External hard drive

[scots_lass]

It's been a while since this topic has been raised. Any recommendations on an external hard drive? Looking to use it to back up my PC (including lots of photos).

 

[Night Train]

I have no complaints about my Freecom Toughdrive. Had it for about 5 years and it's been dropped, squashed and generally battered with no loss of data.

I do have two backing each other up just in case and the first one is nearly 8 years old now and still going.

 

[Melvil]

I've got a Western Digital MyBook (1tb capacity, though I'm sure they now do 2tb at the price I paid for mine, which was about £80) - I bought it as a network drive and it syncs perfectly with airport and my macbook, both manually and time machine. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Do you want a sizeable one or a portable type one?

The cheaper ones are normally ones that are not so portable, and might need a mains plug for extra power as well as a USB connector. I have a Freecom portable one which is USB only (although there is a power plug IIRC which can be used if necessary).

Of course it does depend how much size you need to backup. With USB sticks at 32gb now easily, they could also be an option.

 

[ian turner]

I'd stick with those from the harddrive manufacturers. The 5 year old freecom may be fine but the 4 year old ones may be rubbish as freecom don't make drives and the will vary which drives are installed depending on who is offering them the best deal.

Externals are like normal drives review wise as they will all have their fans and nay sayers so check out the deals as you won't get a definitive answer on what's the best.

 

[Proto]

Best I've had so far is a Western Digital Passport.

Previously used several Freecom ToughDrives and a LaCie something, but the WD has outlasted them by far.

 

[beanzontoast]

I bought the previous version of this Western Digital Elements drive (also 1TB) in 2009 and it's never given me a single problem.

 

[Manonabike]

I bought a Seagate 1T about 6 months ago and it's fantastic. However, I bought another Seagate drive, a 2T this time and I'm not that happy with it. Both use the mains as a power source and I find that the 2T switches off when I turn the PC off only to turn itself on again at some point.... no idea why it does that.

 

[Davidc]

I've just changed to using a SATA drive dock (Icy Box brand) and using redundant drives from my computers in it. They were too small for the computers but they're ideal for backup.

This was much cheaper than buying manufacturers external drives because I already had the drives.

It would still be cheaper if I had to buy the drives!

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I'd stick with those from the harddrive manufacturers. The 5 year old freecom may be fine but the 4 year old ones may be rubbish

This is true, but in terms of 'normal' HDD I've had 'bad' experiences with all the HDD makers, so I tend to go with best guarantee at the moment. I think my Freecom, when bought, had a good guarantee.

 

[ian turner]

This is true, but in terms of 'normal' HDD I've had 'bad' experiences with all the HDD makers, so I tend to go with best guarantee at the moment. I think my Freecom, when bought, had a good guarantee.

1. Check where you have to return it to. In the case of Antec PSUs I found it was the Netherlands so didn't bother
2. Given you can get a 1TB drive for as little as £40 it's not the cost of replacement that's the bother so much as the loss of data and having to rebackup to the new drive. So reliability is the main concern
3 Investigation suggests Freecom offer a 1-2 year warranty whereas samsung for instance are offering 3 years and seagate 5 years to match their bare drives warranties.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

1. Check where you have to return it to. In the case of Antec PSUs I found it was the Netherlands so didn't bother
2. Given you can get a 1TB drive for as little as £40 it's not the cost of replacement that's the bother so much as the loss of data and having to rebackup to the new drive. So reliability is the main concern
3 Investigation suggests Freecom offer a 1-2 year warranty whereas samsung for instance are offering 3 years and seagate 5 years to match their bare drives warranties.

Yeah, I've been bitten with that 'return' thing once before - Maxtor wanted it sent back to the US at my cost.
I take your point in '2' but I still think that a manufacturer will offer a warranty based on their expected reliability, so still longer = better.

 

[fossyant]

I've got a 1TB Iomega Prestige and I think that came with a good warranty.

Had it a year, sits on top of the base unit and you never now it's there - very quiet.

 

[Night Train]

I worry less about the returns and guarentees and more about the data being safe, hence I have two back up drives. It is unlikely that both will fail at the same time.

I like the Freecom for its portability and ability to bounce when dropped though that may not mean it is the best.

Mine are only small capacity, 160Gb, more then enough for my immediate needs.

 

[ian turner]

Yeah, I've been bitten with that 'return' thing once before - Maxtor wanted it sent back to the US at my cost.
I take your point in '2' but I still think that a manufacturer will offer a warranty based on their expected reliability, so still longer = better.

Belkin offered lifetime warranties on their routers due to their reputation for dying.

Folks were recommending them on that basis !!!

I wouldn't place bets on life expectancy based on warranties.