has anybody got a portable hard drive recommendation

ShawWellPete

ShawWellPete

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Hi guys,

My portable hard drive is getting full and I need a new one. I currently use a 320Gig Freecom tough drive. It looks like these are only available in up to 500Gig.

Has anybody found a bargain recently? Ideally I'd like a 1TB one.
 
WD Passport thingy in a nice shade of blue for me :)
 
USB/eSATA docking station and a bare 1.5TB drive for daily backup. I swap a 1TB drive in once a month for my off-site backup. Can't see the point in paying for poncy plastic cases.
 
I have a nice shiny polished steel lacie plus an easy swap IDE caddy and 3 had drives which I switch in an out depending on what I'm backing up.
 
Presumably you mean the full size 3.5in drives? I have Western Digital My Book drives in 1 TB. I have the Home and My World (network) editions. Quite happy with them and they have auto-switch off of power unlike some. They aren't the cheapest but seem good to me although the plastic scratches quite easy. PS. Should say I bought the first one when abroad and wanted something in 1TB that wasn't the heaviest as I was flying a lot at the time and needed the capacity for my work. These are quite lightweight compared to some but tough enough and good quality.
 
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The 2.5" ones now come in 750GB & 1TB sizes.

You could buy a bare drive and stick it one of the may caddies that are available. Check to make sure it will fit these new drives are they are marginally bigger.
 
Yes they do, just. In my post I was talking about when I bought my first 1TB in 2007 but yes in recent weeks this size has amazingly become available in 2.5in.
 
My personal favourite are the Lacie ones that have FW800, FW400, USB2 and eSATA on the same box. Well built and so far totally reliable. :thumbs:
 
cowasaki said:
My personal favourite are the Lacie ones that have FW800, FW400, USB2 and eSATA on the same box. Well built and so far totally reliable. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Feedback for Lacie drives on Amazon looks pretty poor - especially compared with WD.
 
hollis_f said:
Feedback for Lacie drives on Amazon looks pretty poor - especially compared with WD.
Click to expand...

The aluminium enclosure higher spec models are really rather good. I've had no problems with them at all.
 
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I just bought an external Iomega 1 TB drive from Staples for £65. It comes with a 3 year warranty so *should* be OK :)
 
I've had my WD 1TB for over a year now and had no problems with it (touch wood). The only down side is that it needs to be connected to the mains, but all larger drives do. I think the largest you can go with out needing a power supply is 500gb.
 
whats USB 16MB High speed USB .. still work with USB2 Yes?
 
cowasaki said:
Yes USB and USB2 are interchangeable although the speed only runs at usb2 when both are.
Click to expand...

Cheers... I ahve 2 external 500GB but the second has played up badly and not worth risking...Both Maxtor.. Ones as solid as a rock and the other says not formatted now and then.. have to cold boot it to get it going and other times other errors not accesible folders... so its gotta go

Now ordfering a 1T
 
You're going to pay a fair bit more for a 2.5" 1TB, but 2.5" is nice and compact enough for a pocket.

Note that some 2.5" drives still prefer a bit more juice and come with optional power supply or a dual USB cable that can power off two ports if one is not enough. Not usually had much problem with them though powered just off USB, but I guess there's a reason for the extra power options. Maybe might risk data loss if the thing drops the USB connection.

Anyway, might be cheaper to get the drive and a caddy.

That said, I just got a WD 1TB Elements. It's a 3.5" so bit bulkier and heavier, plus has the power supply, but it's quite compact for what it is and quiet. About £60 I think and it worked out not much different from getting a drive and caddy. It also seems to have built in ability to power the drive down when you disconnect the drive from the tray in Windows (I guess similar with ejecting on a Mac).
 
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KIPAX said:
Is that same as the one I linked above?
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Yeah, that's the one. Didn't realise it's a 7200rpm. Seems very quiet.

Nothing fancy with it. i.e. no backup software unlike a full Passport model. But it seemed about as cheap as a drive and a caddy, and you can get it £60ish in the high street which in the likes of PC World beats their component prices easily (always inflated prices in there).


p.s. As for 2.5" drives, just remembered there's a review of on of the WD drives here, and it doesn't come out well:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/10/22/review_storage_wd_my_passport_essential_hdd/

I thought the review was a little harsh based on the connector (micro USB) and couldn't tell if they actually did have a problem with the connector or just felt it didn't seem secure in the socket.
 
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deadkenny said:
Yeah, that's the one. Didn't realise it's a 7200rpm. Seems very quiet..
Click to expand...

Ordered and paid for mine through DABS on the 25th same day I posted above.. It arrived this morning 27th which is great service IMHO :) 65 quid and was able to pay by paypal.. free delivery

Formated to NTFS as was FAT32

Just copying stuff over and its flying... so far so good :)
 
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