Looking for good value external hard drive

[KMacWVU]

I've been filling up my new laptop's hard drive as of late and am looking for the best bang for the buck external hard drive you guys know of. College student, so wouldn't mind spending around $100 for this thing.

I found this on newegg: Newegg.com - Western Digital My Book Essential WDH1U7500N 750GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - External Hard Drives

They also have the 500GB model for $15 cheaper. Are those good buys? If not, what's better? Thanks in advance

 

[eyeCpc]

I wish I had the 750gb running the 500gb version of the same. I just had to backup the backup drive since that was starting to fill a little faster then planned.



Note that if you plug in and then unplug and then replug the drive in repeatedly the drive letter will change just about every time. I would spend the extra $15 for the 200+ gb more drive space.

 

[hikaricloud]

I have the 500gb version too. It's a good drive, but god help you if you accidentally uninstall the firewire driver.

Also, make sure it's well ventilated. My first one died because it was getting too hot in the case. The upshot is the HDD will work fine if you tear it out and throw it in your machine. That's how I backed it up.

Side note: I paid 170 bucks for mine, so that's a good deal.

 

[eyeCpc]

That's strictly a usb model seen there not the 3way combo models that see firewire and eSata options. The 500gb Essential here is also usb.

The casing is always just a little above room temperature on the drive here while some externals will tend to run a bit warm depending on make and model. And that was after just having copied everything on onto an internal drive.

 

[hikaricloud]

Ah, didn't notice that. The newer models seem to have slightly better ventilating, but they still kinda suck heat wise.

 

[Trotter]

Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA - External Enclosures

Add any SATA drive you want, as many as you want. It is a dock and allows you to make any SATA drive to become an external.

 

[hikaricloud]

Trotter, it says it supports up to 1tb...is that accurate? Or can I throw my seagate 1.5tb in there?

 

[eyeCpc]

The docking would be the same since the 1.5gb is still a 3.5" standard size. I was pondering one but simply added in a 1tb internal. See the 2gb Caviar Green models lately? WD Caviar Green 2 TB SATA Hard Drives ( WD20EADS )

 

[zedman3d]

It COULD support over 1TB but thats something you will have to research from reviews and such, because according to the specs it doesnt.

The docking would be the same since the 1.5gb is still a 3.5" standard size.

Doesnt matter, if it says it supports upto 1TB thats what it USUALLY supports and the only way to 100% know is to read reviews. Its like MicroSD/SD cards for your mobile phone and cameras, most only support 2GB even though there is no physical difference between that and 4GB card.

EDIT: Did some looking around and found that its seems to support over 1TB. So there you go. Good stuff.

 

[hikaricloud]

I'll have to grab one of those. I hate the prebuilt ones. If there was one that did firewire though, that would sell it for me.