External Hard Drive Recommendations?

[Egan]

I'm needing to get an external hard drive, mainly for backing up my music on. I'm looking at about 500 gig to 1Tb and would prefer if it's not physically not too large as I will hopefully be using it in conjunction with my lap top for DJing purposes so it has to be relatively mobile. I've never bought or even used an external hard drive before so I'm not sure what I should be looking for. Any ideas? I'd rather not spend a fortune on it but up to about £100 would be fine.

[longam]

I highly recommend the Western Digital Passport. Compact and good transfer speeds. It comes with a backup software but I never tried it.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/portable/

[CaptainHaplo]

I have to recommend AGAINST the passport. I have had 2 of the 1TB ones - and both have failed within 1 yr. Both have had bad sectors in the first 256 blocks - making the drive entirely unreadable by your PC.

I am currently looking for a different mobile solution as well - since I will not purchase another passport.

Am thinking hard about this one:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=RCA3B10-6CBK9-PB-R&utm_source=Pricewatch&utm_medium=ShoppingSites&utm_campaign=RCA3B10-6CBK9-PB-R

[Egan]

I had a WD internal when I built my current computer and it died within 8 months. It's a shame because I was looking at one of the Passport models. They look really good, and in almost every way they would be perfect but...once bitten twice shy. I'm going to have a lot of expensive WAVs in it and I can't afford another WD screw up. I really need about a dozen of them to feel totally safe....:DL... but one will have to do to start with.

That Clickfree looks nice. Similar to one I was looking at by someone called Buffalo. I'd never heard of that manufacturer before. Put me off a bit.

[longam]

Externals tend to fail after long term use because of the way the are cased/enclosed.

If you want something for hard use, purchase an external HD case and put a SATA drive in it. Even it will fail with time but there easy to repair by swapping the drives. Some even come with cooling fans.

I'm using some iomega's prestige at work for server backup and they are holding up so far. But every other brand I've used has failed because of the constant use. Considering a NAS.

[CaptainHaplo]

I have a goflex 2TB which is nothing more than a housing, a 2TB IDE drive and a USB to IDE adapter - power supply seperate. It hasn't given me any trouble and I like it alot. If it was more portable then I would like it even more......

[Sailor Steve]

I had a WD Elements 1TB for more than a year. I gave it to a friend when I needed more space. I've had a WD My Book 2TB for several months now, and no problems so far. The odd part is that I just looked Amazon UK and I thought they were more expensive there until I looked on Amazon.com as well. I must have lucked into a sale or something because I paid a lot less than that when I got mine. Still, I'm happy with it.

[longam]

I have a goflex 2TB which is nothing more than a housing, a 2TB IDE drive and a USB to IDE adapter - power supply seperate. It hasn't given me any trouble and I like it alot. If it was more portable then I would like it even more......

That is why I like the passport. I have a nice caring case for it and it keeps it from shock from moving it.

My thumb drive is best for ultimate portability and reliability, but of course it is slower at transfer rate.

[HunterICX]

Can't really go wrong with External Hard Drives from Westen Digital (WD)
recently bought a 500GB one

HunterICX

[Arclight]

The odd part is that I just looked Amazon UK and I thought they were more expensive there until I looked on Amazon.com as well. I must have lucked into a sale or something because I paid a lot less than that when I got mine.
It's because of the floods in Thailand a while ago. HD production dropped considerably and prices are still influenced by lack of supply today.



While I'm here... I was trying to stay out of this because it's next to impossible to recommend an external HD you have no experience with: imho the most important thing is the enclosure, specifically the cooling, and no review ever bothers to test the environmental conditions inside these enclosures.

A HD that is in operation for extended periods, such as when copying large amounts of data, streaming media or during gaming, can heat up a lot. In my old case I saw temps of 50-55C, and that had a fan right next to them (general airflow in the case was very poor though). If you just use the drive for back-ups, copying bits of data now and then, heat isn't such an issue since the drive will spend most of it's time in standby. But if it is going to spend a lot of time actively, some degree of cooling is, imo, a must.

I think you would get best mileage from buying an empty, well build and actively cooled enclosure and stuffing a drive of your choice in it. Drawback there is that it is likely the most expensive solution.

Most of the pre-built things have lower RPM, energy-friendly (slower but less heat) drives, but with something like USB it normally isn't an issue since that doesn't really support high transfer rates. If you have a fancier connection, like FireWire or eSATA (or USB 3), you can use higher performance drives but cooling becomes a much bigger concern.


I believe that in most cases where someone reports an external HD dying in short order it was because of heat; a failure of the enclosure rather than the drive. These things are build to very exact tolerances, and metal tends to expand quite a bit when heated: you need to keep those things cool if you want them to survive for an extended period.

[Sailor Steve]

It's because of the floods in Thailand a while ago. HD production dropped considerably and prices are still influenced by lack of supply today.
Ah. I never would have thought of that.

If you have a fancier connection, like FireWire or eSATA (or USB 3), you can use higher performance drives but cooling becomes a much bigger concern.
:rotfl2: The joke is on me. My 2TB WD has USB 3, but my seven-year-old rig only has USB 1 ports. Every time I plug something in I get a message: "This device can run faster if you plug it into a USB 2 port." Problem is, I get that no matter which port I plug it into. Maybe if I ever get the new computer I've been trying (and failing) to save for for two years I'll actually experience some heating problems. :dead:

[Egan]

Interesting stuff. Good pointers here. I'm not planning to use it on a daily basis - purely for storage and back up of new music in case my main machine crashes. It also doesn't need to be cutting edge quick. I'm just hyper aware now of how much I'm spending on music at the moment...making me a bit paranoid.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to take another look at the WD drives. I'll probably try and get one ordered tonight along with a new set of speakers. I'll let you know what I get.

Now, if anyone can recommend me a good phono preamp with USB as well, I'll be all set..:DL

[Herr-Berbunch]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to take another look at the WD drives. I'll probably try and get one ordered tonight along with a new set of speakers. I'll let you know what I get.

Now, if anyone can recommend me a good phono preamp with USB as well, I'll be all set..:DL

Don't forget to use the Subsim Amazon link :yep:

[Egan]

Don't forget to use the Subsim Amazon link :yep:

Well, I only buy hardware online from Ebuyer and ScanUK. Or maybe not Ebuyer this time, as they will allow Saturday delivery for everything I'm trying to order except the hard drive....:06:



EDIT: Well, whaddayaknow? I broke the habit of a life time and ordered myself a WD My Passport Essential 500 gig drive through Amazon via Subsim. Worked out cheaper and delivering it to the GFs office is less hassle than trying to get the Saturday delivery thing working. Cheers all. Now for speakers and Pre amp....

[Skybird]

3 WD Passports over here, one a library storage, the other two for complete HD images (in turns) every couple of weeks. Works well, no problems.

Of course, if you treat it with shakes and bumps, let books fall onto it and skip it off the table, then every HD sooner por later will stop forgiving you.

[sidslotm]

I bought a samsung 500gb usb hard drive, came with a free film to boot. Brilliant litttle drive, fits in the pocket perfectly, even came with it's own little protective wallet. It's probaly not that quick, by it is a handy little backup device.

[Egan]

Well, it's arrived. I guess I'll give it a blast over the weekend. I'm actually surprised by how small it is; it looks like my Phone.

Thanks to everyone for their input! :salute:

Oh, I got my speakers too: A set of Creative Gigaworks T20 Series II Speakers. 50 notes and they are awesome. I have earphones that cost more than that. I think they're actually better than the Creative Hi-fi speakers I've got. Reckon the neighbours will be round in an hour or so to complain - these things are loud...