External Hard Drive

[Navster]

I'm looking to purchase an external hard drive this week, I have a few in mind and was looking for some feeback, please let me know what you guys think... Thanks in advance for anyone who replies

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...&skuId=9467196

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+...&skuId=9238265

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Iomega+-...&skuId=9219678

I'm leaning toward the Western Digital one... what do you guys think

[Groo The Perverted]

I didn't check those links, but I would suggest the Western Digital Passport.

I have a 500gig one, and it works perfectly with my PS3. I just plug it in and voila!

Never had one break on me either.

[Batman1980]

Yeah I have 2 also but I like my western digital one more and will be replacing the 160 GB one soon with a 1 TB one.

[Navster]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Yeah I have 2 also but I like my western digital one more and will be replacing the 160 GB one soon with a 1 TB one.

i thought of getting a 1tb also.. but the 1.5tb is only $30 more so why not...

[DJ Manyak]

go big or go home

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by NavsterKing

I'm looking to purchase an external hard drive this week, I have a few in mind and was looking for some feeback, please let me know what you guys think... Thanks in advance for anyone who replies

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...&skuId=9467196

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+...&skuId=9238265

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Iomega+-...&skuId=9219678

I'm leaning toward the Western Digital one... what do you guys think

i just bought the seagate 1.5tb hdd
its sitting right next to me as i just got it today from amazon

1.5tb = the way to go

[brettallica]

Those all look pretty nice. Since they're all 1.5TB and all about the same price, I suppose the due diligence step would be to read reviews. I personally don't put a ton of stock in online reviews, though, as many times people don't say anything unless they have something bad to say, so a lot times the reviews aren't indicative of real-world performance. That said, I'm assuming they all work about equally well since they're all USB 2.0. My personal connection preference for external hard drives is FireWire, but I think they're phasing those out now.

[DC_Street]

Originally Posted by NavsterKing

I'm looking to purchase an external hard drive this week, I have a few in mind and was looking for some feeback, please let me know what you guys think... Thanks in advance for anyone who replies

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...&skuId=9467196

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+...&skuId=9238265

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Iomega+-...&skuId=9219678

I'm leaning toward the Western Digital one... what do you guys think

how long do you want it to last?

if you want to use it for only a few months go with the iomega, if you want it to last a year go with the seagate, if you want it to last a really long time...go with the WD

[Navster]

Originally Posted by DC_Street

how long do you want it to last?

if you want to use it for only a few months go with the iomega, if you want it to last a year go with the seagate, if you want it to last a really long time...go with the WD

ive heard a lot of good things about the WD so thats the one im going with.. thanks for all the feedback guys

[jono_0101]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

I didn't check those links, but I would suggest the Western Digital Passport.

I have a 500gig one, and it works perfectly with my PS3. I just plug it in and voila!

Never had one break on me either.

same here, my passport works fantastic, i highly recommend the western digital

[pokefan]

I own the WD and while it's reliable and nice drive it does have a big flaw. WD preloaded their recovery software on it and you can't disable it or format it because it's in it's own hidden partition. It mounts an extra drive to your computer that can be disabled but it's a pain. You also loose a lot of diskspace because of it and it only runs ~780GB instead of 980.

[Navster]

Originally Posted by pokefan

I own the WD and while it's reliable and nice drive it does have a big flaw. WD preloaded their recovery software on it and you can't disable it or format it because it's in it's own hidden partition. It mounts an extra drive to your computer that can be disabled but it's a pain. You also loose a lot of diskspace because of it and it only runs ~780GB instead of 980.

cant i re-format the hard drive to get rid of the partition or any of the pre-installed software?

[badboi]

Not sure what is going on with WD lately, but I'm not liking their new version of their external hard drives. I have the previous versions of the Elements and My Book drives and never had an issue with them. Worked great and did what they are supposed to do. The newer versions are complete crap. Cheap plastic (even cheaper than the previous versions), USB cables fit way too loose in the connection, and that darn software they've put on the drive itself. It bogs down your computer and is a pain to get rid of. You have to download more crap from WD to "hide" it, but no matter what you do, it's still there. And they also went from FAT32 format to NTFS format. Might not matter to some, but it does me. Very disappointed in my latest WD drive, but not sure which brand to go with in the future.

[badboi]

Originally Posted by NavsterKing

cant i re-format the hard drive to get rid of the partition or any of the pre-installed software?

Nope.

[Icecoldblue]

badboi, have you tried gparted to remove that hidden partition?

OP, what are you buying the external for? backups? extra space?

Is it for a laptop, desktop, ps3 or something else?

[Navster]

Originally Posted by Icecoldblue

badboi, have you tried gparted to remove that hidden partition?

OP, what are you buying the external for? backups? extra space?

Is it for a laptop, desktop, ps3 or something else?

Its really to store video files.... some 4-8gigs each...

[badboi]

Originally Posted by NavsterKing

cant i re-format the hard drive to get rid of the partition or any of the pre-installed software?

Originally Posted by Icecoldblue

badboi, have you tried gparted to remove that hidden partition?

OP, what are you buying the external for? backups? extra space?

Is it for a laptop, desktop, ps3 or something else?

No I haven't tried that. Might give it a shot though, but from all I've heard, this software is a real pain to get rid of.

Not to hijack this thread, but does anyone have any experience with HP hard drives? The Simplesaver ones?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822332047

[Icecoldblue]

Originally Posted by NavsterKing

Its really to store video files.... some 4-8gigs each...

That doesn't really tell me a whole lot.

Is it for a desktop which it will always be connected to?
If so, I suggest buying a internal hard drive as they are:
-cheaper
-doesn't use a extra power plug
-more desktop space


Is it used on multiple machines or is moved around a lot (ie. portable)?
If so, I suggest buying a internal drive of your choice and a External enclosure for it. Usually cheaper to make than the store bought enclosures.
Benefits over a standard external:
-can be cheaper
-no BS software
-can choose your own enclosure with whatever features you like (eSata/USB2.0 etc...)
-choose your own hard drive (company/size/speed/cache..)
-future possibilities (could move the hard drive to a desktop, replace the drive with a bigger one, could go on for a while...)
-easier to deal with if either the enclosure or drive fails

[Navster]

Originally Posted by Icecoldblue

That doesn't really tell me a whole lot.

Is it for a desktop which it will always be connected to?
If so, I suggest buying a internal hard drive as they are:
-cheaper
-doesn't use a extra power plug
-more desktop space


Is it used on multiple machines or is moved around a lot (ie. portable)?
If so, I suggest buying a internal drive of your choice and a External enclosure for it. Usually cheaper to make than the store bought enclosures.
Benefits over a standard external:
-can be cheaper
-no BS software
-can choose your own enclosure with whatever features you like (eSata/USB2.0 etc...)
-choose your own hard drive (company/size/speed/cache..)
-future possibilities (could move the hard drive to a desktop, replace the drive with a bigger one, could go on for a while...)
-easier to deal with if either the enclosure or drive fails

It will be used for multiple machines.. desktop, laptop & ps3, music, photos, videos ect.... so i should buy in internal hard drive with an enclosure than? is there something you can reccomend as to which brand i should get?

[Icecoldblue]

For a internal drive any 3.5" drive of your choice.

Can't really go wrong with anything on here.

As for an enclosure, there are a lot of brands out there. Find a couple that have the options you like (eSata/USB/Firewire etc) and try to find some reviews on them.

Personally, I'd probably go with Vantec as I've had positive experiences with them. They make decent products, and the enclosures are metal (unlike 3/4 of the other enclosures which are made of plastic). Looks like they are getting ready to release a bunch of USB 3.0 devices soon.