Topic: western digital External HDs?

[jagraham]

found this onsale at best buy here in VA for 100 dollars.  anyone use this and can vouch for quality?  there is also a seagate 2TB drive for 160.  any suggestions/input are appreciated.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=586

[jagraham]

this is the seagate

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent/freeagent_desk/

[rastasean]

I think we generally like getting an external enclosure for an internal SATA drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042
enclosure like that and then whatever size HDD you want.

This may initially be more expensive (due to needing to buy the case) but then you can get an $80 HDD (or two) and just swap them in and out as needed.

These cases you buy and put your hdd in have better cooling and their own power supply.


Actually what you linked in some kind of external drive with network ability. do you have more than one computer? I do and I wouldn't get that. I would simply share the entire hard drive and you would be able to read/write to it over the LAN. if you're connected wired, that would mean 11MB a second from my tests.

[rjp]

Hot-swap drive bays are another option, particularly if you're using SATA. Note that there are versions that use drive carriers, and others that just allow you to slide in the bare drive. There are even 5-into-3 racks (5x3.5" drives in three 5.25" drive bays) available.

With the 3-into-2, 4-into-3, and 5-into-3 racks, you have to watch out for case compatibility. Some of the racks will have grooves in the side so that they can clear the tabs found in many modern cases, while others (like the Supermicro CSE-M35T-1) won't go into a case with tabs unless you bend them out of the way or grind them off. If you're using a case that uses old-school drive rails, it'll slide right in.

Supermicro also offers a SATA drive rack (CSE-M14) that fits four 2.5" drives into a single 5.25" bay.

One thing about the Supermicro racks - they're rock-solid, server-grade hardware, but they have LOUD fans more suited for a server room than a living room. If you use one, it's worth replacing the stock fan with a SilenX or other quiet fan.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

found this onsale at best buy here in VA for 100 dollars.  anyone use this and can vouch for quality?  there is also a seagate 2TB drive for 160.  any suggestions/input are appreciated.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=586

I own SG and WD HDDs, both work flawlessly... 

Terry

[aarons510]

I own SG and WD HDDs, both work flawlessly... 

Terry

I've had three WD MyBook external drives. Two of them failed within the first year or so.

The good news, though, is that, when I took the drives themselves out of the original enclosures and stuck them in Rocketfish RF-AHD35 enclosures that I bought for around $20 each on eBay, they worked fine and are still working fine after more than a year. These enclosures also have USB hubs and card readers built in. They work as eSata drives as well, although I've been using them almost exclusively via USB.

Of course, taking the drives out of the original cases voids your warranty, so the latter is basically worthless.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I've had failure issues with WD external drives. I have since moved to all internal drives.

When I do my monthly offsite backup I hook the internal sata drive up to a Sata > USB converter and run it as an external drive, then put it in an anti-static bag and return it to it's offsite location.

Personally I don't trust the extra electronics that go in external drives.

[anr]

I've had two WD externals for about 2 years and, while both are still working well, they take forever to initialise if you haven't used them for a while (say, 15 mins).   XP took ages to recognise them.  W7 is slightly faster, but overall I prefer my La Cie portables.   BTW, I also have two Icy Box enclosures (supply your own drives) but their power supplies have both failed.  A new PSU costs twice as much as the enclosure and PSU did in the first place.   

[live2496]

If you have to send one of these in for replacement under warranty you will lose your files.

I would recommend going with either an external enclosure where you can access the drive or go with something like a docking station.

Gordon

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Knock on wood, I've had good luck with WD externals.   You need to remember they aren't laptop drives- you can't bump them or put them on surfaces that get bumped.  And they aren't designed for continuous use.  That's why they spin down when not in use - to stay cool.

I've been preferring WD for about 10 years and have been happy with their drives.  Many, many terabytes..    I am very particular about the specific models I purchase, where I buy (to avoid packing and shipping abuse, some vendors pack poorly), doing testing before using the drives, and keeping the drives cool.

I won't buy Seagate.. They've been on the verge of bankruptcy for a couple years now.

I am avoiding the new 1.5 and 2TB drives for many reasons.. But mainly, they are very new technology and they are still working the bugs out, and the 4K sector compatibility issues.

[OOK]

MY 10 year old seagate is still going strong.......

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

Someone sent me something about WD HHD Power Supply failures...  Anyone here have the same exp. 

Terry

[Gordon]

don't buy the new "elements" drive!  I just did a HD b&p for someone that sent me a elements 1.5 tb.  the read speed was only 10-15mbs!  that is about like usb 1!  I looked into it and others have the same issue.

[Scooter123]

For a back up, I use a 4 Sata Bay Enclosure.  This has the choice of either a software RAID or a hardware RAID Card, so you can go either RAID 0 and have 4x whatever gig your SATA is or RAID 1 and have a two disk redundancy.  I happen to use Western Digital Green Cavaier Drives, which are variable speed so they are cooler (you can hold them in your had while they are operating) and are more energy efficient.  Because they run cooler, you can downsize your fan and power supply as well. 

[page]

I have 1 mybook and 3 elements drives. The mybook is my daily driver and the elements are rotating backup/rsyncs.

Havn't had an issue in 18 months or so with the mybook. I don't thrash the thing or run it 24/7 like I did with some of my internals in an old server, but it is the drive that receives/uploads all of my torrent data. ymwv