• Steam recently changed the default privacy settings for all users. This may impact tracking. Ensure your profile has the correct settings by following the guide on our forums.

External Hard Drive Suggestions

Cryox

Bro.
So, I am looking into getting a new HDD, preferably an external one, and I was wondering what the best brand would be. I have heard that Western Digital has some of the best drives. I am looking for something between 500GB and 1TB, but I'll probably be going with 500GB because they are cheaper.

Any suggestions on what brand to go with? I plan to fill this with just about everything like music, movies, school stuff, games, etc.

So far I have looked at these:
Frys | Western Digital 500GB Elements
Frys | Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB

I have Gift Cards to Best Buy and Frys, so whatever I end up going with will probably be from one of those stores.

So yeah, any help will be appreciated.
 

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
It really doesn't matter what kind of external harddrive you get, they are all very similiar. It's not like you need a fast internal harddrive (then you would be picky about what HDD you get). I would suggest just picking up something like this:

FRYS.comIomega
 

Cryox

Bro.
It really doesn't matter what kind of external harddrive you get, they are all very similiar. It's not like you need a fast internal harddrive (then you would be picky about what HDD you get). I would suggest just picking up something like this:

FRYS.comIomega

Thanks, I'll add that to my list. I was thinking WD because I have heard the failure rates on those aren't as bad as others, but 500GB more for the same price? I think it would be worth it.

@Seth
I would get one of those, but it seems unnecessary atm. I don't have my own computer and that takes up a bit of room. I'd be afraid one of my siblings or mom/dad might break the internal drive since they tend to be very fragile. I will look into one of those in the future though, I should have built my own desktop PC by mid-next school year.
--

Also, the computer I am currently using has a firewire port, would that be better than (Transfer Speed wise) USB 2.0? Or should I stick with a USB external?
 

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
Thanks, I'll add that to my list. I was thinking WD because I have heard the failure rates on those aren't as bad as others, but 500GB more for the same price? I think it would be worth it.

@Seth
I would get one of those, but it seems unnecessary atm. I don't have my own computer and that takes up a bit of room. I'd be afraid one of my siblings or mom/dad might break the internal drive since they tend to be very fragile. I will look into one of those in the future though, I should have built my own desktop PC by mid-next school year.
--

Also, the computer I am currently using has a firewire port, would that be better than (Transfer Speed wise) USB 2.0? Or should I stick with a USB external?

USB external is fine, although you'll get slightly better transfer rates with Firewire I believe. You will also be paying $10-20 more for firewire on a hdd
 

Greyone

Funny Little Green Ghouls
my 750gb WD Elements has been running perfectly for over a year, however, I only bought it because it was on sale.

I would definitely suggest getting a WD drive and putting it in an external enclosure like NoEffex suggested. It is -exactly- the same plus you get a longer warranty.
 

Seth

MD Party Room
I suggest getting an external enclosure then getting a 3.5" western digital HD (I have had a total of 2 western digital hard drives since 2001. Both of which are still working).

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Computer Accessories,External Enclosures,3.5"
Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Hard Drives,Internal Hard Drives,Western Digital,$50 - $75

Well then if you cant do that then you should so this but since you got gift card money to burn then go with forzen HDD..
 

Cryox

Bro.
Well then if you cant do that then you should so this but since you got gift card money to burn then go with forzen HDD..

Yeah, I'm most likely going to go with the one Frozen suggested. I would definitely go with the toaster thing or buy an internal and then put it in a case, but my money is on a gift card and doing one of those things instead would cost more money, which I don't have.

Although putting an internal drive in an external enclosure would allow for me to put the HDD in the computer if say, I got my own desktop rig, right? And would I be able to make the switch without reformatting the drive?
 

Seth

MD Party Room
If you wish to have it as a slave drive yes ,tho you will have to format if you wish to install a os on it .
 

Cryox

Bro.
If you wish to have it as a slave drive yes ,tho you will have to format if you wish to install a os on it .

I would probably slave it. I would keep my OS on a 320GB or something that I would buy when I end up building my computer sometime next school year.
 

NoEffex

Seth's On A Boat.
Absolutely. So long as it doesn't use some proprietary partition type, which I don't think it does.

I've swapped this old western digital hard drive between different computers, between slots in different computers, etc and that's not made any difference. Since it doesn't have an OS on it it doesn't rely on drive #, so it can be placed pretty much anywhere that allows storage.
 

Cryox

Bro.
Absolutely. So long as it doesn't use some proprietary partition type, which I don't think it does.

I've swapped this old western digital hard drive between different computers, between slots in different computers, etc and that's not made any difference. Since it doesn't have an OS on it it doesn't rely on drive #, so it can be placed pretty much anywhere that allows storage.

Good to know, thanks man
 
Top