unsure of what ext hdd to buy

[Julius]

Hoping that I am posting this in the right forum..

I am looking for a external hard drive, nothing too expensive but worth paying for. Sometime last year I bought a western digital mybook and it died with 2-3 months, Lost almost 750gb of important files(im into music).

This will be used with a laptop and most likely carried around. How do I know if the ExtHDD im buying is durable and reliable? That is what I am most afraid of.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

well one idea is to buy a 2.5" drive then buy the external case.. no warranty to screw up if you decide to open it and you know exactly whats in there.. also allows you to swap out drives when ever you want instead of having to buy a completely new external hdd.. also a good thing to have around in case your laptop dies and you need those files off your laptop..

 

[Julius]

well one idea is to buy a 2.5" drive then buy the external case.. no warranty to screw up if you decide to open it and you know exactly whats in there.. also allows you to swap out drives when ever you want instead of having to buy a completely new external hdd.. also a good thing to have around in case your laptop dies and you need those files off your laptop..

Is there an ideal external case to buy? Are some manufacters better than others, or virtually theyre all the same?

 

[engiNURD]

Personally, I like the quality of the Vantec and Antec enclosures more than others.

 

[Old Hippie]

Are some manufacters better than others, or virtually theyre all the same?

2.5" external cases are about all the same except for the chipset used for the interface.

Unfortunately I can't find any recent chipset reviews to help with a decision.

Here's a list of 2.5" enclosures from NewEgg from low price to high.

Just make sure the internal connection matches your drive's configuration...IDE or SATA.

 

[defaultluser]

The best solution for protecting your data is to have a backup! If you have so much music that it only fits on an external drive, buy another external drive, and just mirror the drives every once-in-awhile. If you buy your own enclousures, you can just replace any bad drives you encounter, since they are the most likely thing to fail.

This tool is excellent under Windows. Once you have the mirror pair setup, just connect the drive once a month and press Go.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en

If you don't want to go through the trouble of having two external drives, you can just get a NAS instead. Then you can configure SyncToy to run automatically, if you're the lazy/forgetful type.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/01/schedule-synctoy-to-run-and-automatically-and-repetitively/

 

[NASTY_LOS]

I personally have a Rocketfish enclosure, that of which is also backed up by a Simpletech external LOL

 

[Julius]

The best solution for protecting your data is to have a backup! If you have so much music that it only fits on an external drive, buy another external drive, and just mirror the drives every once-in-awhile. If you buy your own enclousures, you can just replace any bad drives you encounter, since they are the most likely thing to fail.

This tool is excellent under Windows. Once you have the mirror pair setup, just connect the drive once a month and press Go.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en

If you don't want to go through the trouble of having two external drives, you can just get a NAS instead. Then you can configure SyncToy to run automatically, if you're the lazy/forgetful type.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/01/schedule-synctoy-to-run-and-automatically-and-repetitively/

Nice!! I am most worried about losing my data.

Also, I've seen on newegg where they sale retail drives and bare drives. I'm guessing one is with the cables and the other is not? If I am going the enclosure route, I buy the retail version? To avoid going to buy cables or does it not matter?

 

[sirmonkey1985]

Nice!! I am most worried about losing my data.

Also, I've seen on newegg where they sale retail drives and bare drives. I'm guessing one is with the cables and the other is not? If I am going the enclosure route, I buy the retail version? To avoid going to buy cables or does it not matter?

correct.. just buy the bare drives.. the connectors for the enclosures are built into it.. basically you plug the back panel into the hard drive then just slide the whole thing into the enclosure case..

i would suggest either this enclosure if you want usb/esata support http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392009

or if you just want USB this one is an updated version of the one im currently using with a 160GB EIDE drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392032