Recommendations for external hard drive please

System

I'd look at Western Digital to be honest, very reliable drives and good value for money.

diable

mhartley wrote: »

I'd look at Western Digital to be honest, very reliable drives and good value for money.

Have you read the original post ;o)))

el_gringo_3

I would recommend not getting an external hard drive!

Instead, buy yourself an external hard disk caddy, and then buy a normal internal hard disk drive to go inside it. Its not a technical procedure - the drive should slot in in one way, similar to how a video fits in a video recorder!

This might cost a couple of quid more (no more than a tenner or so i'd guess through looking around) but if and when the containing drive does fail, it's a) easier to get it repaired/ stuff ghosted off and b) cheaper to replace.

System

Thanks for all your replies, they have been very helpful.:T
TS I decided to try my old drive again after reading your post and it is definately gazonked! The light at the front is flickering constantly, there is virtually no sound coming from the unit (there is a very quiet ticking, almost inaudible) and it's not being detected/recognised. I didn't accidentally reformat or anything, just switched it on after upgrade and it wasn't there! (same thing happened with speakers, so I have no sound either, and yes, all drivers are up to date)
I'm thinking of getting either 2 x 500GB drives or 1 x 1TB drive, although I wonder where does it end when you start to back up the back ups IYSWIM?
Please keep the advice coming, it's much appreciated.
Linda

Jakg

Putting your files on an external drive isn't backing them up - you've just moved the point of failure from inside your PC to outside of it.

4743hudsonj

Jakg wrote: »

Putting your files on an external drive isn't backing them up - you've just moved the point of failure from inside your PC to outside of it.

well in that case they should buy two 500gb drive loke they said

System

Hi Jakg,
What do you mean regards "moving the point of failure" I don't understand. Is there something else I should be doing?
I will be copying all my files and photos onto an external hard drive, not just storing them.
Linda
PS I thought the Seagate FreeAgent Pro looked quite good. Any thoughts on this,people in the know??

Jakg

Ah - if your copying thats ok.

We have customers at work (*insertnationalPCchainhere*) who complain because their HDD broke and they lost all theri data they'd "backed up to it" - all they've actually done is put their files from their PC to their external HDD.

To actually use it as a backup drive you have to have the files in one place - if the first place (your PC) breaks you have the files spare...



TBH I wouldn't take much credence in brands for external HDD's - I like Seagate as their drives are usually fast, good value and reliable (well, excluding the bugged ones...) - I would of said ignore Maxtor, but now they all use Seagate HDD's so theres nothing in it. I'm not keen on Hitachi, though.

While as a DIY geek I can see the attraction of getting an enclosure, buying an external barely costs any more, and most companies will tell you what drive they put inside their enclosures if you tell them the model your looking at - if the hardware breaks you can just take the drive out anyway...



I'm not keen on external hdd's, though - it's either internal or NAS in my book, but then I have several PC's at home...

Been meaning to get a NAS for a while, but a RAID'ed NAS drive isn't cheap, whereas a cheapo PC is...

el_gringo_3

Jakg - your setup sounds niiiice - how did you set up triple monitors on the 8800gt?

Jakg

I have a 6600GT in there as well for the third monitor, which also uses SoftTH so I can game across all 3 monitors.

Some more specs here - http://jakg.ukct.net/rig.html