External hard drive recommendation please

hethmar

Ive given up on my online back up service.

Can anyone recommend a really easy to use uncomplicated (non techi) hard drive please.

For example, is this one any good?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136212

or this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0020FVKO8?ie=UTF8&!!!!!binocularrevi-21

closed

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/wd-elements-portable-hard-drive-500gb-black-02950021-pdt.html £51.99

much smaller (no psu needed), and cheaper, may be cheaper elsewhere

Disk imaging/backup software to use with it.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&type=download&wdc_lang=en

Edit: in the last hour, it's gone up £8 to £59.99, they've dropped the web exclusive/collect instore price, and reverted to the instore price

sharkie

firstly your usb drive should be bigger than the info on your drive to be backed up.

for a non tech backup I'd use one of those where you press the one button on front of the drive and it backs up your computer, as it can't really get any simpler.

http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-drives/seagate-pushbutton-backup-hard/1805-3190_7-31978833.html

here is one page with a whole load on http://www.storagedepot.co.uk/External-Hard-Drives/One-Touch-Backup/sc932.aspx

Richie-from-the-Boro

same price, twice the size, and importantly powers down when not in use, and local, you can have it in your hands before teatime.

hethmar

The seagate has very poor consumer reviews on there

closed

Don't know what's going on with pcw prices, they keep changing, the portable drive has just gone up £8 in price, this is the larger 3.5" drive for £45, same capacity, if you aren't bothered about portability

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/wd-elements-external-hard-drive-500gb-03661647-pdt.html

Richie-from-the-Boro

hethmar wrote: »

The seagate has very poor consumer reviews on there

That's fine, I own [ because I wanted the power down facility ] three 2Tera ones and no problems, my opinion is from my experience not reviews or google[ing] Go with what you think best my friend.

Point me to the are of the Maplins site where it says " The seagate has very poor consumer reviews on there ", what I see is one person asking about potability, another who did not know how to format for his mack, a third asking about encryption, and another asking if it can be left switched on.

I see no poor review, and certainly not an exaggerated very poor review, nothing negative whatsoever. I'm sure if I looked elsewhere I could find lots of poor reviews on this and every other brand of external hard drive.

sharkie

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

...three 2Tera ones and no problems.

raid 5? vmware compatible? Which system, or enclosure did you buy?

closed

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/seagate_firmware_fix_breaks_barracudas/

Richie-from-the-Boro

closed wrote: »

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/seagate_firmware_fix_breaks_barracudas/

Hiya closed, yeh there was hell to pay around easter, although that article was dated January.

Mine are fine M8, I never flashed them, for the purpose I use them messing with the EEPROM was a no no. If it ain't broke don't .. .. .. and all that.

I did however give them a 3 hour megga work out within the first 7 days to get an over the counter ' swap out ' if one or more of the three was weak, but they were ok.

I had a £50 voucher with a rapidly approaching expiry date. I also had / still have 3 Kobian caddy's with 500 IDE's in them which are about 4 or more years old I guess and decided to have a moment of retail therapy and get the £50 off!

hethmar

Sorry Rich, Im a total dumbo so I tend to go by reviews on stuff, probably not the right thing to do but ........... I was actually referring to sharkies link



Is this a safe bet, almost set on this one now:

WD Elements SE Portable WDBABV5000ABK -