Recommend external hard drive?

[Mallomar]

I'm looking to buy an external HD (desktop, not portable) in the 6-8TB range. I use externals ONLY for backups, not for archiving. I normally have at least 3 externals, and backup to a different drive each time. I use Macrium for backups, if that matters. My desktop PC is old, so it only has USB 2.

One of my old Seagates croaked (click of death) so I need to replace it ASAP. FWIW, my other 2 externals are another old Seagate and a younger WD My Book. I've been doing research, but I'm not a technical person (just an old lady who knows the value of backups), so I'm hoping to get some recommendations. I'm looking at the WD My Book 6TB, but am not sure if the hardware encryption is a dealbreaker for me. I doubt that I would ever want to take the HD out of the case -- when an external HD croaks, I just buy a new one, I don't try to get the files off it, since they are just backups. (BTW, I have no idea if my existing My Book has hardware encryption.)

Another drive I've just read about is the WD MyBook EasyStore 8TB. Would that be a better option than the My Book?

I would really appreciate any suggestions. I want to keep the cost under $200 (the more under, the better), but I do want a reliable drive that I can expect to get a couple of years out of.

Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Have you seen the Hot Deals forum on this site? There's a current Hot Deal at BestBuy, for the EasyStore 8TB external. Seems like a good deal to me. Might want to check that out.

Edit: I might have some USB2.0 500GB external desktop drives soon too.

 

[Mallomar]

Thanks, I didn't know about the Hot Deals forum. That EasyStore sounds good.

 

[Mallomar]

Thanks again for the tip. I picked up two of them at my local BB. Both made in Thailand!