zakyr Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 What are the top portable ones this year? I'm looking to buy a 1TB for backup purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted November 23, 2015 Supervisor Share Posted November 23, 2015 I picked up a 2TB WD Essentials drive for just under 100 CHF that I'm pretty happy with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescob Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 The WD Elements Black is one of the most reliable 1TB models. No idea about the 2TB ones though, bigger models are generally less reliable so it's better to check the reviews first. T3X4S 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanoguy Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) At the moment, 2TB portable HDDs seem like the best deal from a price per TB perspective, as well as physical size. A lot of people recommend either the 2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim, or the 2TB WD My Passport Ultra (make sure it's the 2015 refresh). The one Nick recommended is also a good choice, but only if you don't want to use the backup software from WD (which comes bundled with the Passport). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zakyr Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 I'm not worried about the price/TB as much as I'm about the reliability and the prospect of lasting at least 2-3 years. Any views on Transcend 25M3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Supervisor Posted November 23, 2015 Supervisor Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) Hello, I have a couple of 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drives that I have been using without any issues for a while. LaCie also has a semi-ruggedized model, the LaCie Rugged Mini, which goes up to 4TB as well. Western Digital has the My PassPort Ultra series, which comes in capacities up to 3TB. All of these drives are USB 3.0, if you need eSATA, FireWire or Thunderbolt, it might be better to get the appropriate empty hard disk drive enclosure and roll your own. I've purchased enclosures from Oyen Data and CoolDrives in the past with no issues, as well as the usual suspects (Amazon, Newegg, etc.). I would also recommend getting a small padded enclosure to put the drive in when its not in use and being transported. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Edited December 17, 2015 by goretsky edited for line spacing problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3X4S Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 If you are not worried about price so much - you can get a USB3 portable SSD - Patriot makes a 512GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescob Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I'm not worried about the price/TB as much as I'm about the reliability and the prospect of lasting at least 2-3 years. Any views on Transcend 25M3? I usually check how the Amazon review scores are distributed to see if the HDD is likely to have issues or not. The 25M3 has noticeably higher 1-star reviews compared to the WD Elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zakyr Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Amazon reviews: Top positive + top negative reviews for Seagate Expansion 1TB vs. WD Passport Ultra 1TB. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odom Member Posted November 24, 2015 Member Share Posted November 24, 2015 WD My Passport, comes with license for the backup software, which I like very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidosho Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) I'm not worried about the price/TB as much as I'm about the reliability and the prospect of lasting at least 2-3 years. Don't buy WD Elements or Passports then, they use forced encryption which makes using the drive outside the enclosure impossible without formatting existing data should the enclosure board fail. The Passport doesn't even use a separate enclosure board, it's integrated into the drive PCB. I hate them with a passion, and still get them coming in to have new USB connectors soldered on. Your best bet is to buy a standard enclosure and drive, put it together yourself. I keep giving this advice on Neowin, I should be a millionaire. WD just want the drives to fail so you'll send the drive back to them, as apparently only they can reverse the encryption. BUT, the encryption has been cracked wide open. Kristian Kison did a paper on cracking it using Linux to recover the encryption keys: Got HW Crypto paper. It isn't easy though, so I still don't recommend the drives to end users. It even uses an article from my blog, TideLog in the references, on bypassing the USB connector if it breaks on the Passports, which was cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zakyr Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Thank you for the thorough explanation. I think the enclosure + standard SATA option is the best bet at the moment. However, I just looked up some enclosure brands and their website and found that none of them deliver to my country (Pakistan), not even Amazon. What's my second best option? I'm really turned off at WD, and not sure if I should go for Seagate. Please advise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Raze Subscriber² Posted November 24, 2015 Subscriber² Share Posted November 24, 2015 I have these drives and they have performed very well without any problems, the WD backup software works great for my needs. http://www.amazon.com/WDBBKD0020BBK-NESN-Passport-Ultra-Portable-External/dp/B00W8XXYSM http://www.amazon.com/WDBBKD0020BBK-NESN-Passport-Ultra-Portable-External/dp/B00W8XXYSM I use this drive with Serviio as my media server. http://www.amazon.com/HGST-7200RPM-High-Performance-Portable-0S03778/dp/B00IVFDN0K/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1448397924&sr=1-3&keywords=touro+s+1tb+7200+rpm+external Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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