D
David C. Holley
Can anyone recommend any external hard drives?
(or a more appropirate newsgroup)
(or a more appropirate newsgroup)
M
meerkat
Always a personal choice.David C. Holley said:
Most people have their favourites.
Mine is Seagate, because of the 3 year warranty.
bw..
H
HeyBub
David said:
I think they're pretty much commodity items now.
I got a Terabyte drive made of bamboo (I'm not kidding) called (re)Drive [I
guess that means "recycled"] for $77 retail.
Sometime this month, Iomega will be including a software sync program with
their drives which looks pretty good.
D
Daave
David said:
What are your specific needs?
Do you want something portable that you can fit in your pocket?
Or do you want something less portable that will almost always be close
to your PC?
What will this drive be used for? Backing up data and/or storing images
of your PC's hard drive? Or an actual *clone* of your PC's hard drive?
What is the make an model of your PC and/or motherboard? And most
important, does it have any eSATA ports?
(Since the hardware newsgroup is more appropriate, this part of your
thread will now be cross-posted to it.)
U
Unknown
Buy the one with the best reputation for dependability.
T
Twayne
In
ACOM (best; have two that have outlived three WD drives.
Maxtor/Seagates are decent (same company now).
WD (Western Digital usually OK but have had two new ones fail lately)
Use google to source them.
David C. Holley said:
ACOM (best; have two that have outlived three WD drives.
Maxtor/Seagates are decent (same company now).
WD (Western Digital usually OK but have had two new ones fail lately)
Use google to source them.
D
David C. Holley
Ideally, I'd like a large enough HD that serves as a backup to my laptop and
separately stores images. The laptop (a Dell) is a 80GB that's around 40GB
at this point. I'm [NOT] looking for anything portable or that'll fit in my
pocket.
separately stores images. The laptop (a Dell) is a 80GB that's around 40GB
at this point. I'm [NOT] looking for anything portable or that'll fit in my
pocket.
D
Daave
Good information.
Although you didn't provide a model and model number, the fact that your
laptop's hard drive is only 80GB indicates you have no eSATA ports.
If you did, then you probably would have wanted an eSATA drive because
of the transfer speed.
The only other question:
Do you want to purchase the two components (drive plus enclosure) and
assemble them (which is easy) or spend a little extra and purchase an
already pre-assembled external hard drive?
Although you didn't provide a model and model number, the fact that your
laptop's hard drive is only 80GB indicates you have no eSATA ports.
If you did, then you probably would have wanted an eSATA drive because
of the transfer speed.
The only other question:
Do you want to purchase the two components (drive plus enclosure) and
assemble them (which is easy) or spend a little extra and purchase an
already pre-assembled external hard drive?
D
David C. Holley
Doesn't make any difference. I was looking at a Seagate drive, but I kept
seeing reviews that it'd crap out after a relatively short period of time.
seeing reviews that it'd crap out after a relatively short period of time.
Daave said:Good information.
Although you didn't provide a model and model number, the fact that your
laptop's hard drive is only 80GB indicates you have no eSATA ports.
you did, then you probably would have wanted an eSATA drive because of the
transfer speed.
The only other question:
Do you want to purchase the two components (drive plus enclosure) and
assemble them (which is easy) or spend a little extra and purchase an
already pre-assembled external hard drive?
T
Twayne
In
In my own experience:
500 Gig, even 1 Terabyte prices have come way down lately, along with 360Gig
and 250 Gig especially. 500 would probably do you nicely, and keep a fairly
large history of backups plus allow the storage of some important system
discs, if that's what you want. Then again if you only want one or two
backups kept at a time, something in the order of 250 Meg might suffice, but
.... it could get tight fairly quickly. 360 Gig would be a better minimum
IMO. But if you go for the Terabyte, then you have provided for the future
when you'll very likely be adding larger and more drives to your system,
depending on how much data you create, etc..
Personally I use two external terabyte drives, and alternate them from month
to month. That way if one is ever compromised badly or goes belly up, I
still have the other one with only slightly older data on it. The idea is to
keep one completely disconnected at all times, in my case, so viruses,
electrical problems, etc., can't get at it.
Terabytes might sound like overkill, but it's not; I'm backing up 5 drive
letters and a lot of data plus the OS whenever anything gets installed or
uninstalled; around 18 Gig total goes into a Full backup, the rest are
incrementals.
I got into 2 externals because the one WD external I had went belly up;
the drive itself became completely unable to spin up to proper speed. Never
did get all the data replaced, but thanks to the occasional DVD backups and
the other drive, it wasn't a large loss. I'm not near so lazy about
creating DVD copies for permanent backups since then<g>. But use RW types
for DVDs; it's a lot cheaper in the long run<g>!
HTH,
Twayne
David C. Holley said:
In my own experience:
500 Gig, even 1 Terabyte prices have come way down lately, along with 360Gig
and 250 Gig especially. 500 would probably do you nicely, and keep a fairly
large history of backups plus allow the storage of some important system
discs, if that's what you want. Then again if you only want one or two
backups kept at a time, something in the order of 250 Meg might suffice, but
.... it could get tight fairly quickly. 360 Gig would be a better minimum
IMO. But if you go for the Terabyte, then you have provided for the future
when you'll very likely be adding larger and more drives to your system,
depending on how much data you create, etc..
Personally I use two external terabyte drives, and alternate them from month
to month. That way if one is ever compromised badly or goes belly up, I
still have the other one with only slightly older data on it. The idea is to
keep one completely disconnected at all times, in my case, so viruses,
electrical problems, etc., can't get at it.
Terabytes might sound like overkill, but it's not; I'm backing up 5 drive
letters and a lot of data plus the OS whenever anything gets installed or
uninstalled; around 18 Gig total goes into a Full backup, the rest are
incrementals.
I got into 2 externals because the one WD external I had went belly up;
the drive itself became completely unable to spin up to proper speed. Never
did get all the data replaced, but thanks to the occasional DVD backups and
the other drive, it wasn't a large loss. I'm not near so lazy about
creating DVD copies for permanent backups since then<g>. But use RW types
for DVDs; it's a lot cheaper in the long run<g>!
HTH,
Twayne
D
Daave
I usually go to Newegg.com and sort by best rating. If there is a very
small percentage of negative reviews, I can live with that, especially
because of the warranty. Here is one possibility for a pre-assembled
unit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822101123
Here's another (yes, it's a Seagate):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148404
Same price, but it's larger by 180GB.
The above two drives are 3.5 inches. You might decide that 2.5 is
better. It certainly is if you are looking for something you can fit in
your pocket. You could also physically place a drive that size in your
laptop if the original drive dies.
But if you are *only* interested in storing images, then a larger drive
(3.5") is probably the way to go. And you might find that you would
prefer 1TB or larger.
You can also use newegg to compare prices and ratings of internal drives
and USB enclosures. Just narrow down to what you are looking for and
sort by rating.
small percentage of negative reviews, I can live with that, especially
because of the warranty. Here is one possibility for a pre-assembled
unit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822101123
Here's another (yes, it's a Seagate):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148404
Same price, but it's larger by 180GB.
The above two drives are 3.5 inches. You might decide that 2.5 is
better. It certainly is if you are looking for something you can fit in
your pocket. You could also physically place a drive that size in your
laptop if the original drive dies.
But if you are *only* interested in storing images, then a larger drive
(3.5") is probably the way to go. And you might find that you would
prefer 1TB or larger.
You can also use newegg to compare prices and ratings of internal drives
and USB enclosures. Just narrow down to what you are looking for and
sort by rating.
Doesn't make any difference. I was looking at a Seagate drive, but I
kept seeing reviews that it'd crap out after a relatively short
period of time.
Daave said:Good information.
Although you didn't provide a model and model number, the fact that
your laptop's hard drive is only 80GB indicates you have no eSATA
ports.
drive because of the transfer speed.
The only other question:
Do you want to purchase the two components (drive plus enclosure) and
assemble them (which is easy) or spend a little extra and purchase an
already pre-assembled external hard drive?
D
David C. Holley
What do mean by
"But use RW types for DVDs; it's a lot cheaper in the long run<g>!"
Based on the reviews that I did find on a Seagate 1TB, it seemed as if the
larger drivers were more prone to failure. I was thinking about going 500GB
to counteract that. I do like the idea of going with 2 drives to alternate
the backups.
"But use RW types for DVDs; it's a lot cheaper in the long run<g>!"
Based on the reviews that I did find on a Seagate 1TB, it seemed as if the
larger drivers were more prone to failure. I was thinking about going 500GB
to counteract that. I do like the idea of going with 2 drives to alternate
the backups.
Twayne said:
D
DaffyD®
I own a 500 GB Western Digital My Book Essential 2.0 which I bought on sale
at Best Buy for about $89. I've been very happy with it and it's been a
lifesaver. I deleted all of the WD software--which was time consuming--and
it works fine. I'd like to get a 1-1.5 TB external drive next but haven't
decided what brand to buy yet.
I look at New Egg, Best Buy, and Costco and read the reviews.
HTH.
--
DaffyD® ( : []=
If I knew where I was I'd be there now.
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4772 (20100114) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com
at Best Buy for about $89. I've been very happy with it and it's been a
lifesaver. I deleted all of the WD software--which was time consuming--and
it works fine. I'd like to get a 1-1.5 TB external drive next but haven't
decided what brand to buy yet.
I look at New Egg, Best Buy, and Costco and read the reviews.
HTH.
--
DaffyD® ( : []=
If I knew where I was I'd be there now.
David C. Holley said:
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4772 (20100114) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com