Buying an external HDD...

[danielhv]

Kinda looking for some opinions. Im tired of losing everything when I reformat or screw up a hard drive from banging on the laptop cause was locking up... Looking for something around 500gb, 7200rpm, $130 range. Im buying it off Dell's website cause I have a $50 gift card.... Here is their selection:


Dell - External HDD... (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=6359&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&nf=38689~0~418117,38403~0~415575&~ck=anav&navla=38403~0~415575)

[JimD]

I have that freeagent seagate 500 gb and i only gave $99 for it, caught it on sale @office depot. And its a great little unit.

[Snake007]

I've got a Western Digital Mybook 500gb...best $99 I ever spent! I wish I had firewire though, cause USB is kinda slow....

[8mpg]

I bought a WD 1tb and it does its job... I wanted a couple of the Seagates after thanksgiving but didnt get there in time. I would recommend Seagate because they have a 5 year warranty opposed to both Maxtor and WD's 1yr. From the reviews I read, the seagate wins hands down. I have read about problems with the WD and the maxtors. I got the 1tb for $150 and thats the ONLY reason I bought it.

[Sgt Beavis]

There are a few questions you should answer.

1. What interface are you using?
USB2 (450Mbps but that is burst speed)
Firewire 400 (400Mbps but it is consistant)
Firewire 800 (800Mbps and is also consistant)
External SATA (3.2Gbps of hella fast)
2. Are you going to move the drive around a lot? Will it get thrown into a brief case?

Of the drives you have listed, my personal favorites are LaCie and Buffalo. I've seen a LaCie dropped down a flight of stairs and still work. They have solid cases. You can also buy them with USB2.0 and Firewire 400/800 interfaces.

My second choice would be the Buffalo Drivestation. Their Turbo USB supposedly makes USB operate closer to its max 450Mbps performance at a constant rate.

After that I like Western Digital MyBooks but don't ever drop it.