External Harddrive

[Mavvy]

Does it matter which external harddrive brand you get?

or is it safe to say that it doesn't matter?

What's a good GB to price ratio?

Is it possible to build my own external harddrive for even cheaper?

[MazdaRxEight]

id say "building one is cheaper

materials are.... 1x HD (SATA or IDE) + 1x IDE to USB or SATA to USB enclosure

not sure if this is considered cheap, but i bought a western digital "the book" external with 250 gb for 70 bucks.

[db]

Brand shouldnt matter really, Maxtor, Western Digital, Raptors etc. Look up reviews if you are really picky on specs and performance. Raptors are the best in terms of speed though.

Its like 50 cent to a gig is a good price IMO, even less than that. Buy HD and enclosure seperate, way cheaper.

[II Xion II]

I'll be honest based on my personal experience. Get a Seagate. Western Digital is the worst HDD brand I have ever used in my life. Every single one that I have had has failed. Not, "a bad sector here and there" type of fail, but "a completely destroyed pile of filth type" failed. Now a caveat, all of the HDDs I have used have been internal. I cannot say much about Maxtor and the other brands, but Seagate is what I use and they are damn dependable. Nice warranties and I am running three right next to each other for over 500 GBs of space and I have had no problems yet.

[Phasmatis]

Except that Seagate has been known to suddenly drop warranties for no apparent reason (three years ago there was a big thing about that).

Anyway, I have a Western Digital and it's worked just fine for over half a year (and still works).

[db]

My WD HD is still alive after being constantly on for years :)

[♥ Tess]

i have a 300 gig Seagate. [external/ATA]
so far I had no problems with it (owned it for about 15 months)
i think it was $160 w/ the rebate. ~gift~

though i'm not too knowledgeable about EX-HD brands
so I can't really say if it matters or not =/
__
though depending on the size you want,
might be cheaper buying a internal + enclosure case

[II Xion II]

My WD HD is still alive after being constantly on for years :)

Guess I just had bad luck. Really bad luck. All four of WD drives failed.

i have a 300 gig Seagate. [external/ATA]
so far I had no problems with it (owned it for about 15 months)
i think it was $160 w/ the rebate. ~gift~

though i'm not too knowledgeable about EX-HD brands
so I can't really say if it matters or not =/

Hey, I have a 300 GB Seagate as well!!! And a 160, and an 80 (I think). Seagates have always worked well for me and I really have come to respect the brand. I do not know much about the current warranty situation though, when I got mine there was a warranty.

[toxxin]

Erm, just for your own info, I've had nothing but problems with my Maxtor drives. I believe I've been through 3 in the past. All seemed to have died out after no more than a years' use.

Just for your own info, but its up to you which brand you get =]

[dragoneyes001]

brand is not really important except where Maxtor is concerned this is the cheapest outfit out there and makes products befitting that cheapness. WD so far has not failed for me had 4 HD's from WD and three from Seagate of which one seems to be failing already in less than 6 months. its a craps shoot for which will fail or not.

external HDs are mostly for storage unless your using fire wire where they can at least transfer information quickly enough to be used for programs.

[db]

^ Agreed. Warranty comes into play here heh.

I constantly use mine external HD, with USB 2.0 which is sufficient. (Gaming, anime watching, photoshopping, torrenting, etc.)