300
Data Transfer 300 MBsec
Access Time 8.9ms
Rotational Speed 5400 to 7200rpm
Buffer

16MB
Dimensions 1-inch ×4-inch × 5.75-inch ( H × W x D)
Condition Brand New

Total cost was about $123 and should be fast.

On the bad side of external drives. had 2 WD drives go bad, one fairly
new aand one alittle older (both less than 6 months after putting into
service.
Never had aan internal one go bad until after 5 years of using.
Regards
buddy b

 

[buddy b]

It may also be firewire capable. I think firewire is faster but I``ve
heard arguments otherwise.
I had my Mybook 300GB connected firewire port until it started grinding.
Got to call them and return. Has many files on it lost forever.
Regards
buddy b

 

[Twayne]

It may also be firewire capable. I think firewire is faster but I``ve
heard arguments otherwise.

I think, due to other bottlenecks, the difference wouldn't be very
noticeable. I tried the firewire once during a storm of posts about the
speeds, for an ext drive and didn't see any difference over USB, but it
was a 5400 rpm, not the faster 7200 rpm's you get now, although I doubt
it would have made a difference. For my older, smaller ACOM & my
current WD externals, the times for equivalant operations seems to be
about the same as an internal drive. But there are so many variables
it's hard to be sure you're testing apples & apples; like, the USB is a
500 Gig & the largest in my machine is a 360 Gig.

I had my Mybook 300GB connected firewire port until it started
grinding. Got to call them and return. Has many files on it lost
forever. Regards
buddy b

Ouch. Good arguement there for the immediate and then periodic copy of
important data to DVDs. There should always be at least two backups of
important data. In theory one should even be offsite but that's not too
practical for many people.

Cheers,

Twayne