Good, reliable external hard-drives

Pygmalion

Hey, looking for a new external hard-drive as I've pretty much filled my laptop and my old 250GB external.

I bought a Seagate 1.5TB a few weeks back and it started failing within a couple of days, got a refund and bought a (considerably more expensive) 2TB Hitachi one that wouldn't turn on at all (and when it did only for a few seconds).

Has anyone else here recently bought an eternal hard-drive with success and have any recommendations?
I'd be hoping for at least 1TB, more is better but the price seems to go up fairly steep after that so maybe I'll have to settle :P.

D

I had problems with seagate and iomega drives the only externals that i've found to be reliable are the western digital, but they are a little bit more pricey.

RolandIRL

+1 for western digital. have a 1TB for almost 2 years, still going strong. wasn't that dear - only €90 in PC world but that was 2 years ago. most i see now in shops are €120 for 1/1.5TB. try looking online for a WD one

ED E

I bought a WD about 6 months back, but that died after about 5weeks so I got it replaced and upgraded to a larger Seagate Freeagent. Never had any problems, but I dont move them, which I think is key. The networked backup(WD MyWorldBook) sits on a shelf inside and the Seagate sits beside my monitor. I've seen quite a few posts where people seem to move these kind of drives around, which isnt what they're really intended for. If thats what you're doing get a "passport" style one. The Iomega in peats seems ok, strong metal case(friend uses one).

DanGlee

I have a Lacie (Porsche Design) 500GB, 750GB

And the Neil Poulton (Piano Black) 2TB. Had them for about 4, 3 and 1 year. (Touch Wood) I've never had any trouble out of them, use them all the time.

The 2TB cost me €225 inc VAT & Delivery straight from the Lacie website. Looks slick next to my PS3. Use it to store media. Had RAID option on it.

Pygmalion

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Never had any problems, but I dont move them, which I think is key. The networked backup(WD MyWorldBook) sits on a shelf inside and the Seagate sits beside my monitor. I've seen quite a few posts where people seem to move these kind of drives around, which isnt what they're really intended for. If thats what you're doing get a "passport" style one.

The problem really is that I'm in DCU at the moment so I tend to go back and forward between Dublin and Wexford for any holidays (and a lot of weekends), so I need to move it around a good bit. And the passport style ones don't seem to have that much storage space (Haven't seen one above 500GB which I can see myself getting through quickly enough).
Although I could always leave the drive in Dublin when I go home and just copying over to my laptop what I think I'll use before going home, that way I'd only really be moving it around for any particularly long breaks.

That said, the two I got recently that broke hadn't been moved around at all, so that wasn't the problem.

EDIT: Also thanks for the replies, I'll consider a Western Digital one, I actually was going for one in PC World but they were out of stock.

DanGlee

I think Buffalo do a 1TB mini drive which is 2 500GB 2 1/2" drives together, so its portable, but I have a feeling you would be paying mucho bucks for it!

Google it and see, I had a quick look, but couldn't find it, but I remember reading about it on Engadget ages ago.

If you want portability, you could try looking for a rugged one that will withstand a bit of rough and tumble! Again, Google is your friend!

BostonB

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=573611
WD My Passport™ Essential SE 750GB 2,5", USB 2.0, Black

I think you need to think about what you are moving around. I suspect all you need is a data store in both locations and only move the differences around. Which is a lot less data.

The mobile 2.5 drives might be smaller but they run cooler and are designed to be moved around and thus are more robust. They are dsigned for mobile situations, like laptops. My 500GB 2.5 external drive runs far cooler than my 3.5 external.

Likewise is doesn't matter if a drive fails (in terms of data) if you have a backup. So instead of worrying about the relibility of the drive, just have more copies on other drives. I found my last few 3.5 drives ran quite hot. A few of them failed very quickly. I've had much better reliablily with my 2.5 drives. I think 3.5 drives kinda need some airflow, but most of the externals don't have any. I was considering moving to a 5.25 enclosure with a fan, but then its hardly portable, and not if you have a couple of them. Personally all the AC cables are a problem, so I moved to 2.5 drives.

I split my data into movies on to large drives, then other data like photos, music, files on to smaller drives. I also clean out all the clutter every so often. Also you can't replace your photos,or work, but you can music and movies. So backups should reflect that priority.

Also you might consider online storage if you have a decent broadband connection.