External hard drive options?

shivohum

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2003
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I'm looking for an external hard drive between 1 and 3 TB. In order, I'm looking for:
* value
* reliability
* performance

I'm mainly going to be using this for storing and playing video and some backup, not to serve any files or do anything performance-intensive.

I'm looking to spend between $80 and $130, the lower the better.

I have a Macbook Pro right now that only supports USB 2.0 and Firewire 800... I also might want to sometimes play some of these video on TV.

Some questions:

1. Do I need a hard drive that supports USB 3.0? Do I need Thunderbolt?

2. Which brands/models should I consider?

3. Am I better off buying the enclosure and hard drive separately -- and if so, any recommendations on both?

4. Is it worth buying an enclosure/external hard drive with HDMI output, and if so, any recommendations?

Thanks!