guys, I am looking for an external hard-disk. Would like advice about brands, and features. My PC has no longer space for store all the audio and video files I have. Thanks in advance.
I recently bought a 500gb fujitsu seimens storage bird jobbie & it seems to be really good (kiss of death there)
Freecom do some nice compact ones to. I have a 120gb freecom hdd that's no bigger than an ipod.
imo the best ever external drives were these seagate bushbutton drives:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148076
unfortunately they are discontinued and really hard to find anymore. :/
i haven't tested any newer seagate models.
some other brands i've had good experiences with over time are these LaCie drives:
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-External-FireWire-Interfaces-300770/dp/B00064FXTI
and Western Digital MyBook:
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WDH1CS5000N-500GB-External/dp/B000WGSAAE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221847153&sr=1-4
i've actually read a lot of complaints about lacies being prone to failing, but at least the ones i've had always worked perfectly ok (knock on wood...!).
anyway, having firewire port(s) is almost compulsory. USB-only drives are cheaper but USB is just way too slow, at least in my opinion.
(also, having at least two firewire ports on your drive is really good because you can then "daisy chain" several drives which is really handy, should you ever need more than one externals.)
I've had good luck with both Seagate and Western Digital drives.
As for a recommendation, I suppose it would help to know what needs you have, what's features are important. With the cost/size ratio having come down quite a bit, I'd say you shouldn't get anything smaller than 500 GB unless you are looking for something portable. Like jb said, having two firewire ports is awfully nice, though you might not have a firewire port. Still, perhaps you'll eventually upgrade, so having that port could be usefull in the future.
cnet.com has some nice reviews of drives. Read up before you buy.
What capacity are you looking for? Price range?
There's a lot of stuff out there, but as japanesebaby pointed out, some of the good ones have been discontinued and are difficult to find in new condition.
thanks for the advice guys!
actually I was looking for something I can carry with me, so something small. However, something called my attention yesterday at the store: these "multimedia hard-disk". These are hard-disk but can be used for play directly audio or video files in your TV, etc as well. Thoughts?
Don't know anyone who has tried them, but I am always very wary of "gizmos"
Just a whole bunch of other stuff that can break really.
The freecom hdd is about the size of an ipod if you're looking for portability.
http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=3528&CatID=8020&sCatID=1146187&ssCatID=1147435
Thanks for the advice, Steve. I ordered the tiny freecom 250GB, with firewire ports as baby suggested :smth023
Quote from: dsanchez on September 27, 2008, 16:22:19
Thanks for the advice, Steve. I ordered the tiny freecom 250GB, with firewire ports as baby suggested :smth023
Did you happen to get the pink version? :lol:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822241022&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives+-+External-_-FREECOM-_-22241022
Let us know how it works, David.
Not, I didnt get your favourite colour dude :lol:
Sure, I will post my comments after using it :smth023
I've got a Western Digital external hard-drive and haven't had any problems with it. I recommend the brand highly! :smth023
one thing i do like about western digital today is their GreenPower technology:
Green drives from WD yield average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over competitors' drives while maintaining solid performance.
That power savings equates to reducing CO2 emission by up to 60 kilograms per drive per year - the equivalent of taking your car off the road for 14 days each year. This new platform makes it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability and energy conservation.
...the equivalent of taking your car off
the road for 14 days each year
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/GreenPower/index.asp
:smth023
(has anyone try verbatim drives by the way?)
Some other Green hard drives.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9968633-1.html?tag=centerColumnArea1.2
http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/simpletech-re-drive/4505-3186_7-33184083.html?tag=mncol;lst
Quote from: japanesebaby on October 05, 2008, 11:57:25
one thing i do like about western digital today is their GreenPower technology:
Green drives from WD yield average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over competitors' drives while maintaining solid performance.
That power savings equates to reducing CO2 emission by up to 60 kilograms per drive per year - the equivalent of taking your car off the road for 14 days each year. This new platform makes it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability and energy conservation.
...the equivalent of taking your car off
the road for 14 days each year
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/GreenPower/index.asp
:smth023
(has anyone try verbatim drives by the way?)
That sounds all well and good, until you realize that these drives run at 5400 RPM (a speed that went by the wayside in desktop computers years ago).
I was seriously considering getting a couple of these, but everything about them, including their noise levels, seemed a bit "too good to be true" for such large capacity drives. So I did some research and found out the secret about the spindle speed. You won't find this spec published ANYWHERE on their site, but curiously they list the RPMs of every other single drive! :?
Deceptive marketing, if you ask me. So I settled on "BlackPower" instead :lol::
http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=488&language=en
I've had a pair of these for just over two months now. So far, so good.
I have two 500Gb Seagate FreeAgent Desktop drives and find them to be excellent.
One for my The Cure shows and one for all my other bands...
I know that I should be backing them up because I know I'm gonna lose some data sooon.... it's getting too much though
Gotta work on some other solution.... 500 Gb just isn't enough..
but they are good