Need External Hard Drive Recommendations

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five256

I want an external hard drive at least 1TB in capacity. I have been
reading the reviews and they are all over the place. Some professional
reviewers rate some of them very good but individual users rate them
from excellent to poor (on the same drive). Some say thet're quiet and
some say they're noisy. Most users say their drive broke down either
out of the box or within one to three months. I want something
reliable and would like your opinions as well as reviews I can get on
the Internet (if possible). Looks like I'll have to go with the
concensus. I looked at reviews for LaCie, Seagate, Hitachi, Western
Digital, etc. Can't find any drive that's consistently rated good.
 
I want an external hard drive at least 1TB in capacity. I have been
reading the reviews and they are all over the place. Some professional
reviewers rate some of them very good but individual users rate them
from excellent to poor (on the same drive). Some say thet're quiet and
some say they're noisy. Most users say their drive broke down either
out of the box or within one to three months. I want something
reliable and would like your opinions as well as reviews I can get on
the Internet (if possible). Looks like I'll have to go with the
concensus. I looked at reviews for LaCie, Seagate, Hitachi, Western
Digital, etc. Can't find any drive that's consistently rated good.
Click to expand...


Bear in mind that if you want an external drive, you don't have to buy
an external drive. You can buy an internal drive and an external USB
and mount the drive in the enclosure yourself. That gives you many
more choices of drives.

An enclosure costs around $25 US, and mounting a drive in one is very
easy; it takes under five minutes, even if you are all thumbs.
 
I want an external hard drive at least 1TB in capacity.  I have been
reading the reviews and they are all over the place. Some professional
reviewers rate some of them very good but individual users rate them
from excellent to poor (on the same drive).  Some say thet're quiet and
some say they're noisy.  Most users say their drive broke down either
out of the box or within one to three months.  I want something
reliable and would like your opinions as well as reviews I can get on
the Internet (if possible).  Looks like I'll have to go with the
concensus.  I looked at reviews for LaCie, Seagate, Hitachi, Western
Digital, etc.  Can't find any drive that's consistently rated good.
Click to expand...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I purchased a Hitachi 1tb drive a couple weeks ago. What impresses me
is that it is very cool and quiet. I have two Maxtor drives and a
Western Digital also and they all get warm. As for how long the
Hitachi drive will last, I haven't had it long enough to tell.

Bill
 
Bear in mind that if you want an external drive, you don't have to buy
an external drive. You can buy an internal drive and an external USB
Click to expand...


Just in case that sentence confused you, I accidentally omitted a
word. It should be "... an external USB enclosure ..."
 
Thanks. Do you have any recommendations for a specific drive and
caddy? If something goes wrong, I promise not to blame you.
 
Thanks. Do you have any recommendations for a specific drive and
caddy? If something goes wrong, I promise not to blame you.
Click to expand...


In my experience, they are essentially the same, and there's almost no
difference between them. I'd get whichever was the best value.
 
Whether you read reviews online or ask those that frequent this NG, if you
ask 10 people you'll get 10 different opinions.

The way products are made today, whether made here or abroad, whether a
reputable company or not, everything is crap, it is just a matter of how
bad. IOW, nothing is good, it just sucks the least.

Recent e.g: Toyota

I wouldn't construe this attitude as pessimistic, I would consider it
realistic
 
Any drive is only as good as your backup

Thanks. Do you have any recommendations for a specific drive and
caddy? If something goes wrong, I promise not to blame you.
Click to expand...
 
Any drive is only as good as your backup
Click to expand...

What does THAT mean? The backup is software and the drive is HARDWARE.
Two mutually exclusive things. What you SHOULD say is that the backup
is only as good as the operator makes it, i.e. how often it's used and
how it's used. I have that covered!!!
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I purchased a Hitachi 1tb drive a couple weeks ago. What impresses me
is that it is very cool and quiet. I have two Maxtor drives and a
Western Digital also and they all get warm. As for how long the
Hitachi drive will last, I haven't had it long enough to tell.

Bill
Click to expand...

What model did you purchase?
 
The drive may break down prematurely due to excessive heat. A 1 TB
puppy puts out heat.

I enclosed my 1 TB drive in a VIGOR iSurf II hard drive cooler. This is
a unit with heat sink fins and its own fans to keep the disk drive cool.


--
Click to expand...
Cool looking enclosure. Now, what drive would you recommend?
 
Whether you read reviews online or ask those that frequent this NG, if you
ask 10 people you'll get 10 different opinions.

The way products are made today, whether made here or abroad, whether a
reputable company or not, everything is crap, it is just a matter of how
bad. IOW, nothing is good, it just sucks the least.

Recent e.g: Toyota

I wouldn't construe this attitude as pessimistic, I would consider it
realistic
Click to expand...

That's what I'm getting from the online reviews. It seems like it's
hit or miss. Doesn't ANYBODY make a good drive - consistently? I
don't want to spend $200 - $300 and have the drive crap out within
months.
 
Whether you read reviews online or ask those that frequent this NG, if you
ask 10 people you'll get 10 different opinions.

The way products are made today, whether made here or abroad, whether a
reputable company or not, everything is crap, it is just a matter of how
bad. IOW, nothing is good, it just sucks the least.

Recent e.g: Toyota

I wouldn't construe this attitude as pessimistic, I would consider it
realistic
Click to expand...
Why do desktop hard drives in PC's last so much longer?
 
Frankly, I would work on two assumptions:

1. A name brand drive will probably outlast an off brand. With this in
mind, I would heed Ken Blake's advice, "In my experience, they are
essentially the same, and there's almost no difference between them. I'd get
whichever was the best value."

2. More than likely, sooner or later, no matter which one you buy, it will
die !

So, buy the best value because when it does go to HD heaven, you won't feel
so bad for spending hundreds of hard earned dollars (or whatever
denomination you use) on it and it's replacement.

Although every CEO on this planet would deny this until their death, the
manufacturers want the drives to crash and burn. This way, you'll buy a new
one. Those that hate Seagate but Maxtor, those that hate Maxtor buy Western
Digital, those that hate WD buy Seagate. What comes around, goes around.
Remember, they all suck !

Given this and my former response, my advice is to buy the best value piece
of garbage.

Oh, to answer your questions:
No, noone makes a good drive, they all suck. They ARE consistent ..... at
making sh@!ty ones, though.
No matter how much you spend, it will crap out on you sooner or later.

If you think about it, the media that has been time tested, been around
hundreds of years and remains an excellent storage device is ...............
the pencil and paper ! The copy machine makes it very easy to backup and
scanning makes it very easy to image. How perfect is that ?

Skiffle
 
Figment of your imagination
Click to expand...

The reason I said that is that some of the user reviews I read said
that their drives crapped out with a few months. Thanks for your other
information. I appreciate it.
 
I want an external hard drive at least 1TB in capacity. I have been
reading the reviews and they are all over the place. Some professional
reviewers rate some of them very good but individual users rate them
from excellent to poor (on the same drive). Some say thet're quiet and
some say they're noisy. Most users say their drive broke down either
out of the box or within one to three months. I want something
reliable and would like your opinions as well as reviews I can get on
the Internet (if possible). Looks like I'll have to go with the
concensus. I looked at reviews for LaCie, Seagate, Hitachi, Western
Digital, etc. Can't find any drive that's consistently rated good.
Click to expand...

There will be so many opinions on this, and it just comes down to
which maker of a drive was the one that devastated a user when it failed,
that make of drive will forever be tainted, cursed and "a piece of crap"
to that user. I have used so many external hard drives over the years
and have 7 running right now, split up between 3 different computers.
3 Seagates, 3 Western Digitals and 1 Hitachi. Also, one ioSafe Solo 2TB that
has been sitting in the box for a week... I haven't figured out where to work
it into the mix. It's supposed to be the "best", for the price I hope so.

If you were to back me in a corner and force me to pick one- Seagate.


-Michael
 
There will be so many opinions on this, and it just comes down to
which maker of a drive was the one that devastated a user when it failed,
that make of drive will forever be tainted, cursed and "a piece of crap"
to that user. I have used so many external hard drives over the years
and have 7 running right now, split up between 3 different computers.
3 Seagates, 3 Western Digitals and 1 Hitachi. Also, one ioSafe Solo 2TB that
has been sitting in the box for a week... I haven't figured out where to work
it into the mix. It's supposed to be the "best", for the price I hope so.

If you were to back me in a corner and force me to pick one- Seagate.


-Michael
Click to expand...

Thank you for your opinion and advice.
 
(e-mail address removed) écrivait 4ax.com:
Cool looking enclosure. Now, what drive would you recommend?
Click to expand...

This thing looks like it is not an external enclosure but is designed to
install in an 5½ drive bay inside a computer case.

Personnally, I use three of those with Seagate and Western Digital hard
disk and as mentioned by a reviewer, the fan does not blow very fast but it
does the job at keeping the HD cool.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173043

HTH
 
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