Can't pull trigger on External HD

[Duxx]

I have been looking for an external harddrive for quite some time now and can't seem to click "buy" for any of them. Every time i find one i like, it seems to have the shittiest reviews ever, all my friends have seagate, and all their reviews say power button sucks, eSATA sucks, gets hot, fails. Same thing with WD, numerous accounts of failure and doesn't recognize computer blah blah. I don't really want to "backup" to a harddrive that is almost guaranteed to die on me. Anybody have any recommendations for ones they are using or on good terms with? Much appreciated!

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I have a WD drive in an external caddy,which connects by sata(not e-sata) when it is in my pc,acts like a normal hdd,inc speed.Works fine and can be used via usb.

 

[paybackdaman]

My parents use a WD MyBook 750GB to save all of their pictures and documents as a back up. They haven't had a problem with it. It was simple for them to connect. the only problem that I personally have with it is that you need to unplug it [USB version, anyways] from the computer when you restart/come from a complete shutdown, because the computer, for some reason or another, wants to boot from it. Even though I have changed all the options in bios to set only for main HDD to boot from. But other then that it is quiet and has no problems with recognition in both vista and xp.

 

[Duxx]

I have a WD drive in an external caddy,which connects by sata(not e-sata) when it is in my pc,acts like a normal hdd,inc speed.Works fine and can be used via usb.

I was hoping for something a little more portable i know externals aren't) but i have two computers i go back and forth from pretty regularly and i wanted to put all my movies onto them so i could move it to the living room to hook up to computer >> TV >> cinema

 

[erocker]

If you happen to have any extra internal HDD's laying around, I really had a good experience reviewing this product. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/iStarUSA/xAGE-N99-US/
They also make a version with e-sata and are very affordable.

 

[newtekie1]

After having a few external drives fail on me, I finally just bought an enclosure and an internal drive and made one myself.

I use this external enclosure: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332012

The thing I like most about it is the very large and very quiet fan in it. It keeps the drive cool, so they won't overheat, which seems to be the downside to most external drives. Plus it is durable.

 

[stordoff]

I was hoping for something a little more portable i know externals aren't) but i have two computers i go back and forth from pretty regularly and i wanted to put all my movies onto them so i could move it to the living room to hook up to computer >> TV >> cinema

It just slides out and then works as a USB HDD IIRC

 

[Duxx]

Well if im going to go with the external enclosure w/ HD, whats the best HD? I have used only barracudas in previous builds but heard good things about Samsungs F1? Yeh or Neh?

 

[erocker]

Well if im going to go with the external enclosure w/ HD, whats the best HD? I have used only barracudas in previous builds but heard good things about Samsungs F1? Yeh or Neh?

If you want fast, get a Velociraptor. I see no noticable differences between my WD and Seagate drives. I did see a good price on a 500gb 16mb cache perpendicular Seagate at Newegg the other day.

 

[Duxx]

Well I'm only looking at 500-750gb and don't really want to drop 200-300$ on that. Anything else?

 

[erocker]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

 

[Steevo]

I just keep a internal 400Gb around in anti-static packaging and backup to that occasionally.

 

[kenkickr]

I've had a WD 500Gb now for almost 2years. No issue with the drive but the enclosure was a different story. This originally was a My Book 500Gb that all of a sudden one day wasn't being recognized by my system. Took the POS apart and tested the drive. The drive was fine so since I couldn't return it to Worst Buy I decided to pickup an external enclosure, http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDe...ails=overview&subcategory=U2&category=3.5PATA, and threw it in there. Been working fine for over a year.

 

[newtekie1]

With external drives, speed really isn't an issue as the USB connection will limit you. If you are going to use e-SATA then speed will be an issue, but the speed difference won't really be noticeable for what you are doing on them.

 

[Pinchy]

If you want portability, get a 2.5" enclosure and 2.5" drive. Your speed wont be as fast when using e-sata (USB should be the same as a normal hdd) but you dont have to worry about the hassle of the power cord needing it to be in (USB powers it) and its a lot smaller

 

[suraswami]

I have been looking for an external harddrive for quite some time now and can't seem to click "buy" for any of them. Every time i find one i like, it seems to have the shittiest reviews ever, all my friends have seagate, and all their reviews say power button sucks, eSATA sucks, gets hot, fails. Same thing with WD, numerous accounts of failure and doesn't recognize computer blah blah. I don't really want to "backup" to a harddrive that is almost guaranteed to die on me. Anybody have any recommendations for ones they are using or on good terms with? Much appreciated!

I personally have a WD 400G SATA in this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193026

Its decent and one of the cheaper ones. Solid metal with antiskid rubber base. I get good transfer rate using both USB and ESATA.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

The caddy hot swaps too,so you dont have to power down to remove/replace the drive from the caddy.you could have a caddy in two machines and slot the drive into either to transfer films etc.