500GB external drive

[3223]

I'm looking for a 500GB external drive for data backup. How is WD My Book? Is there a major difference between the older and newer versions besides aesthetics? Also should I spend the extra $ on the higher editions or just stick with essential? I found a 1st gen 500GB essential for $125 and a 2nd gen 160GB essential for $100. also should I just copy my files on the drive for a backup or use a program? thanks for the help!

[Broken]

For long term backup, I would never recommend a hard drive. They are too easily damaged, and eventually will wear out. I would use high quality DVDs, and multiple copies.

As for an external hard drive. If they are both USB2 I would buy the 500GB drive. Either way, the speed would be about the same, regardless of cache or the actual spindle speed. The limiting factor is the USB interface.

I believe the higher priced editions of the My Book you are talking about feature e-SATA. Which is useful if your computer allows it. E-SATA is just an external SATA connector that would allow the external hard drive to function at the same speeds as a regular internal SATA drive. You must have the connector on your computer and external HD.

[lee551]

i prefer to go with an external enclosure. you can put in any size hdd you want (up to 750gb with this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817145654) model). that way you can swap out any hdd you ever want to test or transfer files to/from.

i know someone who owns a WD My Book, and the only thing i didn't like about it was that it showed up as 3 drives when connected (maybe due to the way its partitioned?).

[silent h3ro]

i know someone who owns a WD My Book, and the only thing i didn't like about it was that it showed up as 3 drives when connected (maybe due to the way its partitioned?).He/She has 3 partitions.

I own a (1st gen) WD 500GB Premium Drive My Book and I paid $200 for it when it came out. The only bad thing about the early models is that somtimes, randomly your computer will not recognize it. We have owned 3 in the family and all had the same problem so I would try to get a 2nd gen or find another brand unless you are not too concerned about it. Though I don't think I ever had it happen to me more than two times on my 500 and I've had it for a few months now (the more recently it is manufactured the better it should be generally speaking about external hdds).

[SingaBoiy]

I have some 2.5" external im trying to sell. All brand new in wrapping

Western Digital Passport
2x 250GB (black) sells for $210 at bestbuy
1x 250GB (white)

Seagate FreeAgent GO
1x 160GB - sells for $133

Asking $120 for the Passports and $80 for the Freeagent.

i cant seem to edit my post (using my cell phone). but i will also be getting an internal 1TB and another raptor tomorrow :p

[Shiranai_Baka]

If you don't mind the size why not just buy a hard drive and an external enclosure and make it yourself?

[3223]

If you don't mind the size why not just buy a hard drive and an external enclosure and make it yourself?

the hdd itself will be about $100 and the case will be about $50 so it will be even more expensive than the my book I found.

[clocker]

Does your motherboard have SATA ports?

[backlash]

I have the 500GB My Book Essential - had it since the summer with no issues. The only thing that is annoying (and it could be all externals) is that it spins up sometimes when I'm not actually using it - could be explorer searching in the background, though.

[Shiranai_Baka]

If you don't mind the size why not just buy a hard drive and an external enclosure and make it yourself?

the hdd itself will be about $100 and the case will be about $50 so it will be even more expensive than the my book I found.

You don't really need a $50 external enclosure, there are $20-25 ones.

[3223]

Does your motherboard have SATA ports?

i dont think so as its a 6yr old dell dimension 8200. so I should not use an external for backups?

[silent h3ro]

Does your motherboard have SATA ports?

i dont think so as its a 6yr old dell dimension 8200. so I should not use an external for backups?Yes you can still use USB but using eSATA ports is much faster. I have eSATA on my mobo but I still use USB.

[3223]

i dont think so as its a 6yr old dell dimension 8200. so I should not use an external for backups?Yes you can still use USB but using eSATA ports is much faster. I have eSATA on my mobo but I still use USB.

I was asking if using HDD for backups since they fail/break easily is a good idea.

[silent h3ro]

I'm not sure why I said that. :P

Using a hdd for backups is fine unless you really think you have a chance of dropping the drive. It will take years for the hard drive to fail but it still happens. If you are truly concerned, then you should use flash drives, DVD's, or Solid-state drives.

[clocker]

I've never had a HDD- internal or external- fail, so I consider them to be fine.*
Naturally, the possibility exists, so I'd also recommend burning any really critical files to disk as well.


*I upgrade components on a fairly regular basis and don't keep drives around for more than a year or two at most.
This probably helped my track record.

[3223]

I've never had a HDD- internal or external- fail, so I consider them to be fine.*
Naturally, the possibility exists, so I'd also recommend burning any really critical files to disk as well.


*I upgrade components on a fairly regular basis and don't keep drives around for more than a year or two at most.
This probably helped my track record.

wow that must cost alot of $. I guess i'll go with the my book then. thanks guys ;)

[Broken]

I've never had a HDD- internal or external- fail, so I consider them to be fine.*
Naturally, the possibility exists, so I'd also recommend burning any really critical files to disk as well.


*I upgrade components on a fairly regular basis and don't keep drives around for more than a year or two at most.
This probably helped my track record.

It's just not mechanical failure. If it's an active, live hard drive there is always the risk that the data will be lost, possibly do to viruses, and that other "stupid" stuff that just happens by mistake.


As I said in my first post in this thread,
and Clocker just recommended, "I'd also recommend burning any really critical files to disk as well".

If this hard drive is just for general storage, I'd highly recommend that you consider buying an additional internal drive instead. You'd still maintain the ability to archive the data, but you'd have the flexibility and speed that goes along with an internal drive.

[clocker]

wow that must cost alot of $.
Hard drives are cheap while my time grows increasingly precious.
Also, I was in the business and didn't pay retail.

We used to get lots of older systems in for recycling.
Many of these had semi-decent drives that had died but the owner never pursued warranty replacement.
We would.

My buddy just found a PC with two dead 74GB Raptors, both of which were still under warranty.
For the cost of shipping, he now has two brand new, very fast drives.
Not bad for $10.

Most brand name RAM comes with a lifetime warranty, so the same procedure applies.

In general, people are uninformed, lazy and yes, sometimes just stupid, and you can benefit from their lapses if you take the time and do the research.

[Detale]

Damn! I'm in the wrong industry!

[clocker]

Nah, the computer biz sucks, especially at the retail level.
Then again, I suspect that anything at the retail level is pretty bad.

[hvymetal86]

the hdd itself will be about $100 and the case will be about $50 so it will be even more expensive than the my book I found.

You don't really need a $50 external enclosure, there are $20-25 ones.

If you're just using the external case for backup, and its usually turned off, I'd say a cheap case with no fan, $20-$25 would be perfect. but Id you're going to leave it on all the the time, or a good amount of the time, I'd say spend a little more to get a decent aluminum case (plastic conducts heat like crap) that has an internal fan to help cool it. Otherwise, your HD will die quickly from being too hot.