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External HDD help

T

The-UselessNoob

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
280
Heyo, planning to get an external hard drive for my brother this christmas, he would most likely just leave it on his desk in his room most of the time, he also downloads a lot of stuff off of the university network. looking for something around the $110-120 range (canadian), around 1tb. (his laptop only has usb 2.0 ports). any advice from people who own them. doesn't have to be perfectly silent, but preferable not too loud.
 
When looking at external hard drives, there are a few factors to consider. The most basic of them, in my opinion, are:

Power
There are two ways external hard drives can be powered; through the USB port or through the wall. Generally, external hard drives powered through the wall are less expensive and larger (in terms of physical size) than external hard drives powered through a USB cable. Benefits? Well the USB cable powered devices might be more beneficial for a laptop user if the user plans on traveling with the external hard drive and may require it on flights, travel, etc.

With that said, you may be hard pressed to find a 1tb harddrive that uses usb power for sub-$100. Generally, the USB powered devices are labeled "portable" external hard drives by some manufactures. Form factor for usb powered devices are 2.5 while outlet powered are 3.5

Platters / Internal Drives / Speed
If you are really researching an external hard drive, like an internal, you may be interested in the number of platters in the drive or at very least the speed of the drives. Some external drives today are simply internal drives in an enclosure kit. This may be something to keep in mind if you plan on maybe using them in a future device as internal. Just a consideration :)

With that said I've only owned two external drives, both 250gb Seagates from about 3-4 years ago. I've never had an issue but im also not very taxing on them. Overall, you'll find people that swear by Western Digital, others swear by Seagates, and others swear by X company.. the truth is user experience will change depending on previous experience or who much another friend talked about it and loved it.

For example, here are two comparable Seagate and Western Digital 1TB drives on Newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136395 - Western Digital
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148405 - Seagate
Notice how the reviews for both are in the 3 or so? Now, is this because both are bad drives? Not necessarily; drives fail. It doesn't matter what brand you buy, it could fail. My point here is if someone is going to shout at you for buying X drive because they "fail more often" this could be true, but generally people have brand loyalty based on their prior experiences not because it is scientifically proven that X drive will fail more often.

With all of that said, here are some drives in your price range via Newegg:
Powered through a wall outlet
Seagate 1tb 69 - 79 dollars [depending on when you buy it, sale is on] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148405
Western Digital 1.5 tb 89 dollars http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136505
Western Digital 2tb 109 dollars http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136471

Powered through USB
1tb Western Digital $109 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136540

Hope this helps.
 
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