Best external hard drive for these requirements

M

money man

Registered User
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406
Hello there,

have been reading all the past threads (of which there are a few) on external hard drives. I want to get one for home use for myself and moneywoman!
Criteria are as follows:
1must be USB powered (not requiring seperate power)
2small/compact
3hot swappable (think means can change between computers like a memory stick)
4 must be able to use with apples O.S. and Windows.
5Bigger memory the better i.e 200GB plus
6Good value
7warranty of approx 12-24months

Im a little nervous/unfamiliar with ebay and would like to try and buy in a shop depending on price difference. Does anyone know what make/model would suit us? And roughly how much/where to buy.
If you have recently purchased one and are happy with it could you let me know where u got it/how much?
 
USB powered means you're looking at 2.5" drives.
Small & compact = 2.5" drives
Hot Swappable - Yes
Mac & Windoze - Yes
200Gb+ well you're kinda at the 2.5" limit at 200Gb.
Good value - for the physical and logical size - Yes
[broken link removed] - £72 Warranty - 7 Days (well it IS Ebay :) )
- €124 Warranty - 2 Years.
 
Most of these units are much of a muchness. Commodity stuff. I'd sooner buy a cheaper non brand unit than a dearer branded one. The drive inside will invariably come from the handful of drive manufacturers who make these things anyway. Check the warranty offered by the drive manufacturer just in case. Most will do something like 3 years and if the drive fails during this time they will give you a new one (but obviously won't replace your data so make sure to backup!).
 
As above, backing up is essential. If youve got 200gb of data with youre favorite photos, music, videos etc, you're lost if the drive goes. Id suggest if youre going to spend 80-100e on a 200gb USB drive, for another 100e or thereabouts you can get a powered 500gb external drive and keep as a backup.
 
Thanks for great feedback so far. Think i will just use it as short term back up and then put it on disk for long term storage. I will be using it as back up to my laptop and her laptop so i will take my chances that both wont fail!! the 72pounds one seems to be gone. are the freecom ones the branded ones?
 
Jimmy Mook said:
I have a Western Digital Passport external HD and it is excellent.
Click to expand...
I have one of these boys too, 160gb. It has incremental backup (backs up changes since last backup, not all the data) software on it to manage your backups, and it encrypts them too. USB powered,

It's the dogs.
 
ClubMan said:
At 500GB I presume it's a 3.5" drive which means that it won't be USB powered as required by the original poster.
Click to expand...

That's true Clubman. I just thought it would suit a limited budget. I have three of these type of external drives (500GB Maxtor and 2 x Western Digital 320 & 500GB) for family use and find them versatile (especially if used by different PC's/Apples) and great value. We have also ran into USB power issues with other devices.

Horses for courses!
 
Yeah - but in this case the original poster explicitly described the horse that he needs!
 
Thanks guys thats been great. I think i will get the 160 GB one as its great value and has a three year warranty. If i find it good i can always buy a second one giving me 300gb for about 180 quid. If its not great i wont have lost too much over it!! thanks again.
 
Can you back up a 160GB onto a larger 3.5" directly by plugging both into your laptop?? Just want to check benfore I buy a larger one as backup..
 
Depends on what you mean by backing up - if you mean backing up user data files then that's fine. If you mean making a cloned image of your laptop drive so that you can pop the cloned image in if your main one ever dies then that's a different matter. Do a search here and elsewhere on the web for info about making redundant/cloned copies of hard drives if you are interested in that.
 
Thanks Clubman - was just interested in personal files for now - LAptop HD is full so am moving a lot of stuff onto a newly acquired 2.5" but might invest in a larger 3.5" just to back up all photos/movies/muisc just in case.
 
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