I need an external harddrive, which one do i choose?

HustlinHard

HustlinHard

(M)ad Man
Oct 31, 2007
313
5
0
Vancouver
so basically I'm looking for an external hard drive to use as storage. I'm pretty certain I'd like a 1TB but I am clueless when it comes to all the brands and their quality. I've been looking through newegg and I notice they have quite a few great deals (under $100 USD), from various brands and models, many of which have good reviews.

here's a link to the search page at newegg.ca listing all external hard drives (keep in mind these are CAD dollars, so it's cheaper in USD).

Newegg.ca - Computer Hardware,Hard Drives,External Hard Drives,1TB and higher

a few of them that looked good are:

Western Digital Element 1TB 3.5" Black External Hard Drive - Retail
Price: $119 CAD

Fantom Drives G-Force GF1000EU 1TB External Hard Drive - Retail
Price: $124.99 CAD (before $20 USD mail in rebate)

Fantom Drives G-Force II GFII1000EU 1TB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive with NTI Shadow 4 Backup Software - Retail
Price: $109.99 CAD (before $10 USD mail in rebate)

Cavalry CAXB Series 1TB USB 2.0 / eSATA 7200RPM 16MB Cache External Hard Drive - CAXB3701T0 - Retail
Price: $99 CAD


So basically I'm just worried about the thing breaking down on me and losing all my data. I know some of guys must know more about this than me..
 


i like western digital but they tend to put 2nd rate hds in their external products.

personally i prefer to build my own since it is super easy and you know what drive is going inside. it tends to cost a bit more to do this but you also have more options if either the case or drive gets toasted.

recently i put a wd caviar black 640gb (performs better than 1tb) in this aluminum enclosure. pretty rad. go with the green wd model if you want a massive drive or you may have power issues.

vantec enclosures are good if you are more of a pc type guy.
 
if you're using a Mac, if you don't have e-SATA make sure you get Firewire 800 if you have it. USB 2.0 is intolerably slow and hiccups too much
 
so it seems that everyone is recommending WD. I guess i should go with that, as opposed to any of the others.

Right now I'm trying to decide between the following options:

Choice 1 (internal + enclosure):

Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive - OEM
Price: $99.99 CAD
PLUS I need to buy an enclosure (not sure what to look for in these, if someone can find the cheapest and most viable enclosure that would be awesome. preferably at newegg)
Final Price: $99.99 CAD + Enclosure Price


Choice 2 (external):

(W/O FIREWIRE) (got very good reviews)
Western Digital Element 1TB 3.5" Black External Hard Drive - Retail
Price: $119 CAD

OR

(W/O FIREWIRE)
Western Digital My Book Essential WDH1U10000N 1TB External Hard Drive - Retail
Price: $149.99 CAD

OR

(W/ FIREWIRE) (didn't get the greatest reviews for some reason. apparently proned to overheating)
Western Digital My Book Home WDH1CS10000N 1TB USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394a / eSATA External Hard Drive - Retail
Price: $169.99 CAD

OR

(W/ FIREWIRE) (got pretty good reviews)
Fantom Drives G-Force GF1000T 1TB Triple Interface External Hard Drive - Retail
Price: $159.99 CAD (minus $20 USD mail in rebate)
Final Price: <$139.99


help me decide...
 
I was in the same situation not that long ago.

I had a Lacie but it started making really weird noises after about a years use so I figured it was time for a new one.

I ended up getting a Western Digital 1.5TB with Firewire 800. I can't remember what it's called, but it has (2) 750gb drives in it, and so I set it up as a RAID which backs up the hard drive to both exterior HD's for even more security. It might be overkill, but I've had bad shit happen before, and buy.com had a hell of a deal on them. From the factory its setup for more capacity (1.5tb) but I really don't need that much space.

Working well so far after a couple months. Much quieter than the Lacie and backs up fast with the F800 connection.
 
I went through two Lacies - one 250 and one 500. In both cases the actual drives were fine, but the 'electronics' crapped out. They lived on 'internally' after that.

I'm not too sure they're ideal for continuous use over a number of hours... I think they have cooling issues.

I had a Lacie but it started making really weird noises after about a years use so I figured it was time for a new one.
Click to expand...

Yep, same here - a weird squeaking noise



:R:
 
Get something with awesome ventilation. I went through 2 hard drives before I caught on to the reason so many drives were failing.

I bought an enclosure with a fan, bought a decent hard drive separately, plugged them all in and I've had an excellent external drive for 1.5 years so far. Way better than 6 months for the others I've used.
 
i can help you regarding that matter,if you are interested PM me for more details.,
 
Buffalo Linkstation Pro is great. 2x 500GB drives. Raid them or have a 1TB drive

gigabit ethernet interface and cut down linux Os giving you a reasonable control over permissions. I think you can even daisy chain your existing USB drives off of it to make them available on the network. Probably be around $260 ish and well worth it
 
I fried an external a few years ago because of heat. Learned my lesson and now if I have an external without a fan built-in, I grab a house fan and put it on it when it's in use. Haven't had a drive fail since I figured that out.

Even the cheap Western Digital ones will work fine for backups as long as you keep them cool. Storage is so cheap these days, I'd recommend you buy 2 and backup your backup.
 
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