External hard drive suggestions?

[deevergote]

Ok, I'm sick of the viruses on my computer... I think it's time for a reformat.

I want to get an external hard drive so I can save the files I want to keep (hopefully not the viruses that I'm trying to get rid of!)


I generally know what's good and what isn't... but I figured I'd ask around before I decided to buy.

What's good. What's reliable? What should I stay away from? Where should I buy, and what should I expect to pay?

[Cb_JoeyG]

god i would love the same thing deev! im sick of slow ass computer from this stuff. i seen a west dig. 1tb in the black friday sale for best buy tomorrow for $99! thats a great deal on a huuge harddrive its the only thing ive asked for for christmas!

[jhoff]

wal mart has a sale on 1tb for 89bucks tomorrow at 5am

[Julianachos]

I have an iOmega 1tb external hard drive I bought for $130ish a few months back.

[mj213]

My personal suggestion is to stay away from notebook sized external backup drives. They're the ones about the size of your wallet. They were designed to be small so they're not as fast as desktop hard drives.

There's always good prices on external hard drives - I don't think there's much difference, but I prefer Western Digital or Seagate over Maxtor or any of the off-brand products.

[buckysaccord93]

Seagate FreeAgent Go 1TB USB 2.0 Tuxedo Black External Hard Drive

capacity: 1TB
interface: USB 2.0
dimensions: 5.12" x 3.15" x 0.83"
pros to this: Automatic backup Encryption technology keeps your files safe Power management features save energy
automatically recognized by windows system making it plug and use
saving files on it is easy all you do is drag and drop

ive found several from $180-210 brand new

[vietkid_2006]

I got a Maxtor 500GB external and it's been great for more then a year since I've owned it.

but i agree that you should get a notebook sized one. if you don't have much info to save, they are very convenient and don't use an external power source and uses the USB instead.

an example would be the Western Digital ones from Best buy.

[jhoff]

i have a seagate 500gb

[Tnwagn]

Are you going to be moving it a lot?

Western Digital - My Passport Elite 500GB External USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive

or

Will it sit on your desk most of the time?

Western Digital - 1.5TB External USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA Hard Drive

Stick with a big name brand. They usually carry some sort of guarantee that covers your data in the unlikely event something goes wrong.

[mj213]

but i agree that you should get a notebook sized one. if you don't have much info to save, they are very convenient and don't use an external power source and uses the USB instead.

an example would be the Western Digital ones from Best buy.

My personal suggestion is to stay away from notebook sized external backup drives. They're the ones about the size of your wallet. They were designed to be small so they're not as fast as desktop hard drives.

lol. I guess if you're carrying it around everywhere you go, it's not a big deal. I just don't recommend them for longevity. Most of the time they're just stuffed in a plastic case with a tiny board to convert the drive over to firewire or miniusb connections.

It all boils down to what you want to do, carry it or leave it as previously stated.

[h22sparkle]

I went with seagate Its much more affordable and easy to setup.

[Leung]

i've got a 1tb Hitachi external hard drive from Newegg.com for only 89 bucks, since i bought two, one for me and a friend i got free express shipping. What i used to do back then was i had spare hard drives sitting around, i'd just buy a enclosure for it and used it as an external hdd.

[deevergote]

So I went to Best Buy. Picked up a Western Digital 1tb My Book Elite for $120.

I was happy with my purchase. Decent price, nice size, a brand I know...

I open it up, and the connections are screwy. It looks like someone dropped it, and the spots to plug in the power and USB shifted. So now I have to go back to Best Buy top exchange this damn thing...

[Leung]

eww man... you way over paid in this economy for 1tb. if you're patient, order one from online using Pricewatch.com it'll list the cheapest to the most expensive but you'll save so much money. unless you have a shit ton of money you can send some my way.

[deevergote]

I don't mind paying a bit extra. I have the day off, a computer in desperate need of a reformat, and data that I MUST save.

I know I could order one online and save $20-$30... or get a bigger one for the price I paid. Still... I've never amassed 1tb of data in my entire life, so that's plenty big for me! I need it today, so I can take care of things properly.