What is a good external hard drive?

I want it mainly to store music, pictures, and video without using the hard drive up on my computer.i want it to have software because i had a wd my book essential edition and it didnt have software so it was kind of confusing. i want from maybe 160gb-320gb and the cheaper the better but probly under 175. also if u dont no any can u give me some sites to compare external hard drives...thanks for the help

 

What kind of software are you needing?

The first thing I do is Format any new HDD I get to ensure that the latest NTFS file system is on the drive...

The Hitachi (if you can still find them) or the WD series of external drives would be my suggestion (reliability being the #1 criteria for external drives).


I would suggest you spend 5 minutes with a friend to become 'unconfused' about using an external drive - any software in between you and your data may make it easy initially - but will only get in the way when you need to do something, explicitly, with your data.

As always; I recommend that you consider two externals (different brands/makes/models) to mirror your data to. If the data is important and/or irreplaceable to you. (And for the mirroring part? I suggest FreeFileSync as the software to make that happen).


Good luck.

 

Your question is too general. That like asking what's a good pair of shoes. Without knowing more about the wearer, the occasion, and/or how they intend to use them. But since you did mention storage (technically something all HDDs do) I assume the requirements aren't very challenging.

Typically the most important element is reliability, but speed, and capacity are also important. If you get an external HDD look for one with a lot more storage than the above. My minimum external HDD is 500 gb. But as it is, mine are all 1 TB drives.

 

The OP did state the usage model, but the 'software' part is confusing to me (but not 'too general').

To store data speed is not so important, but reliability and capacity are.

To go for a 1TB capacity HDD vs. a 500GB or less capacity model can be as little as a few dollars, but to buy another external if/when you fill the 'tiny' HDD you thought would be enough is a major purchase again.

As with a computer system: always buy the most HDD you can with the budget you have; that means the biggest capacity, newest model and smallest physical drive you can afford. Doing anything else will just end up being done twice (over the same length of ownership of a 'big enough' drive).

 

It depend on your preferences

physical size then you'll buy with plasticarround a HDD like WD elements. You won't have a SATA interface in cas the port failsand nochance of retrieving data.

reliabilty and performance get one of the newer SATA 6 GB USB 3.0 cases and buy a HDD rated 24/7 [h/days].

Smaller ones abailable in EUR are listed here http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=hde7s&so...58_1000%7E3772_2.5%7E1080_SATA+6Gb%2Fs#xf_top and hopefully identical english version ( e.g. the 1.5TB is missing) http://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=hde7s&x...080_SATA+6Gb%2Fs%7E3772_2.5%7E958_1000#xf_top If the interface or connectors fail you'll still have the SATA port to safe data or buy a new case.

Complete cases with drive(s) maybe cheaper but you'll curse yourself going cheap if you can't retrieve your data.

 

snn47, good points!

But a single internal/external HDD with all/most of your data is a showstopper for me. That is why I always recommend two (hopefully different models/brands) that are sync'd daily or more frequently, depending on how fast you generate data.

 

Since I own my zBook 15 I spread my data in addition to an external WD 2TB element and a Mushkin Ventura ultra USB3 SSD stick, internally to an Intel 530 240 GB mSATA, the HGST 1.5 TB for storage and fallback boot drive, and a fast Samsung 64 GB µSDXC since finally an internal SD reader supports the speed my SD cards provide.

One point I forgot to mention is to look for the price/TB rather then looking at the size/cost. There is a optimum for what you can spent, size and the current prices.