need helping buying an external hard drive

[SA209]

I am a medical student and need a reliable and cheap external hard drive for mostly lecture notes , anatomy slides, and Kaplan Videos etc. I don't know much about computers and technology and i need one that i can easily use and maintain, as hassle free as possible. I found the following deal on a Seagate from buy.com for 65 dollars after discount and google checkout. Please advice me on if this is a good purchase or not. thank you.

The Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 with SATA 3Gb/s and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) adheres to the SATA specification and is the industry's most comprehensive 3.5-inch drive, providing leading technology targeted at SATA servers, mainstream and high-performance PCs/workstations, PC gaming systems and media PCs.

Features
Storage Capacity 250GB
Manufacturer Seagate Technology
Manufacturer Part Number ST3250824AS
Standard Warranty 5 Year(s) Limited
Form Factor 3.5" Internal
Interfaces/Ports 1 x 7-pin Serial ATA/300 Serial ATA
Rotational Speed 7200 rpm
Manufacturer Website Address www.seagate.com
Data Transfer Rate 300MBps External Maximum Serial ATA - II
Product Name Barracuda 7200.9 Hard Drive

 

[RebateMonger]

You asked about external hard drives, and then quoted information about an internal hard drive. Are you going to put the Seagate drive into a 3rd-party external housing?

As a generality, at this time I recommend NOT buying either Maxtor or Western Digital EXTERNAL drives. Maxtor drives have had reliability issues for the past couple of years (mostly drive controller failures), and Western Digital has had power supply connection issues for their external housings (the power connectors are too lose in their sockets).

No matter what you do, be aware that external hard drives have lower reliability than internal drives. They are more likely to get bumped and to suffer overheating damage.

I don't advise storing the ONLY copy of valuable data on an external hard drive. Of course, I don't advise storing the ONLY copy of valuable data on an internal hard drive, either.

 

[Harvey]

Standard internal hard drives are pretty cheap. You may save some money by using one in an external enclosure that matches your requirements. Here are some examples.

 

[Boyo]

Originally posted by: Harvey
Standard internal hard drives are pretty cheap. You may save some money by using one in an external enclosure that matches your requirements. Here are some examples.

Exactly. Buy the Seagate internal hard drive, and then get a Vantec NexStar External hard drive enclosure. You will then have the reliability of a good hard drive.

Welcome to AT, BTW.

 

[Bob Anderson]

If you want it to be as hassle free as possible, buy an external USB hard drive that already is fitted in its own enclosure. To get an idea of what is available check out any online retailer.

Most of the people here are computer hobbyists and would rather assemble their own internal hard drive into a separate external enclosure. You sound like you are more of an end-user of products that plug and play. Any external USB is a snap to set up: plug it in and Windows will detect it. That's it, you're off to the races.

-Bob