Author Topic: External Hard Drives  (Read 4900 times)

Offline Captain Kirk

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External Hard Drives
« on: January 08, 2009, 01:21:12 PM »
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I am looking to buy an external hard drive to back up the files on my computer and provide additional storage for music and pictures that I will continue to acquire.  My computer has 64.4 GB of usable hard drive space and I only have 11 GB left on that.  I realize that I will not need an external hard drive for a little while as I still have some space to work with.  However, I just got a camera for Christmas with a 2 GB memory card, and I will definitely be taking alot of pictures from now on.  Therefore, my question for all you people who know your stuff is: how large of an external hard drive should I look into getting and what brands and price ranges should I look to pay?

If I do not buy an external hard drive soon I will backup my files on my computer through DVD-Rs or CD-Rs as I have not done that before and I know that I really need to.

Thanks,
Kirk
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Offline DaClock

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2009, 02:20:07 PM »
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I think a 1TB hard drive is your best bet for now. Right now you may just be into "pictures and songs" but pretty soon your obsession will be with super high definition movies and stuff so you'll need the extra space.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=terabyte+external+hard+drives&btnG=Search+Products&hl=en&show=dd&cid=15958606634216221438#ps-sellers

Offline Gabe

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2009, 02:24:56 PM »
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I've usd MyBooks to back up data (songs, pictures, videos, etc) and been pretty happy with them. 

There are a lot of differnt models out there depending on how you want to connect to your computer.  USB is the simplest, most common and also the slowest.  If your computer has a firewire connection or eSata connection that would make for faster data transfer but will also cost you a little more.

You should be able to find a 500 GB MyBook for a pretty reasonable price.  It doesn't sound like you need that much space right now but given enough time I'm sure you'll fill it up.
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Offline STAMP

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2009, 02:26:39 PM »
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 +1  You could get 50-400 Gb cheaper right now but go with the terabyte as high-def media will proliferate the internet.  If you don't need it now you can wait until prices drop a little.


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Lamborghini_diablo

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2009, 02:43:43 PM »
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Heheheh.... *has a 1tb hard drive in his computer*

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Offline Captain Kirk

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2009, 03:32:48 PM »
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Have y'all all found it worthwhile to buy the more expensive ones with a faster connection?  And do people often put their physical DVD movies onto their external hard drives to have a portable DVD collection?

I need to look into those MyBooks later for sure.  I sometimes browse electronics at TigerDirect.com, which has pretty good deals.  I came upon these three that seem to be fair prices.  Thoughts on these brands (Seagate, Western Digital Elements)?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4183658&Sku=S130-8120
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4376839&Sku=W10-9012
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2203982&Sku=TSD-750AS

Kirk
« Last Edit: January 08, 2009, 03:36:17 PM by Captain Kirk »
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Offline EmJayBee83

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2009, 05:11:37 PM »
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I have a FreeAgent and I can't complain. Gabe's response is pretty typical of people I know that have used a MyBook or two. I would second everyone else's suggestion and go with a 1TB.

Offline sk

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2009, 05:28:29 PM »
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I'm in the same boat as MJB on all three points.  Seagate is the way to go.  I personally don't care for Western Digital stuff at all.  I know people with MyBooks, and they like them a lot, but when I've used them, they seemed a bit slow with big video files.  I doubt it'd even be a noticeable problem for photos.  And 1tb seems like a good buy, aspecially if you plan on making copies of DVDs.

On that note, the short answer is that it is possible to put copies of movies on your hard drive, but the legality is a bit fuzzy (it should be legal, and currently is to a point, but the studios have the $$/power to influence the people that matter into thinking otherwise/change it).  Although you would be fine doing it, you're on your own to find a program that works.
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Offline Tsavong Lah

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2009, 09:59:21 PM »
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Western Digital is absolutely the only way to go for large external storage drives. However, make sure you get the Studio Edition and use FireWire 800 to transfer stuff, or you'll have the problem that sk had with transfer speeds. Also, I would invest in a terabyte model; they may be more expensive, but they won't become obsolete as soon.
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Offline Tsavong Lah

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2009, 10:01:37 PM »
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Link for the WD MyBook Studio Edition:
http://wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=374
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Offline Tsavong Lah

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2009, 10:08:48 PM »
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Also, if you're going to be doing any video editing or other intensive data work, I would recommend the Studio Edition II (mostly because it's a RAID drive and thus can manage much faster transfer speeds in and out of the drive, especially useful when you're rendering data that's stored on the external from within the computer):
http://wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=410
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Offline Cameron the Conqueror

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2009, 09:10:14 AM »
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If you have no regard for money: http://www.drobo.com/  :)


Also, another option would be online backup.  Mozy, Carbonite, and iDrive are good options.  Only use if you have fast internet though.  I personally use both an external hard drive and online backup.  My documents are real-time synced to the internet and I make full drive images (http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/) which have the ability to restore to instantly.


Offline Psomaster

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Re: External Hard Drives
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2009, 03:58:06 PM »
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id recommend only a 500g one for now. hey are cheap and can be found almost anywhere. my family got my mom one thats 500g for chrismas and we backed up my ocmp, her comp, and havent done are dads yet and we basicly copyed the ENTIRE harddrives and we still have over 350 gigs left. i have a 250 gig and im down to 30 or so gigs left ><. yeah i torrent vids and movies and stuff that we own on dvd already but i dont have a dvd drive so i have to download to watch on my comp since they are always watching tv and my dvd/vcr combo is broken.

go with something small for now. theres always the option of buying a high-end enclosure then buying a harddrive seperate for a great deal. try newegg.com. ive bought my entire comp setup from them and had only one problem so far and that was me being stupid and not having the right motherboard driver to use ><. nothing from them has been dead on arrival like some people get and they replace it for free if it does come doa.

find something small and cheap as you will find backing up all you have and then for months you wont be able to fill the drive easily.
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