External HDD Recommendation Thread

By dragontail
in Hardware Hangout

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dragontail

Posted
Posted

I'm on the hunt for an replacement external HDD after my WD MyBook 500GB died. I'm looking for reliability over anything else. I could go down several paths here:

  1. Get the most reliable single disk external drive.
  2. Get a RAID 1 box like the WD My Book Studio Edition II 1TB (Though I'm not too keen on another WD drive after my one just failed, maybe you guys had more luck with other WD drives?)
  3. Get an external HDD enclosure and the most reliable internal drive.

Ideally, I'll be looking for a device under ?100/$150, with no NAS required, and portable (so a storage NAS box is out). With that all in mind, which path would you take, and which brand/device can you recommend (or avoid)?

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Grand Master

shihchiun

Posted
Posted

There is no most reliable drive - these days, they're all pretty much comparable. Some people won't use X brand because they've had bad experiences, but it really makes no difference. The ideal thing to do would be to backup your data (if it's important to you) somewhere other than the external drive. Could be on an internal drive, could be another external drive.

I would get an enclosure (or 2, if there isn't anywhere else you can backup your data to) and an internal drive. It's typically cheaper that way.

Grand Master

Mindovermaster Global Moderator

Posted
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Posted

dragontail, I've used a 320gb MyBook Essential Edition for close to half a year now. I had no problems with it.

There anyway you can RMA the MyBook? WD usually has a 2-year warranty on them.

Did you try the Seagate/Maxtor externals? I heard those were quite good.

But always, I say WD FTW!

Grand Master

Argote

Posted
Posted

Yes, I currently own 3 external HDDs

- LaCie Hard Disk 750 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive, Design by Neil Poulton 301303U

- 250GB 3.5" WD hdd in some generic enclosure (Used to have a 160GB maxtor in there but it died)

- 80GB 2.5" Seagate hdd is some generic enclosure

So basically I think that my sample size and the time I've had them is not enough to determine which is better. The same goes for almost anyone on this forum...

Grand Master

capr

Posted
Posted

actually there is a such a thing as most reliable just not in your budget range... SSDs are supposed to live for a LONG time and only thing that ill mess then up is water damage or you beaking it in half...

if you go the internal route you will findout that WD drives are right on top of the market for their speed and quality... so it's just a matter of luck. hard drives WILL fail.. it's just a matter of whn.

Grand Master

RAID 0

Posted
Posted
Anyone have experience with acomdata PureDrives (USB + eSATA)?

They seems cheaper than buying separate enclosures and disks. This one has 640GB and only costs $89.99.

If that's the Western Digital drive, go for it. WD is the only company I trust with my data.

Grand Master

Xero

Posted
Posted (edited)

SimpleTech has fantastic externals. Look great, and have every port you'd want and the biggest sizes you can get. Definitely worth it if you plan on keeping it for a long time. In terms of reliability I've had mine for nearly 6 months now. I got it after all my others failed. Its a great drive and quiet too. Highly recommend this.

They have a few models, a ProDrive 1TB (1.5TB 1Q09) Duo ProDrive 2TB (3TB Q109) I think they have a 1.5TB model somewhere now but its uses 2 drives whereas the new one will use only 1.

ProDrive

pro_drive-34_0.jpg

Duo ProDrive

duo_pro_drive_quad_250x250.jpg

Edited by Xero
Enthusiast

teaumaz

Posted
Posted
WD MyBook seems to be the most popular AFAIK.

I own two Iomega eGo drives (http://www.iomega-europe.com/section?SID=0b34a584304d9e79d181145f073d430be50:4740&secid=39879), one of 80Gigs which is over three years old and which I carry to and from work every single day and still works flawlessly, and one 500Gig which after 4 months also still works flawlessly. They are highly portable and I'm really happy with them.

Contributor

dragontail

Posted
  • Author
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Hmm, interesting. I'm looking into all your suggestions, so keep em coming. What do you think about getting an enclosure, and then putting an enterprise internal into it? The main problem I have with this idea is that most all-in-one HDDs will have some kind of shock sensor inside it, which protects the disk from knocks, whilst an internal drive won't as it's not designed to be carried around. It will also be quite expensive, so is it worth the premium?

Proficient

Virtunate

Posted
Posted

If your going to be carrying the drive around a lot, don't get a 3.5" drive, stick with a 2.5". I'm currently in IT and there was one week where several of my classmates 3.5" failed just from the wear and tear of being carried around. Also, if your going for an hard drive/enclosure combo, I'd recommend getting a Vantec Enclosure, there very sturdy (alumnium) and last a long time. And there not expensive, usually around $30 CAD (don't know the what that would be in GBP)

Experienced

lt8480

Posted
Posted

If you are on Vista or plan on moving to it in the near future - I would not recommend WD, as I have had problems and they are known for causing slow boot up times (when turned on) with certain motherboards

[some motherboards reads them as bootable devices when reading them - but Vista cannot boot from a USB HD, and for some reason this causes Vista to hang. Im not sure if I should blame Microsoft of WD. I do not know if other manufacturers cause similar issues.

Grand Master

Mindovermaster Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
Posted
If you are on Vista or plan on moving to it in the near future - I would not recommend WD, as I have had problems and they are known for causing slow boot up times (when turned on) with certain motherboards

[some motherboards reads them as bootable devices when reading them - but Vista cannot boot from a USB HD, and for some reason this causes Vista to hang. Im not sure if I should blame Microsoft of WD. I do not know if other manufacturers cause similar issues.

I never heard of that. i run Vista, and have a WD MyBook. I didn't notice a slow up.

Vista doesn't boot off a USB HDD, you BIOS might.

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