[lidge_fan]

I'm looking into buying an external hard drive to store my dramas.....LOL

I want to get the biggest storage as possible (~ 1TG) b/c I probably will need it but will it be better go get a smaller one at ~500GB? Will the life span be affected by the size of the storage?

Can someone recomend the size and brand for a newbie?
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

* I'm willing to spend $200-$300 if I need to......

[jskee]

I had a seagate 1TB which cost be $200 or so
I bought it from a place where they sell all these computer softwares
so it was cheap as. Normally it would cost way more.

I recommend you just upgrade your hard drive space or get another
hard drive because If you move your External Hard drive a lot then
it would wreck and all the things inside would be gone.

Happened to me twice, I knocked it accidently and then my computer
wouldn't recognise the EXhard drive anymore.
Now I got a new 500gb one and I shoved it in my comp
Don't want to risk it again!

Or just buy small ones that only need a USB plug to work
500gb + you need a power point and it's chunky
It's gets annoying D:

[rainbow*]

are there any cheap ones for only.. around 200 gigs? .. btw, do usb external hard drives die easily? :/!! ><

[DarLuzi0n]

I'm looking into buying an external hard drive to store my dramas.....LOL

I want to get the biggest storage as possible (~ 1TG) b/c I probably will need it but will it be better go get a smaller one at ~500GB? Will the life span be affected by the size of the storage?

Can someone recomend the size and brand for a newbie? smile.gif
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Western Digital should be good or you can choose Seagate
It all depends on how much you want to spend. It's better to get more incase you need it in future and you don't have to worry about running out of space. The life span shouldn't be affected by size but it depends how you use it. Heat is usually the main problem with hard drives.

are there any cheap ones for only.. around 200 gigs? .. btw, do usb external hard drives die easily? :/!! ><

Western Digital Elements Portable 250GB 2.5" USB2.0
They cost $120 AUD at the store i usually go to.
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/produc...oducts_id=35457
The life span is affected on you use the hard drive. They should last 3+ years but then again things could go wrong and nothing is perfect.



Also, do not rotate the hard drive when it's in use
i.e rotating it from a vertical position to a horizontal position

[[HyuNi]]

Western Digital 500GB My Passport™ Essential™ Portable Hard Drive $102 After Coupon
Slickdeals.net is your friend...
With your budget, you could get two of these bad boys!

I think the biggest difference between some external hard drives is the 3.5" HD vs the 2.5" HD.
The 3.5" is a regular hard drive that's usually put into a desktop computer and the 2.5" HD are for laptops.
You would want to get an external that's a 2.5" because those are smaller and are supposed to hold up better for portability. 3.5" HDs were not originally made to be 'portable' because most people don't lug their desktop computers like they do with laptops.

Like everyone has said, it's not that the externals die more quickly, it's because they are prone to more bumps and drops that it causes them to malfunction. Essentially the 2.5" HD in your laptop is no more studier than a 2.5" external.
Also, the lifespan is NOT affected by the amount of storage. The only thing is, if you got the 1TB instead of two 500GB externals, and it crapped out, then you'd potentially be losing 1TB worth of data. With two 500GBs, if one were to fail, you'd still have the other HD with data.

Sounds like the way you'll be using your external is the way I use mine right now. I would suggest the external I gave a link to. It's small, quiet, plug and play, only requires USB cable to transfer and power, and relatively affordable.

If you really want to know if WD or Seagate is better, there's a small discussion in the link where people discuss.

[Pogichinoy]

A 2.5" 320GB USB external drive can be had in Australia for around $130.

Amazingly cheap.

[i<3ramen]

if your patient enough a 1TB external hard drive usually goes on sale somewhere for about $100. just check slickdeals pr passwird every now and then

-EDIT-

Theres a 1TB seagate external HDD for $109 shipped at newegg should act fast just in case the sale ends

[j00n]

If you're going to get a large ext. HD over 250GB i recommend making sure it has a firewire port, ideally for 6-pin interface, not 4-pin. Firewire is faster than USB 2.0, although not all computers have firewire ports.

Although, a lot of the bigger drives like the WD 500 GB ext. HD have both a USB and Firewire.

[lidge_fan]

thank you, jskee, rainbow* , DarLuzi0n, [HyuNi] , Poqichinoy, i<3ramen & j00n

thanks everyone for your wonderful inputs! I really appreciate it!

went out during lunchtime and got myself a seagate 1TB w/ usb, firewire and esata (?) for $185 (including tax) @ Best Buy since it's right next to my house

hope it works out ^^

[Godotology]

not too long ago you could get a Fantom 1tb for around $80 via NewEgg. Its still pretty cheap with out the deal though.

[sillymeboy]

Usually it's good to go on forums such as slickdeals,fatwallet,daddyodeals ,searchalldeals,etc. to compare prices . I did a quick search and here is what i came up with. I usually prefer two 500gb instead of one 1 tb hard drive. This way if one hard drive fail, I still have the other one. I had my external hard drive for at least 2 years now and it still hasn't fail yet. Just make sure you don't drop it or anything like that. Here's a quick search of what I found

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...odlist=dealnews

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...ital-_-22136321

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx...=AFC-C8Junction

[flantastic]

I don't know much about quality hard drives, but I got a 500GB one at Costco for $60

I think the 1TB ones were going for around $120ish?

[InSong]

should check deals from slickdeals.net in the forum section since you can see good deals for 1TB lower then 200

[loverlyxcth]

Western Digital is cheap and good.

[YeuVaNhoAnhNhieu]

newegg, slickdeals, tigerdirect, or buy has really great sales on 1tb. they're almost going below 100 now.

[Ice_Angel17]

Hey you guys, i want to buy and external hard drive for my laptop, and i was wonder are these brands any good? they are really cheap. I want to know if they are wroth purchasing.

HITACHI H3500U 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive -$79.99 REBATE $69.99

Aluratek ACUES350500F 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 / eSATA Black External Hard Drive-$77.99

Eagle Tech ET-CS500WESU2-BK 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache USB 2.0 / eSATA Black External Hard Drive-$64.99

Cavalry CAUE CAUE37500 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive PC-Ready-$79.99

HAMMER HU1100-640 640GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive -$79.99

iomega Prestige