Need external hard drive

Discussion in 'Storage' started by SLTE, Sep 2, 2015.

  1. SLTE

    SLTE

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    Both my laptop and PC are filling up, and though I already have an external hard drive I'd like another, though I'm working on a bit of a budget. I need a good, reliable hard drive that's roughly two terabytes in size but is less than, say, $150-ish. I've got a PC and a Mac (laptop is the Mac) to work with, if that makes any sort of difference to the equation. Any brand suggestions or current sales would be much appreciated.
     
    SLTE, Sep 2, 2015
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  2. SLTE

    Diane Lane

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    I haven't looked at prices or models lately, but I have been using a SimpleTech one that I bought several years ago, and I've been quite happy with it. I'm sure they have progressed since I made my purchase, but this one is pretty easy to use, and I've never had an issue with it. I purchased this one at Best Buy, and would recommend the brand. Wow, a quick Google search brought this one up, and it has good reviews, an excellent price, and you shouldn't outgrow it anytime soon. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...jtd5Hd_zJgaAnA88P8HAQ&is=REG&m=Y&Q=&A=details I've purchased other items from B&H Photo with no issues. Also, Best Buy has several good deals, although I haven't clicked through to see what they specifically have in the 2tb range.
     
    Diane Lane, Sep 2, 2015
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  3. SLTE

    IcyBC

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    I have just switched from Window to Mac, and getting an external hard drive for my Mac laptop is one on my list. My budget is also like yours, and I think the one @Diane Lane suggested is a great one if you are not looking for the portable one. I like mine to be portable, so I will keep looking.
     
    IcyBC, Sep 2, 2015
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  4. SLTE

    SLTE

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    Oooo, that is a good price. And it's double what I'd planned on getting, as well. Four terabytes would keep me going for an age and a half, considering I usually deal in smaller files. Thanks, I will definitely look into this.
     
    SLTE, Sep 3, 2015
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  5. SLTE

    Diane Lane

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    The one I have is portable. I occasionally take it out of the house, so portability is nice. @IcyBC Best Buy usually has some great deals on portable external hard drives, and there seems to be a sale going on, probably for back to school.

    By the way, how do you like the Mac, versus Windows?
     
    Diane Lane, Sep 3, 2015
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  6. SLTE

    IcyBC

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    I am loving my Mac, @Diane Lane ! It runs so smooth. Turning it on and shutting it down take like a blink of an eye whereas with my Window, I would be sitting there watching it and tapping my "com'on" fingers :)

    I have checked Best Buy, and Amazon! It is just that time of the year when things are on sales for back to school; it is also the time I have to buy school supplies for my son!
     
    IcyBC, Sep 4, 2015
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  7. SLTE

    Diane Lane

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    That sounds great, I'm glad it's working out so well for you. I miss having an Apple product. Hopefully at some point I can get another. The iPad Minis are looking good to me, but I sure could use a laptop that's up to date and actually works.
     
    Diane Lane, Sep 14, 2015
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  8. SLTE

    IcyBC

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    My MacBook was given to me as a gift from my brother or else I would have not able to afford it! Since there are a few members in my family that swore that Apple products have less issues and last longer, I told him that I am going to save money to buy a laptop. So he decided to get one for me as a gesture of appreciation since I was the one that stayed with him through his ordeal in the ICU earlier in the year.

    There are things that I still have to learn on the MacBook but time seems to just pass me by.
     
    IcyBC, Sep 16, 2015
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  9. SLTE

    Rezonate

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    External hard drives these days are very affordable now. You can find good ones on Amazon and cheap ones too. I see groupon have great deals on them too occasionally.
     
    Rezonate, Jan 7, 2016
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  10. SLTE

    IBMPC8088

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    Western Digital's 2TB and 4TB MyBook drives are affordable and decent drives. I've had a few 2TB ones for many years, and 4TB ones for a few years since they came out and no issues. The 4TB drive I recently purchased was under $150 after tax. You could fit twice your projected storage capacity onto one. It's always better to have more space rather than less, that way you have time to fill it up and then transfer to a new drive when the prices come down on one.

    Whatever you decide on, please be sure to avoid the Seagate 3TB Barricuda drives. There was something really wrong with them after they made it to the market, and nearly everyone I know and have talked to online and off that has owned one has had it completely stop working on them. Some of the drives weren't able to have data reclaimed because of a head crash. You can still reclaim it, but at that point you're looking at clean room work and thousands of dollars which most consumers don't have to spend to do that.

    The price of SSD drives is starting to come down to where they're nearer to the cost of a magnetic drive, but for now you're going to get twice to three times the storage capacity from a magnetic drive even though SSD is way faster and has other advantages.

    You could always try a Hitachi or Toshiba hard drive, but I've had some drives of those last, and others go out more quickly than the WD drives I've owned. I'd recommend a WD MyBook for now.
     
    IBMPC8088, Feb 2, 2016
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  11. SLTE

    vinaya

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    The one I am using is called My Passport Ultra from WD absolutely. It is 1TB and it cost me $81. This has 3 year warranty and one year data recovery warranty.
     
    vinaya, Feb 7, 2016
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  12. SLTE

    sharatharadhya

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    I would recommend that you build a NAS for yourself as the storage issue will only increase. If you have a NAS, you can store the DATA you want in a safe place away from both your PC and Laptop. This will allows you to save your file only on the NAS and access it from any device on your network. You can save any file in the NAS from any of your devices and access it from any of your device. It might be a little exp
     
    sharatharadhya, Feb 11, 2016
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  13. SLTE

    djtech

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    You can go for WD's 2 TB or something similar. Mainly the thing you need to look for when buying external drives is fail rates. There are a lot of websites that research fail rates. Buy the ones that do not fail so often and have the longest lives. Because you need your data to be safe at all times.
     
    djtech, Feb 18, 2016
    #13
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