Recommendations for External Hard Drive Need help!

[mesquitecountry]

Okay computer Guru's.

Which external should I get?

Here's what I want

size doesnt matter. 160 will suffice.

8mb cache or better 16 preferred

5400RPM 7200 preferred

Plug and Play

Most importantly. IT WONT BREAK IF I LOOK AT IT! I need something durable!

oh yeah i'd like to spend no more than 140 or so.

[Kevin]

Which ports do you have? USB2.0, Firewire400, or Firewire800?

What storage do you really need? Everything is a trade off and if you want durability, you might have to sacrifice size.

[mesquitecountry]

Kevin,

That's fine if I have to sacrifice size. I prefer USB2.0.

[Stins]

Lacie

A bit more than what you mentioned but worth it!

[Casey]

I have a Lacie that I run through Firewire 800. Screams!!!

We've had good luck with Lacies but have also used My Books successfully.

[Guest1]

We just purchased the Lacie 500 to store our video stuff...

800 firewire, like Casey referenced, and how can you go wrong with a "Screamer"!

Honestly our's is still in the box, have not had a chance to break it open since we purchased it this past weekend (supposed to be good?).

[mesquitecountry]

so how is the durability on the lacies???? Do they also have plug and play usb 2.0?

[Guest1]

Not sure about durability just got ours.

Stins' link to the Lacie mentions 2.0 USB and if you look at the photos of this one (2nd photo, I think) it shows the different connecting ports.

[Kevin]

I would either go with a "LaCie Rugged Hard Disk" or a rugged flash drive of some sort. You can get the LaCie Rugged in 7200rpm versions, I think the 100GB comes in 7200RPM if I remember correctly. If you are going USB2.0, I don't think 5400RPM vs 7200RPM is going to make TOO much difference. The reviews have been favorable for drops and such, but there is no real standard to test "rugged" for portable hard drives like for many other products.

If you want something that can be totally beat to **** and still work, look at the Corsair Flash Survivor GT. Its going to be slower than using a HD based solution, but its pretty beefy. Its waterproof, shockproof and RUGGED. Drive over it with a car, boil it, whatever. Its the Hk (or Sig if you like) of USB flash drives

http://corsair.com/products/survivor.aspx

[mesquitecountry]

i saw the corsair. thanks for the help.

[doncom]

Travis,

I bought a couple of Maxtor 500 GB USB2 drives last fall for $99.00 on sale at Fry's. I generally use them for about a year, then buy whatever is new, transfer the data and sell the old unit (or give it to my kids). It has been my experience that most failures occur the first few weeks or after the first year.

I do the same with mission critical servers except I replace them every two years and I build them with high end components instead of the bargin stuff.

PM or call me if you want more details.

[TimH]

If you have an extra hard drive at home and you want to spend little money, then go with an USB hard drive enclosure. They come in IDE and SATA.
+- $30

I have a couple of them that have been very reliable for a year or so now.

[Devin]

A word of warning in Western Digital My Books.... I bought one this past weekend and it was painfully slow... like 5 minutes for 60 MG. I took it back and exchanged it for another thinking I had a defective one. The second was exactly the same. Read some reviews online to the same effect.

Then I read some rave reviews on the "SimpleTech - 500GB External Hard Drive - Onyx"

I bought it and it screams. Decently priced around $150. Can't speak for the longevity yet.