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  • Portable HDD reccomendations

    Hey ya'll

    So I'm looking at getting the BF a portable HDD as a gift, but would like to know what are the most stable/best brands? I've looked at a few, but some reviews were troubling in that the drive became unreadable within +- 4 months.

    Budget wise...um...like $100 to $150?
    The report button - not just for decoration

  • #2
    I've had good luck with Western Digital - just make sure it does NOT require it's own power (some do, most don't now).

    Also, spend the money and get a nice case for it, too.
    Quote Dalesys:
    ... as in "Ifn thet dawg comes at me, Ima gonna shutz ma panz!"

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    • #3
      Quoth draggar View Post
      I've had good luck with Western Digital - just make sure it does NOT require it's own power (some do, most don't now).

      Also, spend the money and get a nice case for it, too.
      Just be aware for a bus powered one, some laptop ports and front panel ports on a desktop don't provide enough power for some enclosures.

      If you get a USB3 drive and have USB3 ports you should be ok.

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      • #4
        Actually, if you can handle simple tools (a screwdriver) generic enclosures for external drives are pretty cheap. Get one of those, and a decent drive to put in it, and it will compare favorably with a "already made" portable drive.

        The advantage is that *when* (no if!) the drive eventually starts to fail, you can just open the case and replace it.

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        • #5
          External drives tend to get banged around a bit. The mechanical 'spinning platter' hard drives are sensitive to rough handling; if your budget allows a little extra, you might consider a solid state drive in a sturdy enclosure.

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          • #6
            Quoth ComputerNecromancer View Post
            Actually, if you can handle simple tools (a screwdriver) generic enclosures for external drives are pretty cheap. Get one of those, and a decent drive to put in it, and it will compare favorably with a "already made" portable drive.
            These are pretty easy to put together. In fact, there's one attached to my desktop machine right now. All it is, is a USB box, that takes an IDE hard drive. IIRC, the box itself was about $40 US. The drive I used...was a "refugee" from work. That is, I pulled it from a computer I was scrapping. While it does have a USB connection, it needs its own power cord. Not really a big deal, since I carry a three-plug power strip in my laptop bag.
            Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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            • #7
              As much as I dislike Western Digital, I must say the two MyPassport drives I have for work have performed pretty well.

              The problem of shock with portables has already been mentioned, but the other problem is heat. Heat can be a drive killer, and some portables are better at dissipating it than others, and this will be a concern with "regular" drives mounted in enclosures. As far as I can tell, the MyPassport handles this well, which is probably why they're still working.
              Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

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              • #8
                There are only three companies that manufacture HDs. - Seagate, WD, and Toshiba. I've used them all, and I find them all quite reliable overall.

                Quoth iradney View Post
                I've looked at a few, but some reviews were troubling in that the drive became unreadable within +- 4 months.
                That's actually expected. Problematic drives tend to fail in the first few months of use. All three manufacturers unknowingly release batches of problematic drives. I would suggest, before loading up the drive with data, run a stress/diagnostics program on the drive. The manufacturer probably has one available for download at its support site. It'll test and stress the drive for a period of time, hopefully uncovering any drive defects.

                I wouldn't worry so much about brand. Get something that meets your needs with regard to portability, size, speed, warranty. I generally ignore any included software packages. If this is for use with a gaming console, best do a google search for specific models that work well with the specific console. There are a few that are problematic for that use.

                If you want some info on recent failure rates, do a search on Hard Drive Reliability Stats for Q2 Q3 2015 backblaze. These are not tests on the actual portable drives you'll find on retail shelves, but a drive failure report (by manufacturer/model) by backup/cloud service backblaze . This will give you a general snapshot of which manufacturer may be having a worse/better time right now with failed hds.

                Keep in mind, I've read pieces that cast doubt on backblaze stats. Which brings me back to what I said earlier. Generally speaking, all three manufacturers are quite good.

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