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External Hard Drives

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Saber, Sep 16, 2008.

  1. Saber

    Saber A revolution without dancing is not worth having! Veteran

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    Remove all ads!
    So the other day my computer died. The IT at my school was able to fix it, but it got me thinking that I should buy an external hard drive. I want a cheap 500GB one, but all of the ones with the best ratings (newegg.com) also have a ton of negative reviews... what are some good ones that will run on 64 bit Vista? (Also, NFTS would be nice...)

    The one I think I have narrowed it down to (over the Seagate FreeAgent Desktop) is:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136080

    I will have to format it to NFTS, which will bring it down to about 465 GB (or so I have heard) if I want to transmit large files.

    Are there better ones out there that are not extremely expensive? This is just to occasionally backup my files.
     
    Saber, Sep 16, 2008
    #1
  2. Merlanni

    Merlanni Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Merlanni, Sep 16, 2008
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  3. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    Seagate and newer Lacie are good.

    Older Lacie are extremely reliable but also extremely loud.
     
    Taza, Sep 17, 2008
    #3
  4. Saber

    Saber A revolution without dancing is not worth having! Veteran

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    Should I be concerned about whether or not it has firewire capabilities? Or eSATA? This is just for personal use to backup documents, photos, movies, and music.
     
    Saber, Sep 17, 2008
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  5. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    USB 2.0 is plenty. Firewire/eSata are significantly faster but harder to use - if you aren't running software off it, it's just a matter of preference.

    Also, remember TrueCrypt if you plan to travel with it.
     
    Taza, Sep 17, 2008
    #5
  6. Saber

    Saber A revolution without dancing is not worth having! Veteran

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    Saber, Sep 17, 2008
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  7. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    I have the Lacie one, my brother has the WD one. Older models, mind you.

    Neither of them are a big mistake, though both of them need to be formatted NTFS first thing after getting them. The Lacie looks better and is more rugged, but the WD's lasted two years too.

    The WD was unbearably slow before it was formatted NTFS, and the Lacie has survived a year going to school with it in my backpack. What can I say, I don't pack light.

    Do wait for other people than me to give opinions too, though.
     
    Taza, Sep 17, 2008
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  8. Saber

    Saber A revolution without dancing is not worth having! Veteran

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    Yeah, I was planning on formatting to NTFS. It cuts the space to about 465 GB, but that is okay (I think that is what most other 500GB models actually run at too).
     
    Saber, Sep 17, 2008
    #8
  9. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    I second the TrueCrypt plug. You can encrypt the entire drive using 1, 2, or 3 different algorithms...although AES would probably be enough.

    I'd go with the Lacie one because it looks friggin' awesome. :D :rolling:
     
    Kitrax, Sep 17, 2008
    #9
  10. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    Just out of curiousity (and ignorance) - is making a back up of a single drive to an external HDD using a utility like Nero Backitup or Ghost any different than backing up a RAID 0 system? Is there any difference?
     
    Ragusa, Sep 17, 2008
    #10
  11. Saber

    Saber A revolution without dancing is not worth having! Veteran

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    The price just went down to 80 dollars on the WD, so I am getting that. Thanks for your help everyone!
     
    Saber, Sep 18, 2008
    #11
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