Recommendations for External Hard Drive

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technicaljoe

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#87150 21-Jul-2011 08:48

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations for external hard drive.

I'm thinking about getting one for my Windows Home Server, and another one for my laptop.

Any advices or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Joseph

jtbthatsme

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#496109 21-Jul-2011 09:38

Presonally I use and would recommend Western Digital drives for external. I actually use one (but have several in use) for my documents folder where my important (digital) things in life are kept movies, music, photo's etc.

I have not once had a WD external drive fail on me either I use a 1.5tb for the above mentioned my documents drive and have a 500gig usb3 drive for more portable solutions.

technicaljoe

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#496111 21-Jul-2011 09:45

jtbthatsme: Thanks! Do you get enclosure and drive separately, or do you get WD's off-the-shelf external drive?

jtbthatsme

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#496121 21-Jul-2011 10:00

I always gone for off the shelf I have one hard drive that was failing internally (not a WD) that I put into a external casing which has worked well for now for 18 months. Internally I generally use Samsung Green drives or WD ones as a rule of thumb.

I am sure though others on here will be able to recommend some as well. Good luck with whichever you decide to go for.

jonb

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#496125 21-Jul-2011 10:14

Well I've had two out of two WD drives fail on me in the past 3 years, so I would recommend Seagate: the 1TB (usb powered) or 2TB (mains powered) going cheap at pbtech and warehouse stationary. they also have a three year warranty comapred to WD's 1year.

Bung

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#496134 21-Jul-2011 10:29

jonb: Well I've had two out of two WD drives fail on me in the past 3 years, so I would recommend Seagate: the 1TB (usb powered) or 2TB (mains powered) going cheap at pbtech and warehouse stationary. they also have a three year warranty comapred to WD's 1year.

That could be bad luck you can't tell anything from a small sample.

WD external drives here have 3 year limited warranties.

Interesting that on the Warehouse Stationery site they only claim a 2 year warranty for the Seagate, maybe their stock is ex Europe.

With the change to USB3 there should be a few bargains as old stock of USB 2 drives get cleared.

jtbthatsme

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#496146 21-Jul-2011 10:46

This is why I commented others will have other opinions hehe WD's do have 3 yr warranties (well at least every one I have bought) just don't get confused on the stores warranty vs manufacturer.

My one and only Seagate drive was terrible and returned within a day but like above it's a small sample had I bough 10 of each with half going back then i would have mentioned that but at the end of the day drives fail for many reasons. Under normal use I would expect a drive to last easily upwards past a 3 yr warranty.

As your not looking for anything other than drives that are sitting around doing what they're supposed to then really most should suit get the type that best suits your needs speed, size and budget wise. If your looking for more portable then Transcend portable drives have options there that meet drop tests standards (i think us army standard not sure if that's a plus though being the US army lol) so are pretty durable for minor knocks.

HP

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Bung

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#496163 21-Jul-2011 10:58

Just out of interest I looked to see what drive Transcend uses ( there's far more Brands out there than drive makers) and found a review of the Transcend 500GB StoreJet that showed a Samsung mechanism. Samsung's drive division has just been swallowed by Seagate. Eventually the comparison will just be what the cases look like :D

Ragnor

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#496248 21-Jul-2011 13:18

technicaljoe: Hello everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations for external hard drive.

I'm thinking about getting one for my Windows Home Server, and another one for my laptop.

Any advices or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

For your home server I'd get a 2TB 3.5" like the WD Elements or the Seagate Expansion Desktop. At the moment the 2TB is better $ per GB than 1TB or 1.5TB and more space almost never go astray. These are about $150ish.

For your laptop I'd get a 500GB 2.5", the 2.5" type drives are typically powered by usb rather than a seperate power brick and are more portable/convenient. These are around $100ish.

technicaljoe

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#496396 21-Jul-2011 20:00

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

With regard to the desktop scenario, I'm after something that would work well with Windows Home Server v1 running on an ex-desktop (Dell Dimension 8300). I've narrowed down to the list below.

Apart from the price, what are the differences between WD Elements vs WD My Book and Seagate GoFlexDesk vs Seagate Desktop Expansion? Performance? Reliability?

WD Elements 2TB Desktop Hard Drive ($169)
http://dicksmith.co.nz/product/XH1218/wd-elements-2tb-desktop-hard-drive

WD My Book Essential 2TB USB 3.0 Desktop Hard Drive ($199)
http://dicksmith.co.nz/product/XM1267/wd-my-book-essential-2tb-usb-3-0-desktop-hard-drive

SEAGATE GoFlexDesk 2TB Desktop Hard Drive ($229)
http://dicksmith.co.nz/product/XM1247/seagate-goflexdesk-2tb-desktop-hard-drive

Seagate Desktop Expansion 2TB 3.5" External Hard Drive ($164)
http://dicksmith.co.nz/product/XH9888/seagate-desktop-expansion-2tb-3-5-quot-external-hard-drive

Bung

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#496406 21-Jul-2011 20:39

The more expensive drives come with backup software.

technicaljoe

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#496416 21-Jul-2011 20:52

Since I will use them in conjunction with WHS, I guess the backup software is irrelevant to me then? :)