Trying to find a large external hard drive

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by gracie123, Jun 3, 2007.

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  1. gracie123

    gracie123 Registered Member

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    Hello,

    I've been looking for a external hard drive that can store lots of things, such as 1TB. Preferably 500GB or more would be great!

    I just would like to know if anyone can recommend me a external hard drive that has this much space available to it and does not rely on the operating system type because I right now have Windows XP and if I ever upgrade to another operating system such as Windows Vista, it may not work with that operating system.

    Thank you , any suggestions would be appreciated :)

    Gracie
     
  2. Rico

    Rico Registered Member

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    Hi Gracie,

    WD Western Digital & Sea Gate, are two well known mfg. in ext. HD. I just finished backing up to my 160 gb Sea Gate ext. HD. The backup software, needs to interact with the OS, also the ext. HD needs to be recognized by the OS.

    Take Care
    Rico
     
  3. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Maxtor ext. hard drives etc. has recently been acquired by Seagate. Their external hard drives have been on sale and you can pick one up at a good price. I just bought a 160GB Maxtor for $70 at Radio Shack, but I see on Maxtors web site that they are selling them cheap too.:)
     
  4. ThunderZ

    ThunderZ Registered Member

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    @ gracie123 As long as your current PC has USB and\or Firewire any external hdd will work. The only issue you may have is if the external hdd comes bundled with automated back-up software. Then the only issue I could see would be compatibility with Vista. WD and Seagate are both good products. Have heard of issues with Maxtors, though I have never experienced any.
     
  5. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I am using a Lacie Extreme Dl external drive. Has 3 interfaces. On my machine it is fast as my 2nd internal. I do believe it is a maxtor, but so far no issues. It runs fine on my machine with either xp pro or vista.

    Pete
     
  6. EASTER.2010

    EASTER.2010 Guest

    I got a 200GB Maxtor drive for the unheard of price of a whopping 50 USD at an after ThanksGiving day sale at Staples. Watch for Staples sales, sometimes they unload some pretty nice PC items at considerably under-retail cost, otherwise they are retail level most other times.

    Another suggestion; I regularly visit somewhat small computer repair shops and eventually find a treasure trove price for "used" hard drives that i've yet to find one fail. They usually been peppered by a virus and the customer is been recommended to purchase a new drive. That keeps the small shops up and running of course. They usually have enough extras on hand and are willing to negotiate if after the first time you decline their asking price. Return again later and catch them at the right time and Bingo! Works for me.
     
  7. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    I'll suggest a mobile hard drive, such as this Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive. It's self-powered, smaller, quieter and cooler than desktop hard disks. It has a higher cost per GB and it has less capacity than a big desktop drive, though.
    For a external device with more than 500 GB of storage, I'd recommend a NAS unit with some form of RAID for redundancy.
     
  8. eniqmah

    eniqmah Registered Member

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    HI,
    Take a look at Western Digital's external drives line. Do a search on newegg and you will find them from 160gb to 1tb. It is generally the case that WD drives are quieter and faster than their peers.
     
  9. gracie123

    gracie123 Registered Member

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    Thank you everyone for the suggestions. :) I am still looking but looking into a Western Digital hard drive.
     
  10. EASTER.2010

    EASTER.2010 Guest

    I speak for everyone who replied for you in saying Your Welcome.

    If you run across an Internal HD at 1 Tb capacity plz post a link to it. I'm shooting for the Moon myself with capacity. :D
     
  11. coolbluewater

    coolbluewater Registered Member

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  12. EASTER.2010

    EASTER.2010 Guest

    Thanks coolbluewater. Tb is just the ticket i been looking for. I can just imagine if i don't partition it how long Defragging it will take, but i can always go off for awhile somepleace untill it runs all the way thru it. :cool:
     
  13. coolbluewater

    coolbluewater Registered Member

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    Ever hear of sleep? :cool:
    Yes, a single 1TB drive is a monster - it would be nice to have, though.
     
  14. EASTER.2010

    EASTER.2010 Guest

    XP would freak out with an earthmover drive that size i bet :D

    But for me i would carve this moon pie in sections, perhaps 3 partitions and send one of them into phantom storage mode as Read-Only. :cool:
     
  15. coolbluewater

    coolbluewater Registered Member

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  16. DVD+R

    DVD+R Registered Member

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    Western Digital MyBook 500GB is the one I use, it turns On and Off with the Computer :D
     
  17. Bio-Hazard

    Bio-Hazard Registered Member

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    Hello!

    I am using Freecom 500 gb external harddrive. It has own on/off switch and it is very silent. Have a look here.

    Kristian
     
  18. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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