Whats a good external harddrive

[cmf21]

Need a external harddrive around 320 to 500gb's. What are the good ones that don't cost too much? Was looking at the WD Mybooks

 

[BlueAcolyte]

You want something with e-Sata...

640GB, fast, quiet, $80

 

[RebateMonger]

The MyBooks are probably the last ones I'd look at. I've recovered data from serveral failed ones. But, of course, they have a fairly high market penetration, so it's hard to know if there's an unusually high failure rate.

In general, external USB drives have had a pretty high failure rate. Many folks believe that the lack of fans or ventilation in most commercially-built external drives plays a part in this. If I'm going to run an external drive 24/7 or use it for heavy-duty constant backups, I prefer to build my own in a high-end, well-ventilated housing.

 

[somethingsketchy]

External Enclosures

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817153066 (currently $35.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817173042 (currently $39.99)

Internal SATA HDDs
(Whatever manufacturer of HDDs you like, per price, but for this example)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136283 (currently $89.99)

Personally I would recommend you build your own. Unless you do not have the technical know-how to build one yourself, an external HDD such as the WD MyBook, would be ill-advised. I have gone through 3 different manufacturers with mixed results.

So far with the one that I built so far, both the $39.99 and $89.99 items, I have had no issues whatsoever with heat or any issues that plague consumer external HDDs. The $39.99 enclosure comes with an e-Sata bracket (for desktops) and is very easy to use, just like USB. Personally I haven't noticed a difference between USB and e-Sata but the only thing I use my external HDD for is back-ups for my desktop. In short I would recommend you try and build your own. The benefits is you can choose whatever HDD manufacturer you want and the size you want. Then in the future if you feel that 320GB is too small you can remove the old HDD and pick up a 1TB (the maximum capacity I think). So unless you do not have the technical know-how to try it, I would recommend building one.

My two cents.

 

[California Roll]

I use the exact same two (the Blacx "toaster" and Rosewill) external enclosures somethingsketchy linked. I would however recommend the USB&esata version of the Blacx for only $4 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817153071

esata transfers for me are about 3x faster than USB2.0. Definitely worth it if you have mobo with sata capability.

 

[Old Hippie]

Antec MX-1 and your choice of any internal SATA HD that stikes your fancy.