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General discussion

Any advice on buying a USB external HD?

Jan 23, 2011 4:38AM PST

Hi,

I am looking at buying an external HD and want at least one TB. However as I shop around, I am seeing 1.5TB's for less money than 500GB's. There is a 2TB WD HD on sale at Staples for $99 but when I read reviews I see issues with software that gets automatically installed, runs in the background, etc...

What should I be concerned with? I will stick with a WD or Seagate or another name-brand but I am curious what red flags are out there. I don't need the fastest or latest/greatest (not that I want one that is USB 1.0 that spins at 6rpms or anything). The goal is to use this to back up some PC data and then use it as additional space for my DVR (if that's possible).

I hope this makes sense and thanks in advance.

Chris

Discussion is locked

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Just one piece of advice.
Jan 23, 2011 4:59AM PST

Be sure that you have a plan if it loses the files you put on it. The CNET Storage forum is full of folk asking how to recover from that.

If you have your backup plan in place then you're ready.
Bob

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I prefer . . .
Jan 26, 2011 11:05PM PST

an internal drive in an external case. No bloatware or junkware, just a storage device.

I'm a Seagate junkie. You can get a 1T SATA drive for next to nothing, put it into a USB-3 case, add a USB-3 PCI card, and you'll be happy. Mine is blistering fast.

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External/Internal
Jan 27, 2011 1:16AM PST

I'm intrigued....I will investigate that option further. I like the idea of being able to upgrade later so to speak and then still use the "old" drive in a pc.

Thanks

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What pci card do you have?
Jan 27, 2011 12:16PM PST

I had one but my win2k just wouldn't recognize it.

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2-cents here
Jan 27, 2011 9:22PM PST

Either look for an ext. HD that uses its own AC power to be stable rather than USB port powered. If you get an USB port powered, use a rear USB port. While the frt. panel does provide power it may not be as stable as a rear port(PC mystery, it just does). Too often some issue arises with an ext. HD so safeguard super important data by burning to disc, rather than keeping on ext. HD as the "sole storage". You'be been warned Sad .

tada -----Willy Happy

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External USB Hard Drive
Jan 28, 2011 10:10AM PST

Having more than one external backup drive is absolutely appropriate. Additionally I would recommend you stay away from fan-less external usb hard drives. I've had bad luck with them because they can run hot and drives don't like heat. Buy an internal hard drive and put it in an external usb hard drive case that has an internal fan.
Bob

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Bob is right on the money again.
Jan 28, 2011 10:32AM PST

Do yourself a favor and NEVER just throw all of your expansive files on that big new shiny drive without backup.

The term "irreplaceable files" was never fully understood be many of us until we inevitably got bitten in the ***. I wear the embarrassing badge myself.

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It depends on your intentions and future speed
Jan 28, 2011 10:23AM PST

USB 2.0 has a reasonably decent speed (480 mb/s), which can basically keep up with 720p video files. That is if you don't have other programs bogging your system down.

But some external hard drives also have an eSATA interface added with their USB capability. ESATA is capable of running at 3 gb/s, literally blowing USB 2.0 and Firewire completely away. And ALL modern-day motherboards have SATA 3.0 onboard, you just might need an inexpensive adapter to send a port out of the back of your desktop (laptops are a different story).

Running eSATA will easily keep up with 1080p (Blu-ray) content or even editing heavy video on the fly.

So you can look at Phantom external hard drives which usually offer both USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces. I think I read somewhere they use WD drives in their aluminum enclosures. They even have a "green" line.

Until USB 3.0 becomes an everyday standard, eSATA is the fastest way for connecting externals. Even if you aren't using it now, I believe it makes sense to buy your external hard drive with that capability for your future.

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Check Out Hard Drive Enclosures
Jan 28, 2011 2:26PM PST

You might want to look at a few hard drive enclosures to see if one of them might fit your needs. If you have any old hard drives laying around, you can just get a hard drive enclosure and use your existing drive or drives in it. Or you could even buy a new internal drive and use it in the enclosure. Hard drive enclosure gives you more flexibility, since you can swap drives in and out of them.

The one I have accepts IDE and SATA drives, and has a fan. I've been well pleased with it, and am glad that I got it and not an external drive.

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Flexibility
Jan 29, 2011 8:45AM PST

Look into the Seagate Go Flex series of drives.
They are vwery reliable and offer you the advantage of going from USB2.0 to USB3.0 or Firewire, in the future.
I upgraded from a Seagate 1TB to a GoFlex 3 TB and it runs very quietly and efficiently. As for storing video, these drives are NOT designed for that purpose. Specdially certified hard drives for video do NOT do any calibration while taking input, whereas most other drives will. This means the possibility of dropped frames. Some people get away with it, but I would rather have seamless video, with no dropouts!

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Thanks for all the advice
Jan 29, 2011 11:30AM PST

I currently sync between my two pcs and every year or so I burn the incremental data to CD/DVD.

Brian, thanks for mentioning a few specs and I will look into an external HD case and remember to consider cooling and power issues.

Chris

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Speaking of cooling;
Jan 31, 2011 1:11AM PST

It seems to me 2.5" Hdd. run a lot cooler than a 3.5" one. The down side is the 2.5" one cost more. Also a suggestion; get a case the is easy to change Hdd. I have a "simpledrive" case that is a pain (or maybe I just don't have the right tools).