Looking for External HDD

[Mike]

Hi, I'm looking for recomendations for an external hard disk drive that'll
be used primarily for digital photo storage
and bac up until I build a new PC. For now I'm thinking a drive of around
200gig should do it.
PC Magazine likes the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but several
users report problems with this drive.
OTOH, maybe thousands are happoily using the drive. Basic drive
requirements - quiet, fast, durable excellent software is a plus. It sems
FireWire is trhe preferred interface.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Keith Foster]

Hi, I'm looking for recomendations for an external hard disk drive that'll
be used primarily for digital photo storage
and bac up until I build a new PC. For now I'm thinking a drive of around
200gig should do it.
PC Magazine likes the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but several
users report problems with this drive.
OTOH, maybe thousands are happoily using the drive. Basic drive
requirements - quiet, fast, durable excellent software is a plus. It sems
FireWire is trhe preferred interface.

Thanks,

Mike

I've just bought a 250Gig Freecom from PCWorld - £94.
Software seems to be designed for porting/syncing between home and office
machines but I'm using for backup each evening (having first produced and
copied a system disk image and made a BartPE bootable cd).
I plug the drive into the USB port and "update" from Windows Explorer.
There are other (Freecom software) options - Sync on drive plug-in, auto
sync etc but, since a friend's machine got zapped by a surge during a
thunderstorm (fried the keyboard) I quite like keeping the backup drive
unconnected and unplugged from the powr except when backing up.
Keith

 

[Mamamia]

Hi, I'm looking for recomendations for an external hard disk drive that'll
be used primarily for digital photo storage
and bac up until I build a new PC. For now I'm thinking a drive of around
200gig should do it.
PC Magazine likes the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but several
users report problems with this drive.
OTOH, maybe thousands are happoily using the drive. Basic drive
requirements - quiet, fast, durable excellent software is a plus. It sems
FireWire is trhe preferred interface.

If you don't mind sticking the drive into a case and having a rebate or
two to send off....
See this page for 250 G plus USB/Firewire case for about $100 shipped:
<http://dealmac.com/deals/Seagate-250-GB-Hard-Drive-Fire-Wire-USB-2-0-Enc
losure-for-90-after-rebates/110119.html>

 

[Mark²]

Hi, I'm looking for recomendations for an external hard disk drive
that'll be used primarily for digital photo storage
and bac up until I build a new PC. For now I'm thinking a drive of
around 200gig should do it.
PC Magazine likes the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users report problems with this drive.
OTOH, maybe thousands are happoily using the drive. Basic drive
requirements - quiet, fast, durable excellent software is a plus. It
sems FireWire is trhe preferred interface.

Thanks,

I've had two external Maxstor units fail...and I'm not going to buy a third.

I've also had an internal Maxstor hard drive fail. By myself, I only
constitute a very small sample...but given that I have about 40 hard drives
under my direct use on various computers...and given that the ONLY drives
that have ever failed were all Maxstors...I've had enough.

I'd suggest buying a USB 2/Firewire enclosure and putting an internal drive
into it. My ADS enclosures have worked extremely well...

-Mark

 

[barry in indy]

Hi, I'm looking for recomendations for an external hard disk
drive that'll be used primarily for digital photo storage
and bac up until I build a new PC. For now I'm thinking a
drive of around 200gig should do it.
PC Magazine likes the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive,
but several users report problems with this drive.
OTOH, maybe thousands are happoily using the drive. Basic
drive requirements - quiet, fast, durable excellent software is
a plus. It sems FireWire is trhe preferred interface.

I have been using two Western Digital firewire drives, 75GB and
150GB, for years, and I have never had a problem with either of
them.

 

[Markeau]

Hi, I'm looking for recomendations for an external hard disk drive
that'll be used primarily for digital photo storage

I have had 5 all-in-one external hard drives fail for various reasons,
like:
- power supply failure
- hard drive failure
- hard drive whine (very loud)

.... so have resorted to purchasing bare drives of my choice (ie, fluid
bearing drives by Western Digital or Seagate) and putting them in ADS
Dual Link (both USB2 and 1394/firewire) enclosures for 3.5" and 2.5"
drives.

These enclosures have been superb, I have 9 so far with no problems.
Unlike many other enclosures, they have a small fan to help keep the
drive/power supply cool. But, they aren't cheap:
http://shopper.cnet.com/Dual_Link_E...30201828.html?tag=ob_210&orderby=210&sort=asc

For (Windows) software, the free MS SyncToy is very basic but works
great:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/synctoy.mspx

 

[Mike]

Good advice. I believe keeping an external device, that contains back up
files, plugged in
offers only a false sense of security. Will check out the Feeecom drive.

Mike

 

[Mike]

Sorry, but it's a dead link,

Mike

If you don't mind sticking the drive into a case and having a rebate or
two to send off....
See this page for 250 G plus USB/Firewire case for about $100 shipped:
<http://dealmac.com/deals/Seagate-250-GB-Hard-Drive-Fire-Wire-USB-2-0-Enc
losure-for-90-after-rebates/110119.html>

 

[Mike]

I hear you. I'll need to find a case that I like then a quiet hdd and
software.
I'd like to do that, otoh, I'm willing to spend a little more and get a unit
ready to run.

Mike

 

[Mike]

OK, I'll do a search for WD external hdds.

Mike

I have been using two Western Digital firewire drives, 75GB and 150GB, for
years, and I have never had a problem with either of them.

 

[Mike]

$70.00 for a Dual Link External USB and FireWire Drive Kit and what another
$150.00 for a drvie
that's only $225.00 or so. Is the fan in the case very loud? Yours is the
second post suggesting I build one. I'll check it out.
Any suggestions for a quiet, fast, dependable HDD in the >200GB range?

Mike

 

[Mark²]

I hear you. I'll need to find a case that I like then a quiet hdd and
software.
I'd like to do that, otoh, I'm willing to spend a little more and get
a unit ready to run.

It takes all of 5 minutes (max) to drop a standard drive into one of these
housings.
The other plus is that you can change the drive out/swap it with an internal
if you change computers, etc. in the future...not to mention decide exactly
which drive you want in there, rather than being stuck with whatever they
hand you.

Laik bilong yu, though...

 

[Mark²]

I have had 5 all-in-one external hard drives fail for various reasons,
like:
- power supply failure
- hard drive failure
- hard drive whine (very loud)

... so have resorted to purchasing bare drives of my choice (ie, fluid
bearing drives by Western Digital or Seagate) and putting them in ADS
Dual Link (both USB2 and 1394/firewire) enclosures for 3.5" and 2.5"
drives.

These enclosures have been superb, I have 9 so far with no problems.
Unlike many other enclosures, they have a small fan to help keep the
drive/power supply cool. But, they aren't cheap:
http://shopper.cnet.com/Dual_Link_E...30201828.html?tag=ob_210&orderby=210&sort=asc

Exactly my experience, both with broken externals...and ADS enclosures.
-Mark

 

[Mark²]

$70.00 for a Dual Link External USB and FireWire Drive Kit and what
another $150.00 for a drvie
that's only $225.00 or so. Is the fan in the case very loud?

Remember...the fan is your friend.

Overheating is a common cause for drive failure.

Yours
is the second post suggesting I build one.

"Build" is really an overstatement. It is very simple to do. It won't take
you more than several minutes to put together. Its simply a matter of
inserting two cables (that have only one place to go)...screwing or sliding
it shut...and plugging it into your computer and wall outlet.
Done.
Windows will automatically recognise it and you can begin happily dumping
all of your stuff onto it.

I'll check it out.
Any suggestions for a quiet, fast, dependable HDD in the >200GB range?

Western digital 250-300GB 7200 RPM with an 8MB (or 16MB) buffer, for
example...
-Mark

 

[Mark²]

Good advice. I believe keeping an external device, that contains
back up files, plugged in
offers only a false sense of security. Will check out the Feeecom
drive.
Mike

I second that advice. I've got three double redundancy and unpluugged
drives off-site.


-Still beats the living heck out of CD-R or DVD back-ups!

 

[Mike]

Will you suggest some fasr quiet reliable drives & good software?

Mike

 

[Mike]

Will check out the WD 7200 RPM w/ 16MB cache.

Mike

 

[Mark²]

Will you suggest some fasr quiet reliable drives & good software?

What software?
Do you ou mean for back-up...or for the drive?
The drive itself and/or housing shouldn't require any software at all.
It should be plug-and-play.

The fan will make more noise than the drive does, but if you don't leave it
plugged in when you're not backing up, this will matter very little.

 

[Mike]

Do you like the ADS enclosures?

Mike

Exactly my experience, both with broken externals...and ADS enclosures.
-Mark

 

[Mark²]

Do you like the ADS enclosures?

I wouldn't recommend them to you if I didn't...