Nerds: which external hard drive maker/model do you prefer?

[breakingcontact]

I need to spend my Best Buy gift card and would like an external backup drive.

Which one do you like and why?

 

[PhulesAu]

Western Digital brand, never failed me yet.

 

[Glockster69]

+1 for WD but I would guess reliability is consistent among name brands.

 

[breakingcontact]

Western digital. Cool. I guess I dont really understand the difference between the brands.

Do you use the synch software/settings?

 

[Phoneguy]

Just like everyone else said, Western Digital. *knock on wood* I've had this 250 Gig one for 4 or 5 years.

 

[Iamntxhunter]

Click Free. Simple, self powered and easy to do.

 

[BigBoss0311]

Western Digital. Although Fry's usually has better deals. But since you have a gift card, it's a moot point.

 

[TundraWookiee]

Going by straight statistics, Seagate has the lowest failure rate followed by Hitachi and then Western Digital. That said, there are so many factors that come into effect for a hdd lifespan. Between all of my computers I have 4 samsung ssd's, 3 seagates, 1 hitachi and 3 western digitals. I have only ever had 2 hard drive failures...1 was an OCZ ssd and the other a Western Digital 500 GB.

Go with whichever has the speeds/price that suit you.

EDIT: just realized you said external...though these are essentially internals in a external bay. Same answer pretty much. I would suggest looking at the Seagate Central series though. They're essentially plug and play DLNS servers. What this means is you can store content on there and access it from anything on your network and even access some of it remotely.

Sent from Kate Beckinsale's closet.

 

[Flyingswords]

WD or Seagate usually

 

[Renegade]

USB 3.0 if PC. Thunderbolt if Mac.


ETA - FYI the compact ones are USB powered and do not require external source.

Also consider a Samsung a SSD for BU.

 

[benenglish]

Micropolis.



On the serious side, I fell victim to the Zip "Click of Death", the Seagate 1TB problem, and the DeathStars. (Where the Seagate is concerned, I've still got the drive and someday I'll do that crazy recovery-with-a-business-card thing.)

Given my experience, then, I basically assume that all hard drives are crap and keep my user-space files duplicated online and backed-up offline at all times.

The first 3TB drives got a bad reputation, early, so I skipped that step. I just buy 4TB drives on price and don't pay any attention to brand.

My feeling is that the box it's mounted in is more important since the enclosure and interface are the way you interact with it both physically and online. For a Linux user like me, that pretty much dictates (unless things have changed recently...and I freely admit to not keeping up over the last couple of years) an e-Sata interface; all my external drives are connected that way.

As for the physical box, buying good quality is never a mistake. Buying crap is a mistake I've made far too many times.

For the desktop, where noise is a problem, I stuff any random 4TB drive into one of the Icy Dock enclosures I have laying around.

For the server, where size and noise are no big deal, I use a CRU-Dataport.

For people who really want to explore the subject, I highly recommend: StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

 

[Andy]

ARS Technica test

 

[IXLR8]

Western Digital. If you go to the WD website, you can download a free version of Acronis Backup that only works with WD drives. The Acronis software is excellent. <tin foil hat on> Don't leave any personal information on your main hard drive. Only attach when you need it. <tin foil hat off> The USB 3.0 drives are so fast that you do not have speed penalties with an external drive.

 

[deemus]

I have had a couple WD's die on me. Both internal drives though. I have two Seagate, one a 500gig, one a terra. No issues with either. I think both are the "Freeagent" variety.

Will google the "click of death" issue you referenced.

edit - It turns out the click of death issue affected the "Expansion" line, not the Free Agent line.

 

[benenglish]

It turns out the click of death issue affected the "Expansion" line, not the Free Agent line.

Actually, the "click of death" that got me was from Zip drives, pre-dating the era of common external hard drives. It was my way of saying that I don't expect *any* external media to be reliable.

I was dimly aware that the phrase "click of death" had been used for other things but I didn't know exactly what.

When it comes to favorite hard drives, though, I vote for any drive with a glass platter. They are so easy to decommission at end of life.

 

[benenglish]

ARS Technica test

Funnily enough, the two 4TB drives I have sitting on my spares shelf (I always keep a hard drive or two in the box in case one of mine dies) are Hitachi. I'm sure I bought on price so that chart is nice to see.

 

[robertc1024]

I've got a 2 TB Iomega that has been good to me for a couple of years. And Ben, all of our work HD's get decommissioned with one shot with a BFH.

 

[benenglish]

And Ben, all of our work HD's get decommissioned with one shot with a BFH.

My work required 7 random overwrites followed by basic physical destruction. Glass platters made that last part easy to do indoors, in the office, without making a mess. Anything with metal platters, well, we had one guy who liked to make sculpture out of the internals. Personally, I like the old "Put 'em on a stump and slice 'em with an axe" method that I use at home.

As for your experience, I love drive enclosures that come with a "Shoot Here" graphic. There's just something that always strikes me as funny about that.

 

[Kennydale]

My Poodle got wrapped around the wire on my WD and pulled it off desk now it won't work...... have too much important stuff on it . Must take it to Geek Squad and get ripped off.

 

[mosin]

Not sure who makes the drives but I have two 500gb toshibas going on 8 years old. One is used daily. Thin small and usb powered.