Thread: Best External Hard Drive?

My main one died this morning, had a good innings at 5 years

Not looking for more than 500Gb really, any suggestions apart from Seagate?

Did have a look at this: My Passport Essential 500 GB External hard drive - 5.0 Gbps (SuperSpeed USB)

I have always used Iomega hard drives and i have never had a problem with them - i have a 500GB and a 1TB - i don't leave them switched on and i only use them for transferring my music onto them really - which is why i think they have lasted and still are going strong

Old Style WD Elements - metal with rubber ends.

DO NOT buy the new one, samsung story, anything mentioning 'green' or anything that's plastic - it will die within months.

Only problem is you can't buy that brand new anymore (look on ebay - around the £50ish mark usually for a 1tb).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WD-Elements-1-TB-External-Hard-Drive-/270845547774?pt=UK_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=it em3f0fa714fe#ht_1433wt_1 (eg)

Or you can get a metal external caddy case and put one of these in it (got 2 inside the pc & are decent quality) :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002U22U6S

Looks like they've gone up though (were £45!!) - external case was around £20 from PC Components, Desktop PCs, Laptops, LCD TVs & Computer Hardware


Just don't buy a cheapy plastic one - it will over heat & die. Same for those Green ones - constantly turning themselves on & off to save energy kills them off.

yeah I agree, get yourself a Werstern Digital Drive and try to get the metal case ones. If not then most WD drives are good. Better than any other brand anyway.

Werstern Digital are the way forward

Originally Posted by markie101

yeah I agree, get yourself a Werstern Digital Drive and try to get the metal case ones. If not then most WD drives are good. Better than any other brand anyway.

Only the metal ones - the plastic ones & 'green' ones I had last year died within 6 months.
I've got 3 of the metal ones & 2 are in constant use - been fine for years.

WD were always the best at drives its a shame they have started producing shite ones.

I would go with what was said and buy an empty usb HDD case and put your own drive in. Then you can buy a decent drive.

I have these metal Iomega hard drives

The 1TB one is






And the 500GB one is this



I have never had a problem with them and they are quite reasonably priced

Speed or durability?

Speed - go for a usb3.0. Never under 2Tb. Buy one which have the best warranty. Then claim it if it fails. Dont use them more than 2 years.
Durability - PCworld had a test last year. Top External Hard Drives | PCWorld and CNET had one this summer Best external storage drives and hard drives - CNET Reviews

Think of the drive as a condom. You always want at least 2 - if one fails.

Bender