External Hard Drive for use with laptop

Keanosafc

I'm looking for some advise on a decent in terms of quality and price external hdd for use with a laptop.

I've had a look on these forums, and there seems to be too much info, so if someone could be patient enough to give me advice that would be great;
I'm in the process of transferring data from my desktop as it needs to go the journey to make way for a nursery.

I basically need to store 20ish gb of music, 10 gb of photos, 10 gb of video footage, and also want additional space. (I know I could save them to dvd, but would rather have all info together)

If this is for use with a laptop does it matter whether the drive is 2.5 or 3.5, obviously I would also be looking for usb 2.0.

Thanks in advance for info.

rdpro

avoid maxtor/seagate for now (all one company these days) - they have quite a high failure rate.

Western Digital seem pretty good, and I haven't heard anything bad about Hitachi Deskstars. I've seen some people recommend Samsung too, but couldn't really do the same.
As a rule of thumb, Never Trust A Hard Drive.
Buy a cheapo, but back it all up to DVD or memory sticks.

Keanosafc

rdpro wrote: »

avoid maxtor/seagate for now (all one company these days) - they have quite a high failure rate.

Western Digital seem pretty good, and I haven't heard anything bad about Hitachi Deskstars. I've seen some people recommend Samsung too, but couldn't really do the same.
As a rule of thumb, Never Trust A Hard Drive.
Buy a cheapo, but back it all up to DVD or memory sticks.

Thanks, I intend to do that, but also want something I can have for easy access so I can use for itunes, photo's etc.

rdpro

tbh, what I did wasn't cost efficient, but reliable.

I bought 2x 750Gb external drives, and they back up to each other

rdpro

Keanosafc wrote: »

If this is for use with a laptop does it matter whether the drive is 2.5 or 3.5, obviously I would also be looking for usb 2.0.

Thanks in advance for info.

2.5in drives are slower (by a wide margin) than 3.5in drives - go for 3.5, because it won't be going inside the laptop.

I think all external drives are USB2.0 these days.

Sounds like you'd be happy with a 120Gb drive.

Avoid SATA drives, as these are the most unreliable, find a seperate 120Gb ATA-IDE (PATA) drive and cheapish enclosure. Be warned, a 'too-cheap' enclosure (with a poor power supply) can damage your hard drive.

Just as an example: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/115413 for drive (earlier Seagate model, more reliable)

and : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120659 for the enclosure

(I choose Ebuyer mainly for the reviews, you might get it cheaper elsewhere)

isofa

For every person you'll find recommending a brand, you'll find another who experienced a problem. There are a multitude of recent threads on external HDDs, definitely worth a search.

I used WD MyBooks regularly, and have never had a problem personally with them, always over Firewire, on both PCs and Macs.

rdpro

I concur, WD get the best press for reliability on their pre-built enclosures.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128465 is a good deal, and should (with luck) cover your storage needs for a good while. Doesn't mention whether the drive is IDE or SATA though..

Keanosafc

rdpro wrote: »

I concur, WD get the best press for reliability on their pre-built enclosures.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128465 is a good deal, and should (with luck) cover your storage needs for a good while. Doesn't mention whether the drive is IDE or SATA though..

Had a look at that and it looks about what I need. I think it'll take me a while to fill it up with photo's. As for video clips, they will just stay on disc until I get round to editing them and putting them on dvd. (it's been well over 6 months since my last hol so could take a while longer, so the space would could in handy)

Blacksheep1979

rdpro wrote: »

2.5in drives are slower (by a wide margin) than 3.5in drives - go for 3.5, because it won't be going inside the laptop.

Hmmm have you seen the figures for the new WD Velecoraptor drive? That's a 2.5" drive....

Cappsy

If convenience and ease of use is important consider that external 2.5" 'passport type' drives are powered by the USB port (and so don't need a separate power supply like 3.5" drives) they are also physically smaller. Therefore they can be easier to carry around in a laptop bag and more convenient in that you don't need to be near a mains plug.

alanrowell

Depends if you need the extra space at home or on the move

if the former, buy a 3.5" external drive, if the latter get a 2.5" drive as it can be powered from the laptop itself - it'll also be a quarter of the size & weight

In either case buy the biggest decent drive you can afford