Good External Hard Drive

[Rachel]

I have a Dell XPS 400 Desktop running Windows XP and am looking for a decent
external hard drive. I found this one on Dell and want to know if anyone
knows if this would work well with my system.

It's a: Iomega 500GB USB 2.0 Prestige Desktop External Hard Drive
The link is below. Before I pay I want to make sure it's worth it so any
advice would be great. Especially if anyone knows how good this item is.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1977407

 

[DL]

Its probably as good as any other branded external.
Any external of this type would work on your sys, they usually come with a
backup application, as I assume this is what you are seeking to use the
external for.
I havent used Iomega backup products recently, the last I used was a tape
drive and that worked fine for backups

 

[Rachel]

Thanks for the feedback. I just want to make sure I get a decent one. There
are so many different types that I don't want to waste my money on one that
turns out to suck lol. I'd heard good things about Western Digital but I like
to shop around to make sure I get a good product for my money.

Thanks again
--
Rachel - Debty Beautiful Beads
http://www.debtybeautifulbeads.etsy.com

Its probably as good as any other branded external.
Any external of this type would work on your sys, they usually come with a
backup application, as I assume this is what you are seeking to use the
external for.
I havent used Iomega backup products recently, the last I used was a tape
drive and that worked fine for backups

 

[John]

If I were you, I'd narrow it down to the two big ones: Western Digital or
Seagate. They've been in the hard drive business for a long time.

Thanks for the feedback. I just want to make sure I get a decent one.
There
are so many different types that I don't want to waste my money on one
that
turns out to suck lol. I'd heard good things about Western Digital but I
like
to shop around to make sure I get a good product for my money.

Thanks again

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the feedback. I just want to make sure I get a decent one. There
are so many different types that I don't want to waste my money on one that
turns out to suck lol. I'd heard good things about Western Digital but I like
to shop around to make sure I get a good product for my money.

Thanks again

There are some reviews on Newegg, for that Iomega product (looks visually
like the unit on the Dell page). A few dead drives reported.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822186130

This one costs a bit more, but it has better reviews.

Western Digital My Passport Essential WDME5000TN 500GB USB 2.0 (2.5" drive) $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822136301

Paul

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the feedback. I just want to make sure I get a decent one.
There are so many different types that I don't want to waste my money on
one that turns out to suck lol. I'd heard good things about Western
Digital but I like to shop around to make sure I get a good product for my
money.

Thanks again

I like the Western Digital My Books. I have several of my own and that's the
brand I buy for clients.

Malke

 

[Rachel]

Thank you for the advice! I'll narrow my search. That's why I wanted to ask
here. Find out which are the better ones so I don't wind up with something
that costs alot and doesnt work!

Thanks!

 

[Lem]

Thank you for the advice! I'll narrow my search. That's why I wanted to ask
here. Find out which are the better ones so I don't wind up with something
that costs alot and doesnt work!

Thanks!

I add another vote for WD. The drive you're looking at seems to be the
same as this one from Newegg (and Dell is a tad cheaper), where it gets
decidedly mixed reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822186130

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a Dell XPS 400 Desktop running Windows XP and am looking for a decent
external hard drive. I found this one on Dell and want to know if anyone
knows if this would work well with my system.

It's a: Iomega 500GB USB 2.0 Prestige Desktop External Hard Drive
The link is below. Before I pay I want to make sure it's worth it so any
advice would be great. Especially if anyone knows how good this item is.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1977407

I just wanted to point out that an external IDE drive is actually two
components--a regular internal IDE drive and an external USB case for
it. You can buy an already-assembled external drive or you can buy an
internal drive and a separate USB case (the case is usually around $20
or so) and assemble the two yourself. The results are identical.

If you are concerned about any difficulty in assembling the two
components yourself, let me point out that it's extremely easy, and
even if you are all thumbs, it should take you no more than five
minutes.

All that said, the 500GB external Dell drive you cite seems like a
very good buy at $75.99. Yes, it should be fine for you.

 

[Rachel]

Thank you for the link. That helps alot!

 

[Rachel]

That seems to be the main vote. I'm leaning heavily that way. Thanks for all
the help everyone!

 

[Rachel]

Thank you so much. All this advice and tips is really helping. Now I didn't
notice but on this particular one, I wouldn't need to purchase anything else
to go with it for it to work, right?

Thanks

 

[Leythos]

I add another vote for WD.

Every WD MyBook drive we've purchased has failed in less than a year.

The higher-end Seagate drives have been very reliable.

 

[LVTravel]

Thank you so much. All this advice and tips is really helping. Now I
didn't
notice but on this particular one, I wouldn't need to purchase anything
else
to go with it for it to work, right?

Thanks

Correct. It should be plug and play but you should note that the backup
software is by download (according to the site you posted.)

 

[Rachel]

Thank you. Thank you everyone. You've really helped me to better understand
the differences in the types and what will be best.

Ya'll are the best!

 

[Anteaus]

We use Western Digital external drives for a 'second line of defense' backup
on servers, and never had any problems with them.

A more important issue is to avoid backup software which sucks. All too
often, software of this kind looks fantastic until you actually need your
backup. You then find that it only contains a limited set of folders (and
didn't even mention this at backup-time!) or worse, won't restore at all.

Lazy Mirror and Cobian Backup are highly recommended for HD-based backup. As
they're both free you can see which suits your needs best.

 

[Unknown]

Of course it has everything to do with XP. She is running XP and would like
to back it up. Are
you the official newsgroup police?

 

[Unknown]

Here is a tip for you. Find out what brand of HD is used in your computer.
Then purchase that brand. The reason is that a reputable computer
manufacturer
would only use a reliable HD in their computers. To not do so would only
cost them
money and create a bad reputation.
My computer uses a Seagate. I've had Seagate for the past 13 years and
haven't had
a single problem yet. I naturally bought a Seagate external drive.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you so much. All this advice and tips is really helping.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

Now I didn't
notice but on this particular one, I wouldn't need to purchase anything else
to go with it for it to work, right?

Right--with this one or with any other one.

 

[bobster]

Rachel,

Here's my vote.

Get a good WD drive, at least 320g,($55) and a Vantec (SATA, USB, or IDE)
external drive enclosure ($37). Download and use Casper 5.0 to clone your
"C" drive.

This system works perfectly for me with no hassle whatsoever. In the case
of a "C" drive failure, you can either physically swap out the defective
drive with the one in the Vantec enclosure, or at boot-up, select the drive
in the Vantec enclosure.

Casper 5.0 will produce a perfect, fully bootable clone every time as it
verifies as it is running. It takes only 9 minutes to produce a clone of my
"C" drive.

My two cents.

Bobster

================================================================

Thank you so much. All this advice and tips is really helping.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

Now I didn't
notice but on this particular one, I wouldn't need to purchase anything
else
to go with it for it to work, right?

Right--with this one or with any other one.