Quality External Hard Drive - recommendations?

I'm looking for an external hard drive for my laptop. I want a quality one that is preferably 250 GB or larger and with a transfer speed of 7200 rpm.

Problem is, I'm a newbie and I don't completely understand what interface I should have, etc. The hard drive will be for my Dell Inspiron 1520 with Windows XP.

Can anyone help?

 

Do you want a 2.5" or 3.5" HDD ??
You can make your own, for much cheaper, rather than buying an already assembled external HDD, i.e. WD Passport (unless you come across a good, cheap one)....

 

Doesn't matter whether it's 2.5" or 3.5"

This is how green I am with computers: what does HDD mean?

If I knew how to make my own, I probably would...

 

HDD - Hard Disk Drive

You can make your own, by buying a 2.5"/3.5" SATA HDD, buy a good enclosure, cables (Firewire/USB/eSATA), and just assemble it to make your own external HDD.

Or buy an external like the WD Passport, or the WD MyBook.
http://www.wdc.com/en/PRODUCTS/index.asp?Cat=5

 

Thanks - I appreciate your patience with my lack of knowledge

Making one doesn't sound too complicated. As far as WD - have you used them before? I've read a lot of reviews and they were split down the middle - 50% of reviewers like them, 50% said they were crap.

 

I have never bought externals from WD, Seagate, etc etc.

I have always made my own externals, with good enclosures and cheap HDDs.
Your notebook has a 4-pin FireWire port, so you can buy a 320GB 5400RPM HDD, install it in an enclosure, and use it on USB power with your notebook. Will be fast and portable.

EDIT: You can checkout these HDDs, if in the US.. Link

 

Sorry Andy, my opinion is differ from yours on this one.

Here is the reply I made in another similar thread recently:

Get a package from one of the well known brands instead of buying the drive and enclosure yourself, it will end up pretty much the same price, but you will get the extra power management (depends on the model), backup, and security software, and the enclosure build quality is usually better too. Here are some good ones, you can't really go wrong with either one of them:

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/
http://store.iomega.com/
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=5
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/

ADDED: You will also get better support from them too.

 

Hehehe....

I really didn't find any 320GB external HDD with firewire/USB 2.0 support for less than $180. I still believe building your own is cheaper. Buy a Seagate 5400.5 320GB for $90-100 with a 5-Year Manufacturer's warranty, a 2.5" enclosure for about $30-35 (firewire cable is normally included in the package), and a USB Y-cable for about $10....Done !!

 

In terms of how it will perform, the pecking order is eSATA > Firewire > USB with USB being the slowest.

I like Firewire since it's the only one that provides enough bus-power to run the fastest newest 7200 rpm drives.

 

Huh? The Buffalo DriveStation 320 GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394a is only $109.99.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165066

The 500 GB version is only $134.99.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165067

I checked on many, building your own is not really cheaper, sometimes it can even be more expensive.

Don't forget the software and support you're getting too.

 

Owh....I see.
I know 3.5" HDDs are normally cheaper. I was referring only to 2.5" (portable) externals..
NVM upto the OP....

 

oops... sorry.

But my opinion still stands about buying a package from a well known brand.