External hard drive: how to know which is good?

[Trifna]

What I want is something not that big but secure for personal storage (my laptop has little storage). No need for fancy options, it's no mp3 player or yadayada.

Apparently there are two types of external hard drives, but I have no clue what they are... Other than that, I do not have much of a clue about how to buy those, and www.cnet.com does not help that much.

[Kuciwalker]

Re: External hard drive: how to know which is good?

Look at the number to the left of the "GB".

[Zopperoni]

What's your main driver?

a) Additional storage (nothing fancy)
b) Space for backups with sync options
c) Portability (easy to carry around without the need for power cables and a bulky device)

What are your space requirements?

a) I don't have many large files, 100 GB will suffice
b) I want to have a sufficient amount of storage space available (~300 GB)
c) I want the mother of all mobile harddisks (~500 GB)
d) I want the grandmother of all mobile harddisks (~1 TB)

[Colonâ„¢]

Re: Re: External hard drive: how to know which is good?

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Look at the number to the left of the "GB".

The higher the better.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Zopperoni
d) I want the grandmother of all mobile harddisks (~1 TB)

You wouldn't the grandmother of hards disk be really old, slow and likely to stop functioning at any moment? I don't think he'd want one like that....

[SlowwHand]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/117817-1/article.html

Maybe compare these two.

Western Digital Dual-Option Media Center
• 250GB
• USB 2.0, FireWire 400 interfaces
• 7200 rpm
• 8MB buffer
• Price when ranked: $330 ($1.32 per GB)

Seagate 200GB External Hard Drive
• 200GB
• USB 2.0, FireWire 400 interfaces
• 7200 rpm
• 8MB buffer
• Price when ranked: $230 ($1.15 per GB)

[LordShiva]

Meh. Make your own - buy a USB2/FireWire external HDD enclosure, buy an internal hard drive, assemble, save money, end up with exactly the same thing.

[Trifna]

Sorry, I disappeared while I started the thread... my answer:


Looked at website, but a bit old...
What's the difference between desktop and laptop "portable hard drives"?


Kuci: Not only size counts!


Zopperoni: "a" and "a". And if the hard drive breaks, I wont lose the load of things I have. Few GB is fine, but most reliable quality.


Shiva: I remember breaking a hard drive by playing with it.

[Dinner]

You could always try reading the reviews in PC Magazine or one of those other PC publications.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Trifna
Shiva: I remember breaking a hard drive by playing with it.

Don't play with it, build with it

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by SlowwHand

Seagate 200GB External Hard Drive
• 200GB
• USB 2.0, FireWire 400 interfaces
• 7200 rpm
• 8MB buffer
• Price when ranked: $230 ($1.15 per GB)

Wow, prices are a lot cheaper in Hong Kong.

I bought a Seagate 160GB last week for HK$630, about US$80, or 50 US cents per GB.

[Nostromo]

I certainly hope so. The page he linked is two years old

[Trifna]

Your Seagate looks sweet

I guess that not-for-laptop portable drives still work when laptops are connected to the wall... so I might just bye any of those from a good company and with good reviews... like a Seagate

[snoopy369]

Be aware that the biggest problem with external HDD is heat damage ... more so than in-case HDDs, as there's less cooling. Get one with good cooling ... and don't put it too close to your actual computer.

[Tingkai]

Is heat going to be that much of a problem if the external hd is only used for back up?