[Tech] Buying an external Hard Drive

[Meade Lacrosse]

I don't know much (anything, really) about External hard drives. I understand the memory and RPM about it, but I don't know if there are any that are good.

I know Western Digital is very good, and I've heard of SeaGate, but is Beyond Micro reliable?

I went to NewEgg, but I felt that TigerDirect has better offers.

edit- I have a PC now. if I buy this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822709022

will it work out with my Mac that I plan on getting.

[beach2300]

I dont see why it wouldnt work with the mac that you are looking to buy. Personally I love the seagate drives. Stick with something that has a decent warranty on it if you are moving it around alot. (reason Laptop hdds dont last long).

Personally I stick with Newegg over TD. They are just more reliable.

Why not get an internal HDD? You can remotely connect the mac to it and stream/share all that would be on it anyways.

[Meade Lacrosse]

I'm looking for an external mainly to back up my files, plus i want to install everything on that instead of my main hard drive so that my computer won't slow down.

Which brings me to my next question- what kidn of things can i save to my external? I know pictures, movies, and songs, but what about programs and games? I want to save Sims 2 onto my external, as well as Photoshop CS2, among other programs.

thanks for the help, Beach.

edit- in that case, this is a great deal than, right?

http://www.buy.com/prod/seagate-250gb-freeagent-usb-2-0-7200rpm-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/204110100.html

with a google checkout account, its only $76, plus free shipping.

[beach2300]

Yeah, thats a pretty good deal.

If you have a copy of your operating System, this is what I would do.

Back up all of your programs/documents...basically everything from your current HDD onto the external. Completely wipe the main hard drive. Reload the OS onto it. Then put any main programs and important documents that you use back onto it. (word, xcel, pwrpt, photoshop) This way you are in no way going to be corrupting your internal hard drive by downloading music....ect. Everything else that you download should be put onto the external...that way if you have any issues with what you downloaded it wont wipe the "important" stuff.

go ahead and PM me if you have any other questions.

[truste1]

That's a great deal considering I spent about $150 on an 80gb Western Digital external about 2 years ago.

[cali feeder]

That's a great deal considering I spent about $150 on an 80gb Western Digital external about 2 years ago.

It's an okay deal, you just got a really, really bad deal :dummy: .

[CaVLaX19]

I'd say Western Digital is the king of external hard drives. Here's what I'd recommend after looking at the amount of space you want and price range:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136022

[Meade Lacrosse]

I'd say Western Digital is the king of external hard drives. Here's what I'd recommend after looking at the amount of space you want and price range:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136022

After looking around, that deal does look outstanding.


That said, I just bought a Seagate Free Agent 250GB External Hard Drive, for $76.95, with Free Shipping.


I saved about $10 by going through Buy.com

[truste1]

It's an okay deal, you just got a really, really bad deal :dummy: .

The price was standard at the time, it may have been longer than 2 years ago I don't remember. I had a giftcard though which helped.

[livin4lax09]

tigerdirect is much more into the rebate deals because they know 70% of customers never send in the rebate. newegg is just straight out cheaper.

WD seems pretty reliable. I have a Fantom Drive, and I wouldn't really recommend it. It's pretty loud and obnoxious.

[mdawg]

i have a few western digital MyBook's, and i like them alot. they are quiet and stylish, and have good performance. id look at those if i were you

[Meade Lacrosse]

tigerdirect is much more into the rebate deals because they know 70% of customers never send in the rebate. newegg is just straight out cheaper.

WD seems pretty reliable. I have a Fantom Drive, and I wouldn't really recommend it. It's pretty loud and obnoxious.

Good thing, I was about to get a Fantom. But I chose the seagate. Buy.com had some good deals.

[Meade Lacrosse]

Ok, now that I've ordered my Seagate, what kind of things CAN i save to my hard drive?


I know pics, movies, and songs, but how about apps and games?


also, after i save my stuff to this, i plan on cleaning my hard drive (i.e- reboot). Will my computer be considerably faster without any files on its hard drive? i plan on installing CS2, and limewire, ad-aware, etc. onto my seagate.

[beach2300]

If you clean out the main hdd, then the computer will be slightly faster at finding/loading things. You arent going to get much speed unlesss you update your ram...ect.

[mdawg]

what i do is keep all my programs on my computer, and ALL of my files on my external hard drives.

your HD really wont be that much faster, in fact you will probably get better program performance if they are installed on your computers main HD. its all the thousands of songs and pictures and all that stuff that have the biggest slow down. program are bigger in size, but quicker access, because the computer doesnt have to sort through thousands of files, only a few hundred instead.

and hard drives usually arent what you want to upgrade for more speed. depending on how old your harddrive is, its either running at 5400, or 7200 rpms. neither of those are significantly faster than the other, its not until you start getting into the 10,000 rpm range do you see significant speed inmprovment due to the harddrive. if you truly want a faster computer, you need more RAM, and a faster CPU

[Meade Lacrosse]

Oh ok, well that helps a ton then.


In that case, since i Plan on rebooting my computer, will i have to re-install photoshop CS2? Because I'd rather not go through that whole process. Can't I just back up the whole program to my external hard drive, than put it back on my main hard drive after I reboot?

[mdawg]

it takes 20 minutes to install Cs2, deal with it.

and what do you mean by reboot? rebooting a computer is turning it off and then on again or restarting it. if you mean reformat (like erase the entire harddrive partitiona dn start fresh), then it would just be easier to reinstall cs2.

[Meade Lacrosse]

i got my external, and i'm loving it. great transfer speeds, and it works perfect. i would highly recommend it. i posted the link to it higher up.

as for photoshop, i svaed the installation to my external, and after i re-installed windows xp, i was fine.