Which portable HDD to get

comp_ali

I have three choices to buy Maxtor , Western Digital and Toshiba .
Personally I had a good experience with internal HDDs , My dad has some external Toshibas as well and they work great. I may pick a 500GB one or 320GB.

One more thing I don't want the poor WD MyBook because it is so big and requires power cord so it is actually no portable , Could you recommend the best out of these ?

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BlueMak

I don't know. Have you checked iomega?

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comp_ali

Don't know but the three I mentioned are the only available here .

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Tipstaff

Since you've included Toshiba in the list I take it you are looking at 2.5" portable drives. If so it's a tossup between Maxtor and WD (however personally I'd go with WD).

Another thing to consider would be to grab yourself a 2.5" drive, one that has a good warranty on it, then get yourself an external box from a name brand company, like Vantec, and build it yourself.

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comp_ali

Yes , you got it. But won't it be more expensive to buy the drive and case separately and what is the benefit of buying them separately.

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Neshi

I have recently bought an external hdd and did like they mentioned here, an enclosure and a hdd seperately. My main concern was reliability and keeping the drive alive. As those normal ext. hdd's you can buy aren't being cooled and get pretty hot in their cases, their life expectancy drops. That's my thought anyway.

So I bought the Antec MX-1, an actively cooled hdd enclosure along with a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB HDD (ST31000528AS).

It is indeed a bit more expensive then buying a factory made one, but it gives me more piece of mind. I have one ext. hdd die on me, and even though it was just 250GB, I lost so much data.. I'd happily pay more to keep my hdd cool and living..

Just to give you an idea

(they still need to be delivered at my place, as soon I get it, I will post some pics)

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comp_ali

Thanks for advice , will see what I would get. I think cases aren't sold separately in this town so I may consider buying one with the case then after I couple of week I'd buy a decent case .

Edit: I just googled Antec MX-1 and found it was for the normal Hdd's , I was meaning the small 2.5" one like Tipstaff mentioned.

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Neshi

ah, ok.. I'm sorry.

I hope you can find some decent 2.5" ext. hdd's, or cases.

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Tipstaff

The biggest benefits are warranty, and recovery. Most pre-made boxes come with a 1 year warranty, while in this case you'd get the separate warranties of the parts you are buying (usually 1 year for the box, up to 3 for the hard drive). Also, let's say the box itself dies, but the hard drive is still usable (or at least you hope so). How do you get the data off the drive? Break the seal on a pre-made box, and the warranty is void. In this case, however, building it yourself affords you the luxury of opening the case, and hooking the hard drive up to a PC in order to grab the data off of it. If the drive is still good then all you need to do is replace the case, or send it in under warranty. If the drive is bad you still have the chance to recover data on your own terms, and still send the drive in for RMA under warranty.

Mind you, some pre-made boxes from name brand guys like WD have increased warranties on their boxes, sometimes 2-3 years. If warranty concerns you, be sure to read up on what each manufacturer gives.

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comp_ali

Ok , thank you for the explain . will have a look at the resller and post back.

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Tipstaff

Just to add to the above, with the Seagate FreeAgent Go drives, if memory serves you get a 5 year warranty on them. With Western Digitals Passports it's 3 years. This is still limited to region, btw, so it's still wise to ask what type of warranty you are going to get in your area.

Now you know why I recommended those 2 above any other pre-made boxes.

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comp_ali

I just came from the reseller I found that Maxtor has 5 years warranty while WD has 3 years but the highest maxtor capacity they have is 160 but for WD they have a 320 & 500 GBs . However my dad picked up the last 500 for himself so I have to wait until the get another one.

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comp_ali

I am thinking of getting small external HDD and save some cash for big internal one , if so should I go with Maxtor (5 years warranty) or WD (3 years) , however the price margin is not proportional to capacity differences .for Maxtor 160GB (250 S.R) , WD 500GB (450 S.R)

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Tipstaff

Yeah, it kinda sucks that the prices are so close. It's hard to justify to a client that they should pick up a 120GB external drive for $85 when a 320GB drive costs the same.

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