1. #1
    Blademaster Oddisho's Avatar
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    External Hard Drive question.

    Hi guys I'm looking to get an external hard-drive and would like some recommendations.
    I want it mainly as a backup/storage drive. It wont be on 24/7, at most 1 day a week but, still, I'd like to get a good affordable drive.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    I'm partial to Western Digital drives. Anything WD or Seagate work well.

    Unfortunately for external drives, you don't get to choose what actual hard drive is inside. While there is usually a common one used, this changes over time. All you get to choose is size, and interface (USB2, USB3, e-SATA, etc)

    Even worse, companies have swapped around. Maxtor drives were terrible. Seagate bought Maxtor. What part of Maxtor is left over? The assets? The money? The actual printing facilities? Are you getting a Maxtor drive with a Seagate sticker on it? It's hard to tell. WD also bought Hitachi, and Seagate also bough Samsung's HD rights. So it's almost like everyone is everyone these days.

    Which, honestly, doesn't help you making a decision. Really all you CAN do is make sure you have backups of important stuff, and know your warranty. Personally, I always buy WD if I can help it, however I feel (via reading articles, forums, etc) that WD's quality has declined over the past few years.

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    Blademaster Oddisho's Avatar
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    I got 2x 1TB WD Caviar Black and its been going great. Guess I'll get a WD external one then, thanks!

  4. #4
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    got a freecom dirve that has been rocking for 7 years and 24/7 xD (and is actually close to full lol)
    however this thing is not portable, else you might want to look at buying a laptop drive and putting in it a casing yourself (very easy to do and likely smaller result in the end)

  5. #5
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    Freecom does not manufacture hard drives. All 'freecom' is is a company that makes plastic cases and a usb controller. You don't get to choose what kind or quality of drive goes inside. I like buying my external drives knowing roughly what goes inside. If I buy a WD External, I know a WD drive is inside. Freecom could well be using some ghetto Hyundai drive.

    I understand yours has been working a long time, which is great. When hardware works, it works forever. Sometimes. But when buying new hardware and playing gamble games with brands... It's better to stick with something that will definitely (or at least have a higher chance) of being reliable.

    EDIT: I decided to look it up. Freecom is pretty much the town bike for drives. They use whatever they can get. WD, Maxtor, Seagate, Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung. It's a total tossup what you get when you order it.

  6. #6
    High Overlord Roblivion's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oddisho View Post
    Hi guys I'm looking to get an external hard-drive and would like some recommendations.
    I want it mainly as a backup/storage drive. It wont be on 24/7, at most 1 day a week but, still, I'd like to get a good affordable drive.

    Thanks!
    Toshiba Cavio's are pretty decent/cheap external hard drives. I just saw 1.5TB's at Best Buy for $89.99 USD.
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    Freecom does not manufacture hard drives. All 'freecom' is is a company that makes plastic cases and a usb controller. You don't get to choose what kind or quality of drive goes inside. I like buying my external drives knowing roughly what goes inside. If I buy a WD External, I know a WD drive is inside. Freecom could well be using some ghetto Hyundai drive.

    I understand yours has been working a long time, which is great. When hardware works, it works forever. Sometimes. But when buying new hardware and playing gamble games with brands... It's better to stick with something that will definitely (or at least have a higher chance) of being reliable.

    EDIT: I decided to look it up. Freecom is pretty much the town bike for drives. They use whatever they can get. WD, Maxtor, Seagate, Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung. It's a total tossup what you get when you order it.
    true , hence better option is likely picking seperate drive and buying own casing for it. (that way you know exactly what you end up getting as final product)
    my drive should have died years ago with all the abuse i made it withstand but im guessing it just likes me or that im really lucky.

  8. #8
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shroudster View Post
    my drive should have died years ago with all the abuse i made it withstand but im guessing it just likes me or that im really lucky.
    I still have a WD 36gb Raptor 10k RPM drive when they first came out. I worked at PC Club and got it on discount. That was almost a decade ago, back in mid 2003. It is currently running my temporary media center computer like a champ.

    Meanwhile, most my friends drives crap out 36 hours after the warranty expires :P

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