External Hard Drive Recommendations

Hey techies--I know this isn't CoX-related, officially, but my hard drive is practically overflowing. I know that CoX performance will improve, slightly, if there is at least wiggle room--I haven't been able to defrag in months.

So here I am, requesting recommendations for an external hard drive. It doesn't necessarily have to be external--I'm just thinking that that will be the easiest method. I know relatively little about building computers, but I've reliably upgraded the old workhorse over the past several years, so I'm capable of answering more technically-minded questions.

Unless someone feels keen on recommending otherwise, I'm looking for something in the 1TB region. Most of my hard drive consists of my music collection and family photos, which I plan on safely moving. The rest will be able to reliable hold about two dozen DVDs of files I've had to burn and shelve.

I've been poking around NewEgg for the past few months, but if you were me--what would you do?

Thanks in advance--
~T~

I* have a Western Digital MyBook 500 GB External HDD. It's pretty nice. Really simple plug & play. Works fine.

IIRC, NewEgg is where it came from. They usually have some awesome deals. Of course, with is being Fall and the end of the year, the closer we get to the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas, the more deals you can find. You can find some really awesome deals on just about anything over at GottaDeal.

* - By "I", I mean "The Wife™". She got it for me for Christmas a few years back, and is now using it to store all her photos on. She's an amature photographer, so she has lots.

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Heh, I knew nothing about building computers until I decided I was going to build one and read a book to learn how -- my baby is almost a year old now and still cooking, so yay! I mention this because I built two hard drives right into it: one's a 7,000rpm 1TB Seagate drive I use primarily for storage, and the other's a 10,000rpm 150GB Western Digital drive I use primarily for running programs. The higher speed on the smaller drive makes a difference on how fast programs run, in case you decide to upgrade at some point.

My external drive is a Fantom Green Drive, which uses a 1TB Seagate in it -- when I got it from Newegg (love Newegg), it was just over $100 bux with the rebate, which isn't too shabby. I use it for back-ups/storage, and it runs fine, but I don't have a good feel for how it would run under constant use. I've heard good things about Western Digital's external drives, but they may be pricier.

Thems be my shiny pennies on the matter. GL!

Good thoughts, so far, thank you both. I'd already been looking at a Seagate or Western Digital, so good to know I'm on the right track. Thanks!

Also, still listening!

Seagate or Western Digital.

Avoid Quantum. Period. Their drives tend to self destruct right after the warranty vs. defects period runs out.

Go with the WD Mybook 500gb drive.

Now I'm not sure if you are going to be using this just for backup, or as an extention of your current machine. (ie a constant use D drive) if that's the case I would highly suggest picking up a 2nd one for purely backup reasons. I've had an external drive for years now just for backup. Harder to lose than a pile of DVD's and in case of hard drive failure much easier to restore everything.

I know its expensive to get two of them but to me the piece of mind is definetly worth it!

I like WS and Seagate as well, and there are a few other generally reliable brands, as well.

For the size, I'd really go as big as you think you need, then get a size larger. I got one to store vids and pics and back up CoH, and it goes faster than you'll imagine.

I always compare it to closet space - how ever large one you get you will fill it up.


Of course, the first PC I used didn't even have a hard drive - dual floppy - so storage space has been an issue with me since the beginning.

But I've never regretted having too much.

Thanks for the size advice. I was worried about overkill, but maybe I'll price shop the 1.5s, too.

Okay, have to go and do this thing right quick--running out of DVDs to burn important files on, and my bookcase is getting crowded.

In reading about hard drives, I hear some people saying that I'm better off with an internal hard drive using a SATA connection. We are rapidly leaving the sphere of me knowing what is going on. Is there enough of a performance issue that I'd be better off with an internal drive SATA connected vs. an external connected by USB or whatever?

And would my computer have a SATA-supported connection/ability to accommodate such a device? I have an upgraded Dell Dimension 8250. I have no idea what kind of motherboard or BUS I have. Am crazy for doing this?

Advice, tips, questions, criticism and scorn-always welcome.
Thanks!

If I'm reading this page right, your compy uses an EIDE connection for HDDs. You won't be able to use a SATA HDD.

Therefore, you have two choices: Purchase an internal EIDE HDD (which is getting harder and harder to find, as all newer compys use SATA), or purchase an external USB HDD.

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I would say you're better off using an external for the simple reason that if you ever decide to get a new computer you can use the external with the new PC, AND since (not to sound like a smug SOB) it sounds like you're not really sure what you would be doing when you open it up to install an internal, might just save yourself a bunch of headaches.

You all are awesome. So what I need is an internal EIDE hard drive and an external USB connect enclosure. So here's my next issue--nothing on Newegg says "EIDE." The closest I can find is "IEEE."

Assuming you have a free pci slot, here's what I'd do.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-007-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817173042
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152175

Thanks all for all the suggestions and help. I know I'd be better off building a new compy from scratch, but the money just isn't there. I can, however, justify a hundred bucks or few to draw out the life of this thing. I've ramped the RAM up to the max it'll hold, and swapped the disc drives a few times so I'm not afraid of the inside of it.

I appreciate the idea of USB for mobility for Some Day when the new compy comes--but won't I be sacrificing drive access-speed unless I go via the SATA connect?

So...back to the original plan? External hard drive that connects via USB? Any advantage/disadvantage to getting one that already comes in an external case vs. a naked one and grabbing an enclosure?

Thanks so much, everyone, for all the feedback. It's sounding like the best thing for me to do is grab a SATA PCI card, drop it in; and grab an internal SATA, and drop it into an external enclosure. That'll give me decent storage, as well as fast access speeds.

-I didn't see any external hard drives that supported SATA.
-I saw a few different kinds of SATA PCI cards--this is an area I know nothing about navigating, RAID what?

More thanks!

Hrm, so data transfer over USB 2.0 is comparable to a SATA line?

Good to know! I have a large collection of music and pictures, along with a few movies, that are hogging all the space. So, back to the beginning! I have my eyes on an a few different external Western Digital drives. The comments repeatedly mention, "Too bad you have to back it up so often" and other similar things.

Is this just in case the drive dies? How likely is that? Half these comments read like I'm buying something with a terminal illness.