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04/25/2007 12:49:23 PM · #1 |
| I want to buy an external hard-drive. I don't want to buy a really cheap one, but I haven't the money to buy the best either. I want 80gb or larger and I want to store photos, music, and video footage too. What brands should I consider, and what features and specs should I be looking for? I want to store data from both my laptop, and my home pc. |
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04/25/2007 12:57:24 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by dagaleaa:
I want to buy an external hard-drive. I don't want to buy a really cheap one, but I haven't the money to buy the best either. I want 80gb or larger and I want to store photos, music, and video footage too. What brands should I consider, and what features and specs should I be looking for? I want to store data from both my laptop, and my home pc. |
Do you want a mobile drive (USB/FireWire powered), or can it have an AC adapter? Once you've decided this, we can give a better estimate of what storage size you can get for a particular price range.
Personally, I would look at Lacie, Western Digital, and (perhaps) Maxtor, among others.
Oh, and are you using a Mac or PC? A few (though less and less frequently) don't support Macs (fools...). |
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04/25/2007 01:11:00 PM · #3 |
Also what exactly is your range?
There is a plethera of USB/Firewire enclosures out there to choose from. Shop around, don't get a 80G Passport for $89 when you can get a LaCie 320G for $99.
If it is for photo I wouldn't consider anything less than a 200G external.
Just my thoughts
To give you an idea buy.com external HDs
Message edited by author 2007-04-25 13:11:33. |
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04/25/2007 01:11:39 PM · #4 |
Depending on your computer's capability, you may wish to consider a quadruple or triple interface: eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 & USB 2.0. FW is fast. The best (most reliable) external hard drives I've had and have seen put on mileage were made by LaCie.
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04/25/2007 01:14:15 PM · #5 |
I recommend the LaCie drives as well. :)
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04/25/2007 01:14:15 PM · #6 |
As a pro photog i looked into this very carefully - I found a guy at the Mac store who directed me away from the ones in the store and told me to go and find Seagate external drives - He did mention a whole bunch of technical things but I ma not too hot on that stuff - He was a pro designer and tech geek and knew his stuff. I now have 2 Seagates and no probs - They work great, are easy to use and look cool - Just a warning he told me to avoid the Lacie ones - Even though they sold those in the Mac store. Hope this helps.
Jeff |
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04/25/2007 01:19:58 PM · #7 |
I just noticed that you're looking to store video, too. In that case, a mobile drive would likely be ineffective (since you're looking for something relatively inexpensive), and you'll want to go with an AC-powered drive.
How much money is too much? $200? $500?
You could always look at Costco. Best return policy in the business. I've been looking into that WD 1 TB drive for a while now, and the price is pretty good. It has RAID support, which basically means it backs up your backups (so if your stuff is truly important, it's a good idea). |
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04/25/2007 01:20:19 PM · #8 |
FYI I would stay away from anything left with the Maxtor brand as Seagate bought Maxtor Corp a few months back purely for their manufacturing facilities and Maxtor as a company is no longer...
I personally have had great luck with Western Digital over the past few years and have close to 40 of them running on my personal network which is just over 8TB mirrored and they all run 24/7.
I personally don't like the external HD's for the only reason that I have yet to find one with good cooling for the HD's... but if you must have one try to find one with at least a small fan in it or keep it in a well ventilated area.
-dave
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04/25/2007 01:21:27 PM · #9 |
make your own.
The Seagate 320gb SATA is dirt cheap, I just bought 2 for 100CAN each (90US). Seagates are definitely the most reliable drives, IMO.
Then, pick up the HD enclosure of your choice, to suit your connection needs. I recommend eSATA, easy and fast. Its basically an extension of your SATA HD connection, but on the outside of your computer. Firewire is also a good bet, very fast also.
Once you get the drive and the enclosure, put the drive in the enclosure. Its easier than installing one into your computer itself. Youll have to format the drive yourself, but thats fairly easy if you follow the included directions.
All told, I now have 2 320gb externals that cost me $150CAN each. Thats less than $.50 a GB. I just wish I had more than 2 SATA connections on my motherboard, backing stuff up on USB 2.0 is very annoying... |
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04/26/2007 06:15:37 PM · #10 |
| Thanks for all your imput on this. I actually looked at the Seagate 320G. It looks like I can use it on my desktop and my laptop. Am I right about that??? My budget is $100-200. What should I look for in LaCie vs. Seagate?? |
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04/26/2007 07:01:27 PM · #11 |
About a couple of months or so ago, I bought an external, AC-powered, 1/2 Terabyte Western Digital drive from Best Buy for US$149. For those that are mathematically challenged, that is 512 Gb.
In fact, I just looked online and it is still available for that price.
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04/26/2007 07:20:05 PM · #12 |
Not sure if this has been mentioned already....
I would 'build' your own. You can buy an internal hard drive + a case for it, for much cheaper than an external hard drive.
www.tigerdirect.com has all the parts you could ever dream of for doing this. |
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04/26/2007 07:50:25 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by Mulder:
www.tigerdirect.com has all the parts you could ever dream of for doing this. |
I've had bad experiences with TigerDirect (putting items on their site as "in stock," then ordering and finding that they're backordered, then being lied to about when they're due in, blah blah blah). Just taking an opportunity to bad mouth them, I guess :) |
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04/26/2007 07:53:42 PM · #14 |
| I bought this Seagate 500 gig external hardirve from newegg.com. It is USB port, and took me awhile to get everything backed upped onto it but now it is great. It is on sale for $146. All I use it for is back up and am very happy with it. |
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04/27/2007 12:35:43 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by lesgainous:
About a couple of months or so ago, I bought an external, AC-powered, 1/2 Terabyte Western Digital drive from Best Buy for US$149. For those that are mathematically challenged, that is 512 Gb.
In fact, I just looked online and it is still available for that price. |
In today's newspaper, Fry's has the 1/2 Tb (500 Gb) Iomega external drive for US$129.99.
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04/27/2007 12:54:11 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by alanfreed:
Originally posted by Mulder:
www.tigerdirect.com has all the parts you could ever dream of for doing this. |
I've had bad experiences with TigerDirect (putting items on their site as "in stock," then ordering and finding that they're backordered, then being lied to about when they're due in, blah blah blah). Just taking an opportunity to bad mouth them, I guess :) |
I have never had a problem with www.tigerdirect.com but if you must avoid them then go for www.newegg.com. They are my favorite. www.pcconnection.com is good too.
Message edited by author 2007-04-27 12:55:09. |
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04/27/2007 01:06:59 PM · #17 |
FYI I have a seagate 250 gig and I used to store all my music on it (in addition to everything else) and run it on my powerbook playing music directly off the drive. It was always getting disconnected and also would have trouble mounting, and same goes with mounting it on my macbook pro.
Now that I have pretty much not used it for a month, when I try to mount it on either computer it works alright. I've heard of this happening to other people too.
But I'm not sure, I still burn everything to DVD too ... I don't think you're totally safe with an external HD. If you get the seagate I would just say don't have it on all the time or try to access information off it directly too often as that when it becomes dismounted the most. |
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04/27/2007 01:44:20 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by petrakka:
FYI I have a seagate 250 gig and I used to store all my music on it (in addition to everything else) and run it on my powerbook playing music directly off the drive. It was always getting disconnected and also would have trouble mounting, and same goes with mounting it on my macbook pro.
Now that I have pretty much not used it for a month, when I try to mount it on either computer it works alright. I've heard of this happening to other people too.
But I'm not sure, I still burn everything to DVD too ... I don't think you're totally safe with an external HD. If you get the seagate I would just say don't have it on all the time or try to access information off it directly too often as that when it becomes dismounted the most. |
It verry well could be a heating issue...
-dave
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04/27/2007 08:12:38 PM · #19 |
| get an internal HDD and put it in an ICY BOX :) |
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04/27/2007 08:56:41 PM · #20 |
I always run a pricegrabber search before deciding on what to get and where to get it.
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