Recommend me an external hard drive please?

[Sue]

Looking to get my desktop back to basics due to ongoing anti virus issues and before I do so, need to back up files that I don't want to lose.
Only need to copy iTunes and My Documents really, so not a huge amount of memory needed.

Can anyone suggest something, preferably inexpensive that I can just connect via USB port and copy the stuff over to?
Is it as simple as that as well please?

[BevS97]

i don't think there's a lot of difference to be honest. I have one that DH bought not sure the cost, but you just plug it in and it appears like a regular drive and you can drag anything across to it.

if you don't need a massive amount of storage, then a USB pen might work

[Andre]

How much data do you need to transfer? As Bev said, a USB stick might do the trick if it's not too much.

Otherwise, around 50 quid should get you a decent USB external drive which could be used later to back up your machine on a regular basis if you want.

Andre

[Sue]

i don't think there's a lot of difference to be honest. I have one that DH bought not sure the cost, but you just plug it in and it appears like a regular drive and you can drag anything across to it.

if you don't need a massive amount of storage, then a USB pen might work

Thanks Bev, but I understand that the iTunes folder is too big for that on its own, so think I need something bigger than a pen

[Octal]

Any of these will do fine Sue
http://www.ebuyer.com/cat/Hard-Drives/subcat/External-Portable-Drives?start=20&end=40

[Dabies]

I've got a Freecom 400GB and that works fine for me. The prices seem to be coming down at the moment on them, so you shouldn't have a problem grabbing a bargain.

[Sean_and_Sue]

For transferring files or for backing up important data Freecom are a cheap reliable make.

For a little more cost you can get an external hard disk media player. You could store all your photos, video and music on to the HD, then play them back on the TV. HERES (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221340&&source=14&doy=2m1) the one we have

[gary33000]

i would recommend this one as seagate are proberbly one of the best makes of hard drive its small and has no power lead runs directly from the usb with a large capacity and its cheap

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217649&source=1&DOY=2m1

[Sue]

Thanks all - think I'll give the media player a miss! Bit too pricey for me right now.

[Sean_and_Sue]

Thanks all - think I'll give the media player a miss! Bit too pricey for me right now.

Just looked at the price of the one I linked to :omg: I only paid £99 for it. Maplin must be putting prices up for the January sales :confused2

[PrincessX2]

I have the Maxator one. 160gb just under £50. Easy to work, plug in the usb and then just drag the files over. I keep my video and pics on it.

[Sue]

Well in the end I pm'd Matt - our very own Amazon dibber and he had pointed me to this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000GIXVZW

So here's hoping it's as good as it sounds (and nearly half price too)

Thank you all for your suggestions

[Hal]

Well in the end I pm'd Matt - our very own Amazon dibber and he had pointed me to this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000GIXVZW

So here's hoping it's as good as it sounds (and nearly half price too)

Thank you all for your suggestions

Don't forget to tell your friends that you have treated yourself to a new Porsche in the sales. ;) :d:

:snowball: :new_year:

[Sue]

Don't forget to tell your friends that you have treated yourself to a new Porsche in the sales. ;) :d:

:snowball: :new_year:

:pgig: :pgig:

The reviews are mixed though - seems people either love or loathe it :confused2 (almost 2:1 in favour though :thumbs-up ) and checking out all it's competitors, many worse reviews so here's hoping I get one of the good ones :)

[Sean_and_Sue]

Well in the end I pm'd Matt - our very own Amazon dibber and he had pointed me to this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000GIXVZW

So here's hoping it's as good as it sounds (and nearly half price too)

Thank you all for your suggestions

Never heard of them, hope its okay when the Western digital, Seagate and Freecom were more than a couple of quid cheaper :erm:

[Sue]

Never heard of them, hope its okay when the Western digital, Seagate and Freecom were more than a couple of quid cheaper :erm:

Don't say that, it's got a better memory and the reviews were actually as good as the brands you mention :cry:

[Sean_and_Sue]

Sorry Sue, but i did say get Freecom as its reliable brand....sure your'll be okay:thumb:

Edit: just don't cough loudly near it:pgig:......I'm only joking:blush:

[Sue]

Sorry Sue, but i did say get Freecom as its reliable brand....sure your'll be okay:thumb:

Edit: just don't cough loudly near it:pgig:......I'm only joking:blush:

The Freecom 500Mb though were more expensive, best price I could find was £74 for the classic that has no back up software :confused2

I'll try this one, if it has the problems that some have mentioned, I'll just send it back :D and get the Freecom

[Northerndave]

Hi Sue,

I have that very drive sitting on my desk right now (mid-life crisis, so needed a Porsche - lol)

It looks fantastic, like a block of hewn stainless steel, however.......IT IS A BIT NOISY when in operation. When writing to the Drive it sounds like a bunch of tiny spiders are tapping on the case with even smaller hammers and you can hear the disk spinning, also gets a bit hot, but at least it keeps the tea warmer for longer ;) So far, in use for 3 months and despite sounding like an asthmatic, it is ok (so far)

I used to have a Freecom, but it broke after 2 weeks use, however the Seagates always get good reviews. Western Digital's aren't bad either. I'd recommend one of these to be honest.

Oh, and have you looked on ebuyer.co.uk, they are usually competitive on the cost front.

Hope this helps :)

[Sue]

Hi Sue,

I have that very drive sitting on my desk right now (mid-life crisis, so needed a Porsche - lol)

It looks fantastic, like a block of hewn stainless steel, however.......IT IS A BIT NOISY when in operation. When writing to the Drive it sounds like a bunch of tiny spiders are tapping on the case with even smaller hammers and you can hear the disk spinning, also gets a bit hot, but at least it keeps the tea warmer for longer ;) So far, in use for 3 months and despite sounding like an asthmatic, it is ok (so far)

I used to have a Freecom, but it broke after 2 weeks use, however the Seagates always get good reviews. Western Digital's aren't bad either. I'd recommend one of these to be honest.

Oh, and have you looked on ebuyer.co.uk, they are usually competitive on the cost front.

Hope this helps :)

Oh poo :(
I cancelled the original 'porsche' one as amazon had not despatched it and ordered a Freecom one instead :omg: (can't cancel that as it's not amazon who are supplying it)

I have a Western Digital that I was loading up for my ex - he wants the iTunes and the documents/photos - so I can always keep that and see how the Freecom is and give that one to him :pgig:

[Northerndave]

Hi Sue,

I know many people who use Freecom and they have had no problems at all, however they did have a batch of faulty drives about 6-8 months ago (look at Freecoms Forum and you'll see) and I think I had one of those, so that's the only reasom I wouldn't touch them again (once bitten etc).

I'm sure they are fine now, however the problem affected their classic model so much they reduced the warranty from 2 to 1 year.

I don't do it myself, but it is always a good policy to back up really important files (photos, etc) to a DVD (or 3) as well, and store that away from your main PC and External Drive.

And to be extra safe, buy another external drive and put that in another place too.

Even better, hire a bank vault and place in that too ;) wrapped in cotton wool ..... :grin: ...... with a kiss for good luck :d:

If on the other hand you have some important data you want to lose, just give it to a Government department and they are very good at doing that for you :pgig:

[Dollar_Bill]

I've just found this media thing (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-000-HY&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=72) which looks as it would be very versatile. Just don't buy it from Maplin as they are very expensive.
The Freecom 500Gb units seem good value for money.
Bill

[Sue]

Hi Sue,

I know many people who use Freecom and they have had no problems at all, however they did have a batch of faulty drives about 6-8 months ago (look at Freecoms Forum and you'll see) and I think I had one of those, so that's the only reasom I wouldn't touch them again (once bitten etc).

I'm sure they are fine now, however the problem affected their classic model so much they reduced the warranty from 2 to 1 year.



It's the 250GB Classic that I've ordered :omg:
Just have to wait for it to arrive now (as I said it's an amazon seller but not them themselves) - maybe I'll just return it according to their policy and then think again :confused2

[Northerndave]

It's the 250GB Classic that I've ordered :omg:
Just have to wait for it to arrive now :confused2

Oh dear ! - lol

Send it back quick, size is everything for disks, you need at least 400GB I think, I'll PM you ;)

[Sue]

Oh dear ! - lol

Send it back quick, size is everything for disks, you need at least 400GB I think, I'll PM you ;)

Hasn't arrived yet but think I will when it does

The Western Digital one that I've already used has got all my photos/documents and iTunes on it and is only 250GB :confused2

Think I need more guidance on this

[Andre]

Sue, you'll be fine honest! Freecom are a good make and 250GB is a lot of space for pics/music/docs. You'd only fill it up with video or game masters, etc.

Andre

[crid]

Hi

I run a Tech Support department for a big online IT reseller and I have no problem recommending Freecom. My top choice would probably be Seagate as we have very very few problems reported with them, I'd also happily go for Buffalo as their products seem very reliable.

Personally I'd never, ever, ever buy a Lacie (products not reliable), Iomega (don't care about their customers at all) and now I've also added Western Digital to my 'never recommend' list as they've started to put some kind of Digital Rights Management software on their network drives that prevents you from sharing certain filetypes across your network (like AVI/DiVX/MP3/etc) as they automatically assume these filetypes are illegal and that they have some kind of right to prevent you from using your equipment for what you want. There are ways around it (WD themselves publish a guide on how to share without the use of their software) but the average user would just use it. I'm not sure there are many people with 500GB of text documents that they'd want to share as that's pretty much all the WD drives with this on will let you share with other PCs.

[sunsetlakes]

Hi Sue, You could always try PC World.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?chain=PC_World&page=Category&channel=WEB&browserName=default%20browser&browserVersion=0&platform=default&use_category=true&deeplink=true&timestamp=09:19:03&category_name=/DSG/Data%20Storage/External%20Hard%20Drive

[Sue]

Hi Sue, You could always try PC World.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?chain=PC_World&page=Category&channel=WEB&browserName=default%20browser&browserVersion=0&platform=default&use_category=true&deeplink=true&timestamp=09:19:03&category_name=/DSG/Data%20Storage/External%20Hard%20Drive

Thanks for that, but I would not go near PC World with anyone else's bargepole!! :erm:

Crid - thanks for that, will stick with my Freecom when it arrives then and palm the Western Digital off on my ex :D

[JAL]

You can get a USB powered drive with capacities from 60 - 250 gb for around £40 - £90 pound. They are especially useful with laptops as you don't need an external power supply. I bought a WD 250gb in Orlando last month for $140 but they're about £90 online in the UK.

[Sue]

You can get a USB powered drive with capacities from 60 - 250 gb for around £40 - £90 pound. They are especially useful with laptops as you don't need an external power supply. I bought a WD 250gb in Orlando last month for $140 but they're about £90 online in the UK.

I got a WD 250GB on offer on amazon for around £55 last August and the Freecom 250Gb is £56.

The 500 GB are coming in around the £90 mark

[sunsetlakes]

No Probs. You could try argos..http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500000701&langId=-1&searchTerms=external+hard+drive
or Maplins... http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=external%20hard%20drive&source=15&SD=Y

Rob

[JAL]

I got a WD 250GB on offer on amazon for around £55 last August and the Freecom 250Gb is £56.

The 500 GB are coming in around the £90 mark

These are the desktop hard drives not the USB powered ones I mentioned. The first 500gb laptop drive is due to be introduced next month.