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Need External HDD, But Which One?

Joined
Oct 10, 2012
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Processor Intel i7 4960X
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Software Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
I wanna buy an external HDD and I'm torn between Western Digital Elements Portable and My Passport Essential. Both are 1TB in capacity and, in my opinion, have just basic features I need most. Unfortunately I can't decide it on my own. Anybody here had experience with these drives? I just wanna store my projects, works, media (some photos, music) and game installation files (I have Fallout and Fallout 2 from GOG) so I don't need fancy features like automatic backup or media organizer. I really wanna hear your opinion on this.

Here's the links for both drives (for more info):

WD Elements Portable
WD MyPassport

Also I'm open for suggestion. Feel free to suggest me any drive or brand you trust. Just please remember that I don't use advanced features like automatic system/data backup or file/media organizer and it has to be a mechanical drive (I work a lot of projects and write/copy/move a lot of files onto my drive so a SSD would be a bad choice). Thanks in advance.
 
This. On sale for $130, 2 TB, 2.5" Portable, and a 5 year warranty.
 
I hate it when a company has too many choices... pick your poison, they're both about the same physical size and US 3.0, so go with the best warrantee and lowest price.

I should add, I've got 2x Toshiba Canvio drives (650 and 750 GB), and so far they've been great.
 
A couple of years ago I managed to get my hands on a Western Digital My Passport 2TB for $89.99 for black Friday. Woo hoo! Still works like a champ and I love it. Not sure if they still require a power cord as well as a usb cable but mine does. Not sure if that makes a difference to you are not. Makes it slightly less portable but still very very easy to transport. Much easier than ripping a hard drive out of your computer and taking that somewhere. ;)
 
A couple of years ago I managed to get my hands on a Western Digital My Passport 2TB for $89.99 for black Friday. Woo hoo! Still works like a champ and I love it. Not sure if they still require a power cord as well as a usb cable but mine does. Not sure if that makes a difference to you are not. Makes it slightly less portable but still very very easy to transport. Much easier than ripping a hard drive out of your computer and taking that somewhere. ;)

Yeah I know that variant, the one with data cable and adaptor. Those WD drives on my list don't require an adaptor though, since they are powered by USB port. But thanks for the recommendation. I might consider buying drive with bigger space.

Don't you need an HDD external enclosure case with your external HDD?

Nope, the drive's already in a case.
Unless you want to buy an internal HDD and use it as external storage.

edit: typo
 
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Price is the main factor here so looks for sales/deals.

Though be aware that WD and possibly some other manufacturers too no longer use regular SATA drives with a USB bridge on the case but rather the drives themselves inside have a mini USB connector on them. Means you can't rip it out and put it internal or in a diff enclosure (or do anything if the case gets messed up besides find another similar WD one that does work).
 
hey do u want ur external hdd to be slim and sexy or have good value
slim and sexy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178356 <----this one is SUPER SLIM but only 500gb
value: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149471 <----this one is 1tb but the same price as the 500gb one(and its on sale)

Thanks for the recommendations. Color doesn't really matter though. Neutral colors like black and white or silver or beige are fine. So long it's not neon green or superbright yellow. :D

Price is the main factor here so looks for sales/deals.

Though be aware that WD and possibly some other manufacturers too no longer use regular SATA drives with a USB bridge on the case but rather the drives themselves inside have a mini USB connector on them. Means you can't rip it out and put it internal or in a diff enclosure (or do anything if the case gets messed up besides find another similar WD one that does work).

Indeed. But good price should be backed by good capacity, reliability and performance. As for the drive perhaps vendors don't want users to tamper with the drive and "abuse" the warranty (got a defective, out-of-warranty drive, buy a new product, replace the good drive with the failed one and RMA it to get a free replacement). That, or the current adaptor they're using now is much better in terms of cost/performance/power compared to the previous model.
 
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