External Hard Drive ?'s

[Matt L]

I am looking to purchase an external hard drive (looking at 500 gigs) and I am wondering about the differences in the brands and what I should be looking for in comparing the different models.

Most of my items to save are going to be songs and pictures but I do have some other important spreadsheets and word docs that I will need to back up as well.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

The WD (Western Digital) ones are great. Target or Best Buy usually have a good assortment of them. I did get one of mine at OfficeMax because of a deal they were having. Usually someone is running a great deal in the Sunday ads. Go where you want with any ad and most places will price match.

Target right now is blowing out their Hard Drive Cases for $3.74. Have one each for our Zunes and I have one for my external that I use for work. Nice slimline design and they come in blue, black, or maroon.

 

[LVG]

Do not look at Cavalry - I've had nothing but terrible luck with them.

 

[TJ]

I have a Simpletech I got on sale at Fry's for $79. 1TB. It is well encased (I dropped it once from 8 feet and it still works). If you're looking for portability, this isn't for you, but for me, it was a great bang for my buck.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I have 3 sea gates and they are all great. My wife has a Western Digital and it is by far the oldest... but it is still going very strong.

I would love to find a 1TB or 1.5TB drive that cheap. I want to hook one up to my DirecTV DVR but am waiting for the day when I can put hook up a monster drive.

 

[Beaver]

Just purchased an HP simplesave and it is pretty easy to use and sleek looking. It is going back though because the software is incapable of doing a system state backup. Pretty lame.

 

[Chaz]

Nice drive on sale today.
It has firewire, usb, and e-sata interfaces.

http://www.dealcatcher.com/hardware-upgrades/seagate-500-gb-usb-freeagent-xtreme-external-hard-drive

 

[SunDevilDon]

I have 5 External Hard Drives. 3 Seagate's (320, 320, 160), a portable Seagate (120) and a 1 TB Phantom.

I've had them all for 2-4 years and I recommend any of them. I bought them all off Newegg.

I've had problems with Internal Western Digital's on a couple of occasions.

I don't know what price range you were looking for, but here's a link to get you started on options and reviews. BTW, I paid around $400 for the 1TB 2 years ago It's now $89.99 after a $20.00 rebate (the Phantom regularly priced at $109.99 at link below.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=414&name=External-Hard-Drives