# External hard drives?



## Kajet (Sep 29, 2010)

I will openly admit I'm kind of a noob on the topic, but I see the usefulness of an external HD.

But before I go out and buy one that turns out to be a worthless POS I thought I'd ask for recommendations/things to look at when buying one, I'm fairly certain someone here knows better than I do.


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## CaptainCool (Sep 29, 2010)

i think anything from western digital should do a great job^^


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## Pine (Sep 29, 2010)

some external hard drives offer a lot of extra space (some up to 2 or 3 TB) and are also fireproof/waterproof. It really depends on what kind of information you want to store. If it's valuable, I'd go with one like the one I mentioned.


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## ArielMT (Sep 30, 2010)

Take a look at hard drive enclosures as well.  With one of them, the only thing to do to have an external hard drive is to get and install a good internal hard drive.  If you need to upgrade, the hard disk inside is all you need to replace.  And if the enclosure goes bad, then putting the hard disk in a new enclosure is all you'll need to do to access your data again.

They come with USB and/or eSATA connections to the PC.  Make sure yours has the right ports.

They come in 3.5" and 2.5" form factors.  If you can spare the space and power outlet, get a 3.5" because 3.5" drives cost a lot less per GB.

And they come with IDE and SATA connectors internally.  Go with SATA unless you come across a sweet deal on IDE drives.


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## Riv (Sep 30, 2010)

I haven't owned many external hard drives, but I would not recommend a "Hammer Storage Morespace" drive. Mine broke within the first two months. For the last year or so I've been using a LaCie "Rugged" and a Fantom Drives 1TB, both of which seem fairly dependable. There are some dents in the outer casing of the Rugged drive, but the innards still work like new, and it's powered through USB, which is convenient for laptop use.


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## RailRide (Sep 30, 2010)

And you should consider having more than one. My first experience with drive failure was _with_ an external drive. That had a lot of stuff that I moved off my main computer to free up space and thus had only one "official" copy of.

Now I have at least two drives for certain categories of data (just synchronized 35GB of photos across two drives yesterday morning), and four for my art projects (the fourth one stays in my locker at work). Total of ten drives, not including the one that backs up my DVR recordings.

And when I get around to digitizing my collection of off-the-air VHS recordings of series that never got a DVD release, there will probably be multiples of two for those as well.

---PCJ


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## Kaine Wuff (Sep 30, 2010)

Make sure you get an external HD with an eSata interface if you want to be accessing large files on it often (ie videos, games ect.) USB 2.0 is fine if you'll be storing things long term, but it's a tad slow if you plan to be moving things around a lot.

Oh and, personally, I recommend against a WD MyBook, just from personal experience. Nothing but a nightmare with connectivity and driver issues with Windows. I finally managed to get it running reliably when I switched to Linux.


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## Lapdog (Sep 30, 2010)

I know from experience that the Seagate 1TB Expansion External Desktop Hard Drive is an absolutely fantastic drive. I don't really do big file transfers, but I do use alot of it up with all my school work. Not to mention music.. Like Kaine Wuff said, If you are going to do big file transfers then eSata connection would be a wide move. Or, if your computer supports it, USB3.0; but i've not found a drive with that supported. This as a good example.


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## yiffytimesnews (Oct 3, 2010)

Okay I was a newbie when I got mine and I bought my very 1st just last year. So why buy one? So you have a place to store stuff you don't need right away. I have a lot of collections music, radio programs, tons of scans, and of course roms about 149  GB so far.


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## RockTheFur (Oct 4, 2010)

Truly depends on what you want to use it for. Newegg.com usually has some great External Hard Drives.
If you want something for mobility and general use, go for one around the sizes of 160GB-320GB. At home I use a 1 TB external for other uses such as large files or important documents. My family uses it for photos and such if thats the way you want to go.


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## Runefox (Oct 4, 2010)

Personally, I'd go the route of buying a desktop hard drive and slapping it into an external eSATA, Firewire or USB enclosure. Honestly, that's what you'll find most external hard drives are to begin with.


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## Lapdog (Oct 5, 2010)

Runefox said:


> Personally, I'd go the route of buying a desktop hard drive and slapping it into an external eSATA, Firewire or USB enclosure. Honestly, that's what you'll find most external hard drives are to begin with.


 
Not only that, but that way is also (in very common cases.. literally) cheaper than buying one marked as an external drive.

Not done that personally, however I will consider it in the future.


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## Carenath (Oct 5, 2010)

CaptainCool said:


> i think anything from western digital should do a great job^^


 Generally speaking Western Digital drives are no more or less reliable than any other hard drive manufacturer for 'desktop' grade hard drives.
Western Digital, Samsung, Hitatchi, Seagate.. from my own experience they're all about as reliable as each other. What will matter the most, is the warranty you get from the manufacturer of the hard drive (if you're going with an enclosure) or the whole unit (if you're buying a regular external drive.
To that end, I would agree on WD for their swift RMA policy.



ArielMT said:


> Take a look at hard drive enclosures as well.  With one of them, the only thing to do to have an external hard drive is to get and install a good internal hard drive.  If you need to upgrade, the hard disk inside is all you need to replace.  And if the enclosure goes bad, then putting the hard disk in a new enclosure is all you'll need to do to access your data again.
> 
> They come with USB and/or eSATA connections to the PC.  Make sure yours has the right ports.
> 
> ...


 Actually I would highly recommend buying a drive enclosure, period, do not settle for an external drive that doesn't provide an eSata port as an option.

Although I recommended WD.. I've had at least three WD drives give me problems at one time or another, and then seem to be perfectly fine outside of that. I'd describe them as quirky and I'd never rely on a single WD drive to store all my data, unless it was an Enterprise class SATA drive.
Hitachi's Deskstar range have been the most reliable for me, along with, Samsung and Seagate drives in general. However, Seagate drives do have a tendency to fail completely and without warning either, so your mileage may vary.


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## ArielMT (Oct 8, 2010)

Also, rarely do hard drive enclosures require separate driver disks to install them, and neither do they come with autorun software which installs trialware (time-bomb demos) of backup programs and other crapware.  (I'm looking right at you, Maxtor OneTouch and Western Digital Mybook.)  Once an enclosure has a hard drive in it, it really is plug and play.


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## Kaine Wuff (Oct 9, 2010)

ArielMT said:


> Also, rarely do hard drive enclosures require separate driver disks to install them, and neither do they come with autorun software which installs trialware (time-bomb demos) of backup programs and other crapware.  (I'm looking right at you, Maxtor OneTouch and Western Digital Mybook.)  Once an enclosure has a hard drive in it, it really is plug and play.


 
Amen. The Mybook's software was a nightmare - glad I don't have to deal with it in Linux.

I'm starting to collect more HD's than I'd like in my PC anyway, so I'll probably also go the route of external enclosure in the future.


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## Runefox (Oct 9, 2010)

One other note: External hard drives "proper" are also very difficult to open up and recover data from if, for example, the enclosure's USB/Firewire/eSata controller were to fail, or if the enclosure no longer powered up.


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## Lapdog (Oct 10, 2010)

Runefox said:


> One other note: External hard drives "proper" are also very difficult to open up and recover data from if, for example, the enclosure's USB/Firewire/eSata controller were to fail, or if the enclosure no longer powered up.


 
But even then, couldn't you just take the hard drive out of the enclosure and use a cable for it, to recover data?


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## net-cat (Oct 10, 2010)

First, do you want portability or cheap?

If you want portable, go with a 2.5" drive. I'd be very careful about getting a 2.5" enclosure and installing your own drive. Many 2.5" drives on the market draw too much power to be powered only over USB.

If you want cheap, buy a 3.5" drive enclosure, install a 3.5" drive in it. I'd suggest Western Digital or Seagate. If you don't feel like taking the "some assembly required" method, buy a finished enclosure with a drive preinstalled. (The brand recommendations stand.) If the enclosure fails, you can go find yourself a Dremel tool to get the drive out of the enclosure. (I had an old LaCie drive that I had to do this to. I actually still have the drive. It was a 250GB IDE Western Digital.)


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## Runefox (Oct 10, 2010)

Lapdog said:


> But even then, couldn't you just take the hard drive out of the enclosure and use a cable for it, to recover data?


 
That's what I mean, if you're using an external enclosure, you can do that. If you bought an "external hard drive", you're basically buying a hard drive inside a *sealed* external enclosure. If something goes wrong with the controller or what have you, those "external hard drives" are (and this is putting it VERY lightly) a bitch to open and recover data from. An enclosure enables you to just pop either a clip or a couple screws and there's your hard drive.


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## Lapdog (Oct 10, 2010)

Runefox said:


> That's what I mean, if you're using an external enclosure, you can do that. If you bought an "external hard drive", you're basically buying a hard drive inside a *sealed* external enclosure. If something goes wrong with the controller or what have you, those "external hard drives" are (and this is putting it VERY lightly) a bitch to open and recover data from. An enclosure enables you to just pop either a clip or a couple screws and there's your hard drive.


 
You have an excellent point, and never have I been able to open up one of those stupid things *without breaking* the damn thing... And sometimes you have hard drives inside that use a ridiculous connector. I've seen one the the shape of a U.


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## RockTheFur (Oct 10, 2010)

Lapdog said:


> You have an excellent point, and never have I been able to open up one of those stupid things *without breaking* the damn thing... And sometimes you have hard drives inside that use a ridiculous connector. I've seen one the the shape of a U.


 
Well, you could go online for help to open it or something.


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## Runefox (Oct 10, 2010)

RockTheFur said:


> Well, you could go online for help to open it or something.


 
Generally you need to either rip/dremel it open or use specialized tools and/or a *lot* of time and patience hacking away at it to open those bastards up. Considering that the drives inside are *identical* to the drives you'd put in a computer anyway, the only reason to get an "external hard drive" is for cost reasons - They're usually cheaper than buying a good (keyword good!) enclosure plus a drive.


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## Lapdog (Oct 11, 2010)

RockTheFur said:


> Well, you could go online for help to open it or something.


 
I doubt that there's a online tutorial for opening hard drive enclosures, and if there is, then it must be someone who has alot of time on their hands.



Runefox said:


> Generally you need to either rip/dremel it open or use specialized tools and/or a *lot* of time and patience hacking away at it to open those bastards up. Considering that the drives inside are *identical* to the drives you'd put in a computer anyway, the only reason to get an "external hard drive" is for cost reasons - They're usually cheaper than buying a good (keyword good!) enclosure plus a drive.


 
Well, I always thought that they would be more expensive, because you have the price of sealing the damn thing in the enclosure anyway.


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## Fenrari (Oct 11, 2010)

Are you looking for an external or a portable hard drive?

I personally love my portable drive, it's nifty 350gb-ness is perfect for transfering important things like world of warcraft and uhm... HOMEWORK yes... HOMEWORK! with me around campus as I'm frequently not at my computer/laptop. It's compact nature fits my needs and it doesn't need an outlet of any kind so it.

If you're looking for an investment, go for an external drive. they're usually bulkier and need a power source, but on the bright side they can hold several TBs of valuables. 

Both will run you from $50->$200+ Depending on the model, brand, and storage space.


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## yiffytimesnews (Oct 11, 2010)

One advice I give to a newbie, unless you are planning to install the software that comes with it. Format the drive before you start to move files to it.


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## ArielMT (Oct 12, 2010)

net-cat said:


> First, do you want portability or cheap?
> 
> If you want portable, go with a 2.5" drive. I'd be very careful about getting a 2.5" enclosure and installing your own drive. Many 2.5" drives on the market draw too much power to be powered only over USB.
> 
> If you want cheap, buy a 3.5" drive enclosure, install a 3.5" drive in it. I'd suggest Western Digital or Seagate. If you don't feel like taking the "some assembly required" method, buy a finished enclosure with a drive preinstalled. (The brand recommendations stand.) If the enclosure fails, you can go find yourself a Dremel tool to get the drive out of the enclosure. (I had an old LaCie drive that I had to do this to. I actually still have the drive. It was a 250GB IDE Western Digital.)


 
I'm seeing a lot of USB drives with dual USB connectors for the PC.  My Samsung DVD burner is one such drive.  The second USB connector isn't for anything but drawing more amps than a single port allows, should it be required.

Also, I had to destroy the enclosure of an old Backpack parallel port hard drive because no one ever made drivers for any OS but Windows 95/98, and the company didn't even offer that for download anymore when I had to reformat my Win98 book.


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## net-cat (Oct 12, 2010)

ArielMT said:


> I'm seeing a lot of USB drives with dual USB connectors for the PC.  My Samsung DVD burner is one such drive.  The second USB connector isn't for anything but drawing more amps than a single port allows, should it be required.


That's a bit of a hack. I see that and think "IN YOUR FACE USB SPEC."


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## Bir (Oct 12, 2010)

I got a 250g Hard Drive from Walmart. IT WORKS EXCELLENTLY. I used it for art class, and now I hold several downloaded games, tons of pictures, AND a bunch of other crap on it. xD It's portable, and it's a great tool for cheap, especially if something happens to your computer then everything is gone.

I am not a technerd at all, to be honest. In fact, I don't even own a cell phone and couldn't care less for much technology other than my mp3 player to keep me sane, and my internet. 

So that's my recommendation. They're excellent. 

Unfortunately, I don't have much use for mine. I put stuff on it just to give it use. I don't actually need it. XP But my boyfriend is all like "I CAN USE IT SOMEDAY." (He's a huge tech-nerd.)


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## Runefox (Oct 12, 2010)

net-cat said:


> That's a bit of a hack. I see that and think "IN YOUR FACE USB SPEC."


 
Doesn't the USB spec allow for devices to just draw power? I know there are several examples of charge-only devices like Microsoft's Play & Charge kits for the wireless 360 controller and the Playstation 3 controller, not to mention USB mobile phone chargers.


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## ArielMT (Oct 12, 2010)

Runefox said:


> Doesn't the USB spec allow for devices to just draw power? I know there are several examples of charge-only devices like Microsoft's Play & Charge kits for the wireless 360 controller and the Playstation 3 controller, not to mention USB mobile phone chargers.


 
I thought they were limited to something like 100 mA of current through the port, whether they were power/data or power only.  That's why the two-connector hack on the PC end of the USB cable for bus-powered devices.


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## Caustic (Oct 15, 2010)

If you want to do it the quick and dirty way, you could buy an expensive IDE/SATA to USB adapter which in essence is a external hard drive without a case.


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## ArielMT (Oct 15, 2010)

Caustic said:


> If you want to do it the quick and dirty way, you could buy an expensive IDE/SATA to USB adapter which in essence is a external hard drive without a case.


 
Expensive?  I got mine for $20.


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## Caustic (Oct 15, 2010)

ArielMT said:


> Expensive?  I got mine for $20.


 Damn it! I meant to say _in_expensive. Yeah... sorry bout' that.


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## ArielMT (Oct 15, 2010)

Caustic said:


> Damn it! I meant to say _in_expensive. Yeah... sorry bout' that.


 
Heh, I was about to tell you to stop shopping at Fry's.

Anyway, with one of those adapters, you still have to power the drive if it's not IDE 2.5", which means you need an AC adapter with a female Molex connector on the end.  (For a SATA drive, you can just get a Molex/SATA power adapter.)

It's still a rather extreme hack, though, and it shouldn't be used for lasting tasks like regular backups.  I use mine for emergency cloning and data recovery only.


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## Maraxk Montale (Oct 19, 2010)

I've had a 500GB Western Digital external USB drive (requires power cord) but has continiously worked for me for well over two years and I know I've at least dropped it 3 or 4 times from about 4 feet off the ground and kept on working fine. I've used up nearly a whole 420 GB on it at one time, I use it for all sorts of things though. I wouldn't mind having a 1TB drive though.


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## yiffytimesnews (Oct 19, 2010)

That is good to know I have the exact same drive.


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## Whosat (Nov 1, 2010)

If you've been waiting to get an external, there's no reason not to wait until Black Friday coming up to get an awesome deal.


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