Need help choosing an external hard drive

I have a gift card for Amazon and have decided to put it towards an external hard drive for my Dell M1330. I want to use it as a backup device for my laptop and for extra storage, so quality and reliability is my first concern. Small size for easy portability would be a great added bonus, but it wouldn't do me any good if it lost my files, so quality comes before size.

I was originally thinking about a 320GB Western Digital My Passport, but then I had the thought that portable hard drives may be less reliable than one that is full-sized. Does this tend to be the case or is it not an issue? In any case I started looking into a 500GB My Book Home instead but after some research I've come across several reviews complaining of their Western Digital external hard drives dying shortly after the warranty expired.

So now I come to you all as I'm sure I'm much less knowledgeable about these things than many of you. What would you recommend for me? It must be from Amazon and be around $100 - $150. I'd be using it to do backups of my laptop and as extra storage for documents, music, videos, etc.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

If you can get alittle more money id look into
Glyph firewire drives. They are mainly used in the audio recording world and they are rock solid. 250 gig drive is about $240

 

Lol why????

Who pays $1 per gig anymore? You do realize the compartment means nothing? The drive inside will be from Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, etc. and they make NO distinction between ones that go into expensive "Glyph" drives versus WD Passports.

Anyway, I've always liked the WD Passports; sleek, shiny, and USB powered. They're pretty good value too, especially if you find them on clearance or on rebate or something, as they often are. A slightly cheaper alternative is to buy a bare 2.5" or 3.5" (the latter being cheaper) and an enclosure and putting one together by yourself.

As to the hard drive failure, it's really hard to say which brand is "better"; some people swear by Seagates, others love WDs. As long as you keep your external in good shape and don't toss it around like a ball while it's in use, there's not much that can be done about freak failures, I think.

 

Thelazyone is correct; do not pay $1 per gig as those days are long gone. For brand, the ones he mentioned will all do fine as well. As far as the reviews goes, WD is one of the top HDD manufacturers in the WORLD so of course youre gonna hear bad reviews. When people have good, they take it for granted; only when something bad happens or if they get something they dislike do they decide to open their mouths and degrade the companies they did business with.

 

Its not just $1 per gig its the quality of the glyph drives.

 

I got $20 that says its either a Seagate, WD, Hitachi or Samsung!! Anybody got my odds?

Just because they probably use SCSI interfaces with e-sata/firewire connections, youd buy that? Just for a bit of an increase in bandwidth?

 

Seagate is the way to go. My dad and myself both have the wd mybook 500gig ones... my dads died several months ago, his was newer than mine, now he has a seagate which isnt giving any problems and i hear seagate is much more reliable

 

try to buy one of those don't use external power.

 

Thanks for the responses! Since it seems like which brand to get comes down to personal opinion, what about the difference between something portable, like a WD My Passport, and something larger, like a WD My Book Home? Would a portable one be more likely to die out on me or lose my data sooner?

 

I think for notebooks the portable externals would be a better choice.

Just bought a WD My passport essential (160 gb) and it is good looking, easy to use and it´s easy to carry around.

After all, it is a personal feeling. No HDD is perfect.

 

Hi... sorry for hi-jacking the threat a bit but I also have a question on external HDDs.

I'm looking into one for back-up purposes when re-formating my comp, and hopefully for storing pictures. I see a deal for a Lacie DDR, 750G for 129.99. Is Lacie a reliable brand?

It's going to be for home use and I don't intend to leave it on when I don't need to use it.

I don't seem to find anything Seagate in stores.

Thanks!

 

Lacie make stylish enclosures. I don't which brand of disks they use.

John

 

I've read people having problems with Lacie because of the cooling. Their stylish enclosures sometimes do not have proper ventilation.

I never had a problem with my Lacie 500GB external drive. It had a Samsung drive inside.

 

I'll likely wait on the portable until after I have a larger external hdd for my primary backup. Could anyone share the arguments for one over the other when it comes to the WD My Book Home and the Seagate FreeAgent Pro? Does either have any features that gives it an edge over the other? I know the Seagate has a longer warranty but I'd put more emphasis on product quality than the warranty length. How does their backup software/abilities compare? Any other thoughts? Thanks!