What brand of external hard drives do you guys use?

I was wondering what brand of external hard drives and how many gigs you guys are using and why? I need to get one, there are so many different ones out there. I've looked at Western Digital, Lacie & Seagate. I'd like one that has fire wire connection. Which one should I buy? I know that there basically all the same, but what advantages should I be look for? I'd like one that is easy to use and can be backed up with a push of a button. Thank you for all the answers and support!!

 

I have a western digital my book pro 400GB with firewire and usb 2.0. I only have 400GB because when I bought it 750GB, 1TB weren't even made yet.

... I like the design and the fact that I lights up blue. Back up is pretty easy : )

Also thought about getting a Lacie because of the lego shaped one

 

I only use mobile HDs.
I have a mobile Lacie 80GB HD which I have dropped a couple of times and is still working fine. I currently use it as my backup drive. I also have a 250GB WD Passport, which is quite new and I use it to store all my documents, music, movies etc.

Having Firewire is a bonus, although USB will be sufficient for most your needs if you're using mobile HDs. Mobile HDs are slow, and therefore won't benefit that much from the faster speeds transfer speeds that Firewire offers. Furthermore, a high number of PCs don't have proper Firewire ports, which damages the portability of mobile HDs quite a bit.

 

Western Digital MyBook, 500GB, Essential Edition (USB2).

Planning on buying another one of these, thinking of making it the firewire AND usb2-compatible one this time though.

No idea about "push of a button" backups though, not sure they make any like that that have software for Mac OS X. Use SuperDuper! or, if you have .Mac, you get Backup which is also pretty simple to use.

 

I'm in the market for a new mobil external HD. At work we've been using Lacie. I can't recall what brand HD they use, but we've had 2 glitches (hd failure out of warranty on the first, and firewire failure/hd dying on the second) Fortunately we'll be getting a warranty fix for the second drive, and tech support was very nice about it (portland, oregon). I wouldn't doubt some of the premature death is the owners fault as she's quite hard on her computers. Anyhow

I'm really interested in a Seagate because of the perpendicular recording, fall protection mechanism, and 5 year warranty. If I get one soon though, I'll purchase my own seperate enclosure. WD looks good too, and prices are very affordable for 160gb

 

I'm using a 500gb western digital mybook with usb 2.0, though I want to replace it with the mybook pro that has firewire 800.

 

I have one Seagate 120G portable hard drive, which does not need any power adapter.

Used it for almost one year,nothing wrong.

I use it to back up my latex files and research.

 

Western Digital 500GB MyBook. Not the cheapest, or the most expensive, the one in between, cant remember the name.

 

Hitachi Travelstar with a random enclosure...5400rpm

 

WD Passport 160GB, looks great, very small. I have my docs and video on it so far.

 

500GB Seagate FreeAgent Pro $89.00 from OfficeMax (USB 2.0)


burkle25 -- in regards to the name of your ex-5790, NPH short for Neil Patrick Harris?

 

I have a WD hard drive in some silly enclosure.

 

My iPod?
Useful for moving files between school-dorm-home...

 

I swear by Seagate products in general. 5 year standard warranty + great reliability. Before that I had bought probably 5 Western Digital hard drives and had maybe 3 of them fail at one time or another. That said, I have a WD Raptor in my desktop for about 2 years now with zero problems. I'm currently deciding between a 500GB FreeAgent Desktop and a 120GB FreeAgent Go.

 

500 GB Western Digital Premium ES (eSata + USB 2.0)

- eSata when tracking in the studio or on the road, or for playback.

- USB for basic transferring of everything else.

LaCie's are big with Audio/Video guys, however I've heard some use Maxtor discs. On the plus side, some also contain 2 discs that spin simultaneously, up to 2 firewire 800 ports, and very durable casing.

 

yes it is ... Thought it was a perfect name

My other computer is DT. I like using initials (part of my service tag)