Recommendations for external HD

Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking is
I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in the
near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for Xmas
with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of photos
onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money but
still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid question I
know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think transfer rates
would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical point..thanks all in
advance..

PaulT wrote:
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking is
I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in the
near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for Xmas
with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of photos
onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money but
still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid question I
know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think transfer rates
would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical point..thanks all in
advance..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...&s=electronics

"PaulT" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking
is I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in
the near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for
Xmas with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of
photos onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money
but still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid
question I know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think
transfer rates would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical
point..thanks all in advance..

-------------------------------------------------------
Hi Paul,

You might consider getting a reliable internal drive from a respected
manufacturer like Seagate, then placing it in a third party external drive
enclosure, something like those found at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SubCategory=92
(link may be text-wrapped.)

Most external drive interfaces these days are USB 2.0, FireWire or now
eSATA, and many of the enclosures have 2 interface choices for the same
drive. If you're using it on older systems (4 years or older,) they'll
probably only support the slower USB 1.0 interface, or possibly FireWire
(faster than USB 1.0 and close to the new USB 2.0 transfer speeds.) The
fastest transfer interface would be the new eSATA (external SATA ports on
newer computers that support SATA drives with AHCI for hot-swapping.) See
which external connection interfaces are in common amongst all of the
particular computers that you'll be using it with, then get an enclosure
that uses that interface, along with possibly the new eSATA interface for a
newer computer for maximum transfer rates with the newer computer.

Internal drives are less expensive and have longer warranties than an
external drive (Seagates have a 5 year warranty), so I'd suggest getting one
of those, then just enclosing it in a reliable external enclosure that can
cool the drive sufficiently like those I linked to above.

Hope this helps,
Russell
http://tastycomputers.com

Nothing with a Maxtor drive inside... Ben Myers

On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 10:11:40 -0500, "PaulT" wrote:

Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking is
I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in the
near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for Xmas
with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of photos
onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money but
still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid question I
know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think transfer rates
would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical point..thanks all in
advance..

Just buy a more or less generic external USB case for a 3.5" drive, and
then get a drive to put into it. Try to find a case with a fan if at
all possible, although usually only the 5.25" cases have fans (you can
put a 3.5" drive into these cases, but they are larger than necessary).
Cases are cheap, they are $20 to $35. As for the drive to put into
it, Best Buy has 250GB drives on sale this week for $79, you choice of
IDE or SATA at the same price (most of the external cases are for IDE
drives, although SATA cases are available). Total cost for a 250GB
external drive will be about $100 (you could get a smaller drive for
less, but I would not go that route). USB 2 is essentially as fast as
an internal drive.

[If you want some specific suggestions:

3.5" Case:
http://www.dealsonic.com/neon3bl35ins1.html
[This is a good 3.5" case but does not have a fan; some drives will run
warm after 30 to 90 minutes]

Similar 5.25" case with fan:
http://www.dealsonic.com/neon5usb20ex.html

Drive:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1051826249450





PaulT wrote:
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking is
I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in the
near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for Xmas
with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of photos
onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money but
still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid question I
know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think transfer rates
would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical point..thanks all in
advance..

Prices are pretty resonable now. I would get anything from Seagate or
Western Digital. For example, in today's ads: Best Buy has a 500GB WD
external drive for $249.99(has both USB and Firewire connections). Or
Circuit City has the 500 GBWD in USB only for $189.99, and the 320GB WD
USB only for 139.99.

Ken

PaulT wrote:

Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking is
I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in the
near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for Xmas
with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of photos
onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money but
still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid question I
know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think transfer rates
would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical point..thanks all in
advance..

"PaulT" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking
is I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in
the near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for
Xmas with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of
photos onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of money
but still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid
question I know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think
transfer rates would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical
point..thanks all in advance..


They are a bit more expensive, but the Lacie Rugged series drives receievd
glowing reviews.

Not sure what brand of HD that Lacie actually uses. Anyone know? I too try
to stay far away from Maxtor.

"Kevin M" wrote in message
...

"PaulT" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which I
installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff (it's
installed as a second HD for the three since they are all networked
together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and my thinking
is I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a new Dell PC in
the near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR Digital camera for
Xmas with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will be dumping lots of
photos onto our computers soon .. I don't want to spend a ton of
money but still want a very reliable 100GB or more external HD... Stupid
question I know but do these external HDs connect via USB? I would think
transfer rates would be pretty slow via usb but that's not a critical
point..thanks all in advance..


They are a bit more expensive, but the Lacie Rugged series drives receievd
glowing reviews.

Not sure what brand of HD that Lacie actually uses. Anyone know? I too try
to stay far away from Maxtor.


The problem is that LaCie puts in whatever is cheapest at the time (like
Dell) so it could be a Maxtor

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...

"Kevin M" wrote in message
...

"PaulT" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which
I installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff
(it's installed as a second HD for the three since they are all
networked together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and
my thinking is I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a
new Dell PC in the near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR
Digital camera for Xmas with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will
be dumping lots of photos onto our computers soon .. I don't want to
spend a ton of money but still want a very reliable 100GB or more
external HD... Stupid question I know but do these external HDs connect
via USB? I would think transfer rates would be pretty slow via usb but
that's not a critical point..thanks all in advance..


They are a bit more expensive, but the Lacie Rugged series drives
receievd glowing reviews.

Not sure what brand of HD that Lacie actually uses. Anyone know? I too
try to stay far away from Maxtor.


The problem is that LaCie puts in whatever is cheapest at the time (like
Dell) so it could be a Maxtor


One more suggestion:

I'm a big fan of the Ximeta Netdisk external drive enclosures. You can buy
one which has a USB and Ethernet interface. If I'm not mistaken, they offer
one with just the USB interface a bit cheaper. You can buy just the
enclosure and put whatever drive (3.5) you desire into the case. I've had
good results with the Ximeta.

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...

"Kevin M" wrote in message
...

"PaulT" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations for a good external HD for backing up music and
Pictures? We have 3 Dell PCs in our home and I've been using a WD which
I installed on our oldest PC years back as our back up for our stuff
(it's installed as a second HD for the three since they are all
networked together). It is running low on space being only a 40gig and
my thinking is I will need a bigger one with my contemplating buying a
new Dell PC in the near future plus we bought our daughter a new SLR
Digital camera for Xmas with a 2 GB SD card so I have a feeling she will
be dumping lots of photos onto our computers soon .. I don't want to
spend a ton of money but still want a very reliable 100GB or more
external HD... Stupid question I know but do these external HDs connect
via USB? I would think transfer rates would be pretty slow via usb but
that's not a critical point..thanks all in advance..


They are a bit more expensive, but the Lacie Rugged series drives
receievd glowing reviews.

Not sure what brand of HD that Lacie actually uses. Anyone know? I too
try to stay far away from Maxtor.


The problem is that LaCie puts in whatever is cheapest at the time (like
Dell) so it could be a Maxtor


Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure what brand Lacie was using.
What is the most relaible drive these days? I tend to lean towards Seagate
because of their 5 year warranty.