External Hard Drives - What to Look For?

[Ksyrup]

My computer is about 2.5 years old and runs fine. I haven't been buying/playing many of the new games, so the P4 2.4 Ghz (or 2.6, I can't recall) processor I have is fine. One thing I'm running out of, though, is hard drive space. I've got a 120GB HD, but I've only got about 7GB left. Most of it is probably music-related - bootlegs and other stuff I haven't burned to disc.

So, I'm thinking about getting an external hard drive to store that kind of stuff on. Then, when it's time to buy a new computer, I can just take that hard drive and connect it to the new computer, which will save me time having to transfer all of that stuff. That's the thinking, anyway.

I've done a bit of looking around, it appears that I can get an external HD for about a buck a GB. What I don't know are some of the "secondary" features which would make one HD better than another. Also, which company's HDs are better than others? Any suggestions?

[Peregrine]

One thing to keep in mind is that unless you plan to do a lot of active swapping with the external, you could just as easily (and maybe cheaper) get another internal HD and just move all your music to it, when you get a new PC just pop it into it and you're good to go.

[Ksyrup]

I was thinking about that, and I could probably pull that off, but the less I have to touch the inside of my computer, the better off I am. That's my general rule, anyway! But I agree, they are much, much cheaper.

[Draft Dodger]

some of the features you might find are the portability of the drive and the backup software that comes with them. It doesn't sound like either of these are a huge issue for you, so I'd just go with the best bang for the buck in a name brand that you find. Maxtor and Lacie are both pretty popular in this category. I personally like Western Digital's internal drives - haven't seen a lot of info on their external drives...but they are another option to look at.

[moriarty]

some of the features you might find are the portability of the drive and the backup software that comes with them. It doesn't sound like either of these are a huge issue for you, so I'd just go with the best bang for the buck in a name brand that you find. Maxtor and Lacie are both pretty popular in this category. I personally like Western Digital's internal drives - haven't seen a lot of info on their external drives...but they are another option to look at.

I bought a Western Digital external drive 80GB, but I keep getting errors that I have no more drive space available after putting only 2GB on it.

Not sure if it's the drive or user error, but I know they were running some rebates in conjunction with circuit city rebates where you could get up to $60 off by the time you were done.

[Bee]

What kind of access speed does an external drive have? I'd think that would be a key issue for me, but I'm not familiar at all with external hard drives.

[Draft Dodger]

I bought a Western Digital external drive 80GB, but I keep getting errors that I have no more drive space available after putting only 2GB on it.

Not sure if it's the drive or user error, but I know they were running some rebates in conjunction with circuit city rebates where you could get up to $60 off by the time you were done.

probably a bad drive - I got a bad WD drive once, and the easy replacement process for it is one of the reasons I've continued to use them.

[Draft Dodger]

on thing Ksyrup (does anyone else feel silly when they have to address someone by their screenname?):

you should make sure you have the right ports for the drive - the drives are going to be either USB 2.0 or firewire (or, in more and more cases, both). It's probable that your machine has USB 2.0, but I would definitely check - if it's USB 1.1 the drive will still work, but at a much slower speed.

also, installing an internal HD is pretty easy to do.

[Hammer755]

I recently purchased a 200 GB Western Digital external HD at Fry's and after $60 in rebates it will end up costing $110. I'm very pleased with it thus far.

[Ksyrup]

Thanks for the info, guy. If I could get a 200GB external for $100 I'd jump on it. I'll have to keep my eyes open for rebates and such.

I've got USB 2.0.

[21C]

I would suggest getting a hard drive enclosure - you just pop in an internal hard drive and then connect it externally via USB or firewire. You can then upgrade the hard drive at anytime in the future by inserting a new drive.

They seem to be about $25+ plus the cost of the drive itself.

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&description=enclosure&srchInDesc=3.5

[moriarty]

Thanks for the info, guy. If I could get a 200GB external for $100 I'd jump on it. I'll have to keep my eyes open for rebates and such.

I've got USB 2.0.

Well, this is probably smaller than what you're looking for, but here's the 80GB unit for $69.
Here (http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/-12973/Ntk/All/Ntt/external%20hard%20drive/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do)

[Ksyrup]

Circuit City has a Western Digital 250GB HD for $100 after $80 of rebates. That may be the way to go.

[moriarty]

Circuit City has a Western Digital 250GB HD for $100 after $80 of rebates. That may be the way to go.

:eek: That is a good price and definitely better than the 80GB!

[jeff061]

I would suggest getting a hard drive enclosure - you just pop in an internal hard drive and then connect it externally via USB or firewire. You can then upgrade the hard drive at anytime in the future by inserting a new drive.

They seem to be about $25+ plus the cost of the drive itself.

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&description=enclosure&srchInDesc=3.5

I was thinking this as well. This will work well and can come in handy since its real easy to pop one drive out and pop another in. Great for upgrading and data recovery(should you ever need to).

[MizzouRah]

I have a WD 80GB external drive with enclosure and absolutely love it. Just make sure your pc supports USB 2.0


Todd

[Suicane75]

Does anyone know anything about this brand?
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/LaCie-External-Hard-Drive-300703U-/sem/rpsm/oid/121491/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
That seems kind of cheap for a 250GB External.

[Senator]

Does anyone know anything about this brand?
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/LaCie-External-Hard-Drive-300703U-/sem/rpsm/oid/121491/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
That seems kind of cheap for a 250GB External.

I have a 500GB version of this. So far, so good, but googling it seems like I am lucky.

[yabanci]

I was thinking about that, and I could probably pull that off, but the less I have to touch the inside of my computer, the better off I am. That's my general rule, anyway! But I agree, they are much, much cheaper.

My advice would be to add another internal drive if you can. They are much less expensive and easier to install and deal with than a external drives. External drives are really only useful if you want to access the drive from different computers (e.g., desktop/laptop)

If you really want an external drive, don't buy an actual external drive. Buy an internal drive and an external enclosure. You'll save a whole lot of money. But be careful with your choice of an enclosure. Most have no cooling mechanism and the drive overheats and ends up failing early.

The enclosure I have and recommend has a built in cooling fan that makes hardly any noise. It's a tad more expensive than a vanilla enclosure, but it's top of the line and well worth the price : http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145656 (this is the USB version, but they also have a firewire/USB version that I like better because firewire is faster)

Also, look for hard drive deals at the fatwallet forums rather than rushing out and buying the drive. You can regularly get a 200gb hard drive for about $40 -$60 when you get a combination of a sale/rebate/pricematch. My last drive purchase was a 250gb Western Digital at circuit city that came to a total of $37 including tax and after rebates.

[Draft Dodger]

Does anyone know anything about this brand?
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/LaCie-External-Hard-Drive-300703U-/sem/rpsm/oid/121491/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
That seems kind of cheap for a 250GB External.

Lacie is a great brand. someone really smart recommended them in post #4...

[valhalla]

i just bought one of these a few hours ago, looked like a pretty good deal..

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=0-N82E16822161827

[Karim]

I've been using a Maxtor 250GB USB/FireWire combo drive and am very pleased with it. I just got a new computer which actually has IEEE and the difference is amazing. The drive came with Retrospect backup software which I've put to good use but (thankfully) haven't had to use for disaster recovery.