Recommended and Reliable External Hard Drives/Backup Solutions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stuart Clark
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Stuart Clark

Hi,

I'm looking for an external hard drive at around 120gb-160gb for less
than £150. I've looked on the internet at the Maxtor OneTouch and the
western digital, but I've been put off by an enourmous number of
reviews saying they fail often, mainly due to overheating. Can anybody
recommend a decent solution?

Cheers,
Stu.
 
Stuart said:
Hi,

I'm looking for an external hard drive at around 120gb-160gb for less
than £150. I've looked on the internet at the Maxtor OneTouch and the
western digital, but I've been put off by an enourmous number of
reviews saying they fail often, mainly due to overheating. Can anybody
recommend a decent solution?

Cheers,
Stu.
Click to expand...

Get a generic (quality) external box and a Seagate drive.

Odie
 
Stuart Clark said:
I'm looking for an external hard drive at around
120gb-160gb for less than £150. I've looked
on the internet at the Maxtor OneTouch and the
western digital, but I've been put off by an
enourmous number of reviews saying they fail
often, mainly due to overheating. Can anybody
recommend a decent solution?
Click to expand...


Here's what I use, a removable tray for an IDE
hard drive:
http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=25&ID=136
It has a radial fan built into the bottom of the tray
which sucks air into the rack and around the hard
drive, and the hard drive stays cool. Search
Google.com and Froogle.Google.com for prices
in the range of high 20's ($) for a rack/tray pair,
and in the mid-teens ($) for extra trays. That leaves
the bulk of the cost in the IDE hard drive, and those
are much cheaper (and faster) than the USB hard
drives. The IDE hard drives can also be booted -
a distinct advantage in a backup medium.

These racks fit into a spare 5 1/2in. bay, and when
you don't need to use the backup hard drive, you
leave the power for the drive turned off when you
power up the system. (Caution: These don't allow
hot-swapping. The power for the drive must be
connected or disconnected when the PC is un-
powered.)

To keep the down cable bulk and air drag inside the
case, I use round cables. I prefer the type with aluminum
braid to help in the shielding, and I've not had any
problems with them. The kind with the pull tags on
the backs of the connectors are much easier to use
than the kind without the pull tags, and fortunately,
the pull tag kind are much easier to find. Round cables
are also available in a greater range of lengths than
the ATA-spec'd ribbon cables, and they are commonly
sold in the 80-wire form to provide the 40 ground wires
which are paired by twisting with each of the 40 signal
wires. If you have an available 5 1/2 in. bay, a removable
IDE hard drive tray is the way to go.

*TimDaniels*
 
Hi,

I'm looking for an external hard drive at around 120gb-160gb for less
than £150. I've looked on the internet at the Maxtor OneTouch and the
western digital, but I've been put off by an enourmous number of
reviews saying they fail often, mainly due to overheating. Can anybody
recommend a decent solution?
Click to expand...

If you're concerned about overheating, your best bet is
5400rpm drives only. Just get an external USB/firewire
case and toss a 5400rpm drive in. (160GB 5400rpm drives
are around US$100, 250GB 5400rpm drives are around US
$150, enclosures are $20-$40) My preferred enclosure is
the Macally CA405U2 (try www.TheNerds.net).

If you want speed, you may want to consider the
removable drive bays by StarTech (DRW115 series). A bit
more expensive (about $50 per drive), but all-metal
construction and hook directly to your IDE cables inside
the case.

£150 is way too much for only 120-160GB, DIY and you can
maybe get two units for that cost.
 
Previously Stuart Clark said:
Hi,
Click to expand...
I'm looking for an external hard drive at around 120gb-160gb for less
than £150. I've looked on the internet at the Maxtor OneTouch and the
western digital, but I've been put off by an enourmous number of
reviews saying they fail often, mainly due to overheating. Can anybody
recommend a decent solution?
Click to expand...

Overheating is indeed the key problem. Don't go for anything
without a fan or with a small fan. For lower capacity 2.5" drives
are also a good solution, because they consume far less energy,
but they do not fit your capacity- and price-window.

If you by HDD and enclosure separately, you can at least
keep the HDD and try with a different enclosure if the one
you try first gets hot. Rule-of-thumb: Should be still
comfortable to touch after an hour of operation or so.

Arno
 
Hi,

I'm looking for an external hard drive at around 120gb-160gb for less
than £150. I've looked on the internet at the Maxtor OneTouch and the
western digital, but I've been put off by an enourmous number of
reviews saying they fail often, mainly due to overheating. Can anybody
recommend a decent solution?

Cheers,
Stu.
Click to expand...

Please consider a 5400rpm and an external enclosure, if overheating is
your concern. But I guess not, because all 3.5 can 5.25 external
enclosures come with fans at the rear for air circulation. Some have
tried installing a SATA hard drive and 7200rpm into external
enclosures, and have no problem at all.

more about external enclosure here:

http://www.removable-storage-guide.com

Helps?
 
Victor Ng said:
Please consider a 5400rpm and an external enclosure, if overheating is
your concern.
Click to expand...

Buy a drive that runs cool if overheating is your concern.
But I guess not, because all 3.5 can 5.25 external
enclosures come with fans at the rear for air circulation.
Click to expand...

A fan at the rear does not cause air circulation if there is no air intake.
Lots of cases don't have an air intake or have it in the wrong place.
Often the fan cools the internal Power Supply.
Some have tried installing a SATA hard drive and 7200rpm into
external enclosures, and have no problem at all.
Click to expand...

Maybe they chose a cool running harddrive.
Single platter harddrives don't need to run hot.
There's even 10krpm drives that run (relatively) cool.
 
very cool...which IDE drive do you recommend (i've had rotten luck with
western digital and maxtor)?

thanks in advance!
 
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