External HD reccomendations?

[kingocouch]

Hi all,

I am looking to add a hard drive, probably external, 150 GB or more. Would like reccomendations on a brand, price range, brands to avoid, etc.

Thanks!

 

[kiwiguy]

I have had failures on all brands of HDD, so not really sure that there is a "best brand" in that respect.

Presently on a Western Digital 160 GB following a failure on a Seagate, which replaced a failed Maxtor, which.....

Over a period of several years of course.

 

[kingocouch]

Thanks, kiwiguy. From your experience all external drives eventually fail. hmm...not very encouraging, but honest, thanks. Any idea why? I don't want to spend a lot on something that will eventally crash, so would an internal drive be better in this respect?

 

[killah]

a external is just a internal inside a case....same hard drive..

Hard drives die eventually...usually years, just due to wear and tear..nothing last forever.

 

[winbob]

If you buy an External case and put a HD inside it, just make sure that the case has adequate cooling. A small tight case with no fan will not help with longevity.

 

[JohnWill]

I have to agree that any major brand hard disk should have about the same MTBF. I've had failures with every major brand, it's the nature of the beast. When you think of stuffing hundreds of gigabytes onto a device that costs about $30-40 to manufacture, you have to expect that really long life isn't one of the design parameters.

Good backup solves that problem.

 

[wolfworx]

My HP Pavilion did not provide an easy way to add a second HD. Although there was room for it, mounting was a problem --- standard mouting hardware did not line up in any satisfactory way. I decided to go external via USB. I bought a no name external drive USB box with fan and separate power connection and Maxtor 80 GB drive for about $90. Works fine!