External Hard drive selections?

[AnthonyF]

I am FAR from computer savy. I am looking to get an external hard drive for my laptop to back up all my....data....to. Are there any bad ones I need to look out for? Any good sites to purchase them? I was thinking of going to Fry's but don't want to get ripped off.

-Ant.

[AtifSajid]

man right now 2tb drive is like
$169. You cant go wrong with any brand really. You can go to the store buy a large drive and then go to delta computers and buy a external case for $20 and have you a USB or Firewire external hard drive.

[AnthonyF]

Ok, I don't know anything about these things. Just wanted to get a feel of how much I am looking to spend. Appreciate it. :goodjob:

-Ant.

[civicturbo10]

My boss got a external name brand and it failed after a 1.5 yrs. Not sure what happened there. Flat out died. Just stick to the mainstream stuff and you should be ok. For reg drives i use western digital, and maxtor / seagate, np. I usually stay away from brands i don't recognize.

[Tracy]

I use Western Digital. NewEgg.com is a good place to find one and Brandsmart usually has them for cheap.

[91LudeSiT]

I bought a USB western digital 1tb drive for 119 at walmart. It serves my backup purposes perfectly.

[grizz311]

You cant go wrong with any brand really.

Sorry, but you're wrong.
Just like any other commercial product, each brand has it's ups and downs regarding their product.
From personal experience go for Seagate or Western Digital. Seagate will give you a 5 year extended warranty, and Western digital has it's name to back it up.
Personally I have 3 Seagate external hard drives, and have yet to have any problems with them.
Stay away from brands that sell these for cheap, because this is one of those products that you do not want failing.
These brands include: Hitachi, Toshiba, Samsung, Etc.
Get them here for cheaper than at frys
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=414&name=External-Hard-Drives

[civicturbo10]

Adding to that ^ Come to think about it my coworker and boss had external hard drives, and they were name brand. One died after 1.5 yr and the other died after like 5 yrs. I tore apart the older one and it was a regular hard drive inside, lol. I suppose you could put another one in there but he just got another one. Not trying to scare you away but i just don't trust external HD. Go figure, since i had a maxtor HD for a long time and it was still ticking away....

[AnthonyF]

Well, I am looking to just back up info/pictures. Should I just stick to flash disks?

-Ant.

[Tracy]

There is a pocket USB WD HD. Works the same as a flash drive, just more memory. Same failure opportunity.

[AnthonyF]

Well thank you all for your input.

-Ant.

[EJdm]

brands mart have 1t for like i think 109 or something...ebay have them under 100...im also in the market for one....

[JDMEK18]

Hey Guys,

I just bought an HP 500gig slim external hard drive in piano black for $55 bucks and it works perfect.
Its a small investment to protect family pictures, movies, etc..
My plan is to always have a backup of my backup (which would be getting another 500gig or larger drive and backing up my primary drive to it - just incase something happens to the primary one)

here is the one i have - Its $124 at walmart i paid $55 from a private seller (or you can get 2 for $99 = 1tb) - You can e-mail me for the private sellers info if you like.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12457759&sourceid=44444444440049049081

[EJ25RUN]

How much data do you need to save? Couple of gigs?

You're best bet is to get a Seagate/ WD in a 2.5 size external hd. That way it powers of the usb and is much more portable. My WD 2.5 has been more reliable than my 1000gb simplex which i got for cheap. (should have gotten a seagate)

[dtmcnamara]

for a laptop you are probably going to want something portable, something USB powered so you can bring it with you when you go somewhere.

$99 will get you a WD 640GB PORTABLE 2.5" drive that runs off of USB power so you can bring it with you and not have to be plugged into the wall at all.

500GB are like $79 and 320GB are around $64