External Hard Drive Recommendation

[LasciviousXXX]

Hey there CA Fam!

I'm looking to pick up a new external hard drive. Old one needs updating and more space. Currently looking at 1TB models. Anybody have any suggestions on what they are using or what they think is the best?

I'm currently running a 27" iMac Core i5

I haven't shopped for one of these in awhile so any new exciting features I should be aware of?


Thx,
Dustin

Iomega makes a nice 1TB external. I borrowed it from BORIStheBLADE. It's fast.

[neoflex]

I am using a WD My Book and about to pick up a second one this weekend to have a backup since my Lacie has taken a crap. The Lacie has lasted me 5 years so I can't complain too much and it looks like it may just be a bad power cord ($20) as it seems pretty common on this model. The WDs are pretty affordable ($100-$110 for 1TB) and most reviews have been pretty solid. If you pay a little more you can get a Firewire drive. My only suggestion is stay away from SeaGate as they are known for being unpredictable and failing often.

[jkim05]

I have a SATA HDD docking system I use with my desktop. Connects via e-SATA and all I have to do is drop in a drive and it becomes an instant external HD.

[shilala]

I have a 500gb WD that works fine. I just use it for moving or sharing files though. Don't back up to it. I'm a Western Digital fanboi, Dustin.
That said, any backup drive is going to see very limited duty, so they should last forever. I'd watch newegg and fry's and mwave and zipzoomfly for sales. You'll find something super cheap that should serve you well.

[Mugen910]

I would check out slickdeals.net...I picked up an external Hitachi 3 weeks ago for 1.5TB for $80 shipped.

My brother just picked up a WD that was a 1TB for $130 but it doesn't require a power supply and fits in his pocket.

[LasciviousXXX]

Awesome!

Thanks for all the recommendations guys I will definitely check out some of these products.

Scott, I like fanboi's

[Jbailey]

Keep an eye on Woot too, they seem to have good deals.

[mithrilG60]

Personally I'd look at buying an external drive case and a new drive instead of buying a pre-canned external drive package. Typically that's the cheaper option plus it gives you the ease of future expansion, just replace the drive later when you need more space or as drives continue to drop in price.

For example you can build a 1.5TB external for $127 shipped with these 2 items @ newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182156

I personally have a pair of these acomdata cases w/ 500gb drives that I use for backing up my home network, one is always connected to my workstation and the other is stored offsite (in my desk at work). My desktop and laptop do nightly backups to a file share on my file server, where I also have recovery images for my desktop/laptop/file server/media server. I then have a robocopy script which automatically copies all the backup copies plus all the shares files on the file server to the external drive every night. Every other Monday I swap the drive at the office with the one at home, that way the absolute most data I can lose in case of a major disaster like is 2 weeks worth.

I don't bother backing up the data on my media server though, 3.5TB is too difficult to backup with a home grade system and I'm not willing to go business grade for data that I can always just re-rip or re-download if it's lost. For just carrying files around I have a 250gb WD Passport that's worked beautifully for years and being based on a 2.5" laptop drive it's much more portable (ie. fits easily in a jacket pocket) than the bigger solutions above and doesn't need an external power source.

[mosesbotbol]

1TB is old hat if you are buying new. Look for 4TB or more. It may seem overkill now, but you have to think the life cycle of the external drive and on the 2nd half of this cycle, 4TB will be the norm. Why get stuck with not enough and have to do it again sooner than expected? Data requirements with media just keep growing like no tomorrow. IBM and Buffalo make some worthy products in this space.

[CigarNut]

I generally use WD myself, but I found a Seagate 1.5TB drive at Costco for $139 and Seagate also makes good drives.

It really depends upon what you want -- performance or portability. The biggest of the small portable drives I have seen is a WD 640GB that has just come out -- looks very nice and is supposed to be high performance.

[shilala]

Oh Geez, Dustin.
I saw a sale on mac externals today and I just realized you were so afflicted. I think it was a 1tb for 80 bucks. Let me go find the link...

[shilala]

Here ya go, buddy. Don't doddle, sale is almost over.
Here's another link where I found it, Dustin. Dunno if you'll be able to see it there or not, it might be locked down.

[taltos]

I have 2 500GB Seagates that my wife and I use to back up our laptops. I like the 5 year warranty and I prefer the Seagate Disk Manager software to Windows 7 for backup.