I'm looking for 2 x 500gb external drives to backup my work from the past two years. No matter where I go on the internutz- I read shit reviews about nearly every major manufacturer.

Is there any brand I can trust within reason? Lacie? WD? Maxtor? Anyone have some insight? Thanks in advance.

Re: External HD recommendations?

This is a filler. I hit quote instead of edit. :Anal:

Re: External HD recommendations?

I think it's all a crapshoot. Of all the hard drives I've had, they all seem to go at least three years with no problems. I've had many Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, etc. and haven't had any problems at all, during the first three years. I can say that of everything I've owned, I've had more Maxtors die within five to six years compared to any other brand that I've owned.

I've seen a lot of the trend going towards the "green" drives for storage. These drives run at slower speeds and because of this are used for storage only. They use a fraction of the power of regular hard drives and are around the same price of regular hard drives.

Re: External HD recommendations?

Lacie's if I remember right tended to have Maxtor drives inside of them.

All external's are regular hard drives in fancy cases w/a particular chipset running it...if you can find a cheaper internal, do that and pop it into your own case (should be had for around $25)...just make sure it's aluminum and not some cheap plastic with a fan.

Externally I run a Maxtor OneTouch, WD internal in its own case, another Maxtor internal w/its own case, and a WD SATA internal with its own case.

Re: External HD recommendations?

I have a bunch of the Western Digital externals and they work gerat. It's nice because they line up neatly and don't take up too much space, but I've never had a problem with any of them. Super quiet

Re: External HD recommendations?

I have a 1TB Western Digital external drive, and it has been working fine for me. Good price, pretty quiet, the only downside is the slightly unsightly case.

Re: External HD recommendations?

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going to go for western digital. I am intrigued by these "green" drives though as I only need these for backup and do not intend to work off them....

Re: External HD recommendations?

WD is the way to go P. I love their drives, work awesome with macs.

Re: External HD recommendations?

RAID? I'm going for a RAID05 next, sick of hdds dying on me. This shit is so disposable these days, I can't trust my life with them.

Re: External HD recommendations?

buy.com has a bunch of good deals on drives. few different 500gb manufacturers for under a bill

Re: External HD recommendations?

500GB HDDs for under $100 is the standard now. You can even find 750GB externals ranging from $105 to $135 depending on the retailer and options.

Re: External HD recommendations?

[quote=feather;632095]RAID? I'm going for a RAID05 next, sick of hdds dying on me. This shit is so disposable these days, I can't trust my life with them.[/quote]

amen..... as soon as the new 4 TB Drobo w/ Firewire 800 drops below $800, I'm gonna jump on it

Re: External HD recommendations?

They really need to start trying to make programs smaller, instead of us having to upgrade storage like crazy.

Re: External HD recommendations?

you think programs are why people are getting larger drives? Even Vista (which is the largest program afaik) comes on a DVD which is only 4 gig. So yea there's many diff reasons why large HDs are in demand

Re: External HD recommendations?

Usually the installation is only 1.something to 2gb anyway. Though something nice with the Mac OS, they're trimming it down to a smaller size.

Re: External HD recommendations?

I picked up a WD 500GIG MyBook at the local Micro Center a month or two ago and have nothing but good things to say about it.

Oh it was 99$ too.

Re: External HD recommendations?

i,ve never had a hd go dead on me in my entire computer history which isnt very long tbh but i have had a few lacie externals in my day and none of them have gone dead on me yet

Re: External HD recommendations?

I haven't heard anything good across all the brands TBH. Everyone has their favorites. My Maxtor still works but a lot of people hate it. The Deathstar died on me, my friend's WD died on him. He now swears by Seagate. I don't think I've heard anything bad about Seagate yet but I'm sure stories will surface. I don't think we have to worry about quantum mechanics or the limits of physics when mechanically these crap aren't made to last.

Actually, just WHAT is made to last these days? Maybe space shuttles and satellites.

Re: External HD recommendations?

[quote=KlondikeTW;632421]They really need to start trying to make programs smaller, instead of us having to upgrade storage like crazy.[/quote]

Haha.

Isn't it something more along the lines of increasing file sizes (one frame of HD content=30mb give or take)? Easy accessibility to more and more content (quality movies downloaded in minutes)? Accumulated files over years? Years of creation? It's something that is going to continue. That's how it works.

Re: External HD recommendations?

[quote=palmer;632911]Haha.

Isn't it something more along the lines of increasing file sizes (one frame of HD content=30mb give or take)? Easy accessibility to more and more content (quality movies downloaded in minutes)? Accumulated files over years? Years of creation? It's something that is going to continue. That's how it works.[/quote]

Less excuses, more smaller programs! You'd think they'd be able to get better quality while still changing the size of programs/videos/etc. I mean, it seems like nobody even cares about that aspect. It's all about making bigger drives to store all the nonsense that comes out.

Re: External HD recommendations?

But look at how cheap storage is nowadays? It's not even a factor. I saw a 1TB drive on sale for $94 USD this weekend. That's nuts.

Re: External HD recommendations?

[quote=KlondikeTW;633404]Less excuses, more smaller programs! You'd think they'd be able to get better quality while still changing the size of programs/videos/etc. I mean, it seems like nobody even cares about that aspect. It's all about making bigger drives to store all the nonsense that comes out.[/quote]

I don't know- this is simple logic that you obviously aren't ever going to agree with...

So here is some bitch eating shit at the beach. [IMG]https://owners.wyndhamvrap.com/destinations/2006/dec/images/danger_faceplant.jpg[/IMG]

Re: External HD recommendations?

^ ^ Latest trance-tastic move?

Re: External HD recommendations?

If you can get to ALDI this thursday they have a 250 gig USB powered external portable HDD. Its made by medion which, by my experience, are a good make.

its around 70 euro, well worth the money.

Re: External HD recommendations?

Wow, that's expensive.

Re: External HD recommendations?

I picked one up and its exactly what it says on the tin.

Fast, reliable, and portable. what more could you want from and external HDD.

except maybe a coffee dispenser!

Re: External HD recommendations?

I only have experience with a couple of lacie drives, but I'm completely happy with them.

Re: External HD recommendations?

quite a steal....Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB Hard Drive = $127.96

[url]http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Western-Digital-Caviar-SE16-750GB-Hard-Drive-WD7500KSRTL/sem/rpsm/oid/193194/catOid/-12976/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do[/url]

Re: External HD recommendations?

[quote=Kamal;638438]quite a steal....Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB Hard Drive = $127.96

[URL]http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Western-Digital-Caviar-SE16-750GB-Hard-Drive-WD7500KSRTL/sem/rpsm/oid/193194/catOid/-12976/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do[/URL][/quote]

that link is dead mate you may want to change it, or not!

I'm looking for a a HDD with around 1 terabyte that has an Ethernet interface to it. Any recommendations?

Re: External HD recommendations?

that was an "outlet" deal and it's gone now..... try this one, its a shy bit more

[url]http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-11-750GB-Internal-Drive-ST3750330AS/sem/rpsm/oid/218860/catOid/-12976/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do[/url]

Re: External HD recommendations?

I'm very happy with my 1TB Seagate Free Agent Pros (2x), I'm real pleased with the performance and the quality of their products (I'm also using 2 Seagate internal HDs)

Re: External HD recommendations?

I own a nearly full 500 GB. Western Digital external, with a 2 TB. WorldBook for the future; i will sell my car before i sell my external hard-drives.

WD hard-drive recommendation verdict? They commercially rock:roll:. The only catch is.. the internal mechanisms break so easily, i kid you not, i will spare you the story... So don't move them while they are on, period.

I despise having them, but they are headquartered in my backyard, so it's regretfully compensated. Don't buy one tho, ther are much better choices then WD.