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Author Topic: External HD Recommendations?  (Read 3763 times)

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Offline jmz93

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External HD Recommendations?
« on: July 21, 2009, 10:56:50 PM »
My 1TB lacie USB external drive died today, or rather, would not rouse itself when power was applied.  It won't spin up, just clicks repeatedly as it tries to get going. 

So, since I am forced to buy a new external hard drive mostly for music backup, storage, and playback, what brands would you guys recommend? and just as important, who should I avoid? 

thanks for any recommendations.

Offline mattmiller

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2009, 09:47:27 AM »
Every manufacturer has their prize-winning models and their duds.  I own both Western Digital and Maxtor external drives, my internal drives are Hitachis, and I've never had a problem with any of them.  A friend of mine will buy nothing but Seagates.  That said, my most recent externals are these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136321

Nice looking, with nice rubber "boots" to keep them from sliding around.  Only downside is that they have no power switch, but this is fairly common, and it still has 5-egg reviews.
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Offline willndmb

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2009, 10:35:45 AM »
i have had 4 WD externals and they all died from 4 days old to 8 months old
i stopped even calling for replacements

i have 2 maxtor and they are great, ones like 7yrs old and ones 2
i also have a adata that has never gave me probs

i think maxtor might be hooked up with seagate because i saw maxtor drives on a seagate website a few weeks back
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Offline Brian Skalinder

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2009, 11:49:25 AM »
Every manufacturer has their prize-winning models and their duds.

This is my experience, as well.  I've found a decent indicator of quality is the warranty offered by the manufacturer.  Stay away from HDDs with only a 1-yr warranty; there's a reason they're dirt cheap.  Consider those with a 3-yr warranty; this is good middle ground for quality/price.  Ideally, opt for one with a 5-yr warranty; best quality, though a bit more expensive -- well worth it, IMO.  You might need to purchase box and HDD separately to get a drive with a 5-yr warranty.
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kirk97132

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2009, 03:21:45 PM »
I've also had WD's fail within 7 days of purchase.  I've had good luck with Maxtor.  And I've got a simpletech that has served me well for years. 
« Last Edit: July 22, 2009, 04:17:58 PM by kirkd »

Offline Gutbucket

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2009, 03:44:37 PM »
I've found a decent indicator of quality is the warranty offered by the manufacturer.

This bears repeating and is the primary measure I use when choosing a drive, even though I don't actually follow up on the warranty if they fail. A longer warranty typically indicates a longer lasting product.

For portable external drives I use 500GB Maxtor One Touch 4 Minis which are convenient, USB powered and have a longer warranty than other manufacturers (5yrs).  For full sized non-OS storage drives, I used four WD green 1TB drives in a recent storage array build, shoe horned in a small box enclosure and am amazed at how cool they run, which usually bodes well for longevity.  They have a 3yr warranty, but were much more cost effective than any 5yr 1TB drives and are arrayed redundantly in any case. I found those were the best option for that particular application.
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Offline mattmiller

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2009, 05:40:10 PM »
I've found a decent indicator of quality is the warranty offered by the manufacturer.  Stay away from HDDs with only a 1-yr warranty; there's a reason they're dirt cheap.  Consider those with a 3-yr warranty; this is good middle ground for quality/price.  Ideally, opt for one with a 5-yr warranty; best quality, though a bit more expensive -- well worth it, IMO.  You might need to purchase box and HDD separately to get a drive with a 5-yr warranty.

This is what manufacturers would like everyone to believe, but often isn't the case.  Having a longer warranty doesn't mean that the manufacturer trusts the product more.  It means the manufacturer has figured out that if they use the same cheap parts to build a unit that looks slightly different and include a longer warranty with it, they can sell it for a higher price.  So they're really just taking the "option" out of the optional extended warranty that most people would otherwise decline.

That's not to say that there aren't cases where you get a better product by paying more.  But you can no longer just assume it to be better because of a longer warranty.
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Offline doodee

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2009, 09:54:47 PM »
I'll muddy the water some more - contrary to most of the posts here I've gotten great service from  Western Digitals. I have 3 that I probably am now jinxing by relating how great they've been.

Five year warranty means nothing to me. That's why I bought a Seagate. It died in 5 months. Sure, they replaced it under warranty but not my 380GB of data I lost. I was wary of the replacement after being burned.

In an ideal setup, you should have mirror hard drives if it's truly important stuff you want forever. Buy one, load it up with the goodies and have a second hard drive with the same info for backup. Or is that backup - backup?
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Offline Brian Skalinder

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2009, 09:33:10 AM »
I've found a decent indicator of quality... <snip>

This is what manufacturers would like everyone to believe, but often isn't the case. <snip>

Fair point.  I should clarify and add that I don't think the warranty offered should be the sole criterion one uses to make the decision about which HDD to order.  Other factors are just as important:  specs, user reviews, etc.
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Offline Scooter123

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2009, 08:53:02 PM »
I have 3 Lacies that have been around for over 3 years without issues. 
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Offline cheshirecat

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2009, 11:01:16 PM »
To further muddy the waters, there are really only a few companies that manufacture HDs, they are then put in other boxes and sold.

IIRC, the major players are WD, Seagate(they bought out Maxtor several years back and now make Maxtor drives) and hitatchi(they bought IBM's drive operation).  Samsung now makes drives as well.
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Offline Neilyboy

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2009, 08:04:36 AM »
I normally buy nothing but seagate or maxtor's.. We had way to many WD's start the good ol' WD 'BARK' at work where they would start making this awful sound and die like a day later... I agree with Skalinder warranty is a good way to compare a drive...

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Offline noahbickart

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Re: External HD Recommendations?
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2009, 10:47:53 AM »
#1 Buy the cheapest drives you can find.
#2 Buy Three at a time, for one onsite backup and one offsite backup.

All drives fail. If you have two backups at all times, you will not lose your data.

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