External Hard Drives (Any Good Suggestions?)

[bakerbranded]

Hello everyone,
I'm currently saving up to get my first DSLR, I really want to pursue photography as a major hobby and also as a career perhaps. Well the computer that I will most likely be dealing with for now (At least another two years) is a Dell Dimension 4600 Desktop (256mb Ram) :(

It is already running very slow do to sharing it with others and the fact that a lot of my graphic design programs take up space and memory. So along with planning on purchasing more memory, I was thinking of getting an external hard drive, to be able to store mainly photo's and maybe a few other things, but it would be used as a source for all photo's not just as a backup.

So I was researching them but am finding it to be hard to find many solid answers between good and bad ones. I would like it to be at least

80gb or higher
Not to expensive, going over $150 is going overboard for me right now.
Portable (Big issue)
Be able to work for Windows Xp, maybe Vista (for current computer)
Be able to work on a Mac Lab top (will most likely be my next computer for its good reviews for graphic work.)
ReliableSo if you guys have any suggestions on what may be I should purchase or look into, then that would be great or if I'm missing any information please inform me. Ok well thanks a lot in advance, much appreciated.

Scott

[SkipD]

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a 250GB Western Digital drive that can fit in my shirt pocket. The model is WD2500XMS-00, and I got it at Costco for about $139 (US).

This is a portable drive with a USB-2 interface (single cable). It works great with my Win2K desktop machine as well as both of my (company-owned) Win-XP laptops.

I easily reformatted it to NTFS using Partition Magic, but it started life formatted as FAT-32.

[bakerbranded]

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a 250GB Western Digital drive that can fit in my shirt pocket. The model is WD2500XMS-00, and I got it at Costco for about $139 (US).

This is a portable drive with a USB-2 interface (single cable). It works great with my Win2K desktop machine as well as both of my (company-owned) Win-XP laptops.

I easily reformatted it to NTFS using Partition Magic, but it started life formatted as FAT-32.

Wow that is really slick looking, I'm digging the shiny black :D Ha.
250GB :D I can dig that to. So it works good on all your Windows programs. But its formatted to work for the 98? I dont own Partition Magic, so how does that work then.
Do you knwo if it would work with a Mac Lab top?

[SkipD]

But its formatted to work for the 98? I dont own Partition Magic, so how does that work then.
Do you knwo if it would work with a Mac Lab top?The drive should work fine with Windows 98 the way it's formatted at the factory, as long as you have USB drivers for 98.

Partition Magic can do lots of things with hard drives. I wouldn't be without it.

I have no idea about the Mac and what it needs for drive formats. My son uses them but I don't and never have (and probably never will :p ).

[bakerbranded]

The drive should work fine with Windows 98 the way it's formatted at the factory, as long as you have USB drivers for 98.

Partition Magic can do lots of things with hard drives. I wouldn't be without it.

I have no idea about the Mac and what it needs for drive formats. My son uses them but I don't and never have (and probably never will :p ).

I use XP or Vista, never have used 98.
It does work for Mac is says, but I would have to look more into it. It sounds great except for it being formatted to work for 98.
I don't know if I would buy Partition Magic or not or if you know of any free formatting software.

[Jon]

If it's formatted to work with Win98 (which only means that it's FAT32), XP or Vista will still read and write to it. Or you can always reformat it as NTFS if you need ginormous files.

[Ahanif]

Mac OS X can only read NTFS drive. It can write and read Fat 32 drives

[Jon]

And by the time he moves to a Mac, he'll need more room anyhow. So it doesn't matter if the "current" drive is Read Only to the Mac.

[bakerbranded]

If it's formatted to work with Win98 (which only means that it's FAT32), XP or Vista will still read and write to it. Or you can always reformat it as NTFS if you need ginormous files.

I would most likely want to reformat it to be NTFS. Is there free way to do this or do you have to pay to get it done?

[bakerbranded]

Mac OS X can only read NTFS drive. It can write and read Fat 32 drives

So if I reformatted it, It would be almost useless for a Mac? What exactly do Reading and Writing mean, I think I have an idea but not entirely sure.

[bounce]

If I can offer some advice:

The best standalone external drive that you can possibly purchase is made by LaCie. They are quite possibly the only company around that puts out quality products that you can stand behind.

I would really advise not to purchase an external western digital or seagate hard drive. As of late, they upgraded the external casing, to make it look more sleek and appealing, but have actually downgraded the internal components to maintain competitiveness in the market. I have had 5 Seagate hard disks fail on me in the last 3 years, and I am not taking anymore risks with them. After their acquisition of Maxtor, you cannot even tell what is an actual Seagate drive, and what is a Maxtor being branded as a Seagate....

The LaCie should do you good and is fully interchangeable between mac and pc.

[bakerbranded]

If I can offer some advice:

The best standalone external drive that you can possibly purchase is made by LaCie. They are quite possibly the only company around that puts out quality products that you can stand behind.

I would really advise not to purchase an external western digital or seagate hard drive. As of late, they upgraded the external casing, to make it look more sleek and appealing, but have actually downgraded the internal components to maintain competitiveness in the market. I have had 5 Seagate hard disks fail on me in the last 3 years, and I am not taking anymore risks with them. After their acquisition of Maxtor, you cannot even tell what is an actual Seagate drive, and what is a Maxtor being branded as a Seagate....

The LaCie should do you good and is fully interchangeable between mac and pc.

Wow Thanks,
I'm reading up on the brand and am finding almost no bad reviews and a lot of solid good ones.
Your right, it is appealing looking.
But i really like the looks of the LaCie ones to. I found two that are pretty close in price that I like but ones 250mb and the the other is 500mb. he 500 runs at 7200, were the 250 runs at 5400, and the 500 is cheaper. Her is a link to both of them for you to see what you think.
LaCie Little Disk Design by Sam Hecht (250GB)

http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/lacie-little-disk-design/4505-3186_7-32640292.html?tag=prod.txt.2
LaCie Porsche Mobile Hard Drive USB (500 GB)


http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/lacie-porsche-mobile-hard/4505-3186_7-32057615.html?tag=box4505

Thanks for the advice, these are definatly top in my head right now, plus they run for both MAc and PC which is great. Will ti work for oth XP and Vista and Mac-OSX?

[michael_]

i just ordered the lacie 250gb rugged drive for $169 from BH

[bakerbranded]

i just ordered the lacie 250gb rugged drive for $169 from BH

Well best of luck with it, tell me what you think of it when you get it.

[Skrim17]

Sounds like you should maybe save for some RAM as well!

Buy.com often has LaCie and Cavalry drives rather inexpensively. I just got a Seagate FreeAgent Go that is very portable and easy to use.

[Zansho]

I have a Seagate Freeagent Pro HD 500 GB - it's somewhat portable, given that it needs its own power supply to run.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent_desktop_data_movers/

I've had it for a long time, and it's been a faithful companion for me. I wouldn't go anywhere without it.

Oh yeah, Partition magic is just that, magic. It's definitely worthwhile to get. :)

[Rubi Jane]

http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/lacie-porsche-mobile-hard/4505-3186_7-32057615.html?tag=box4505

I picked up this ext HD when I bought my 5D. I have a full 250GB ext HD which I could
garnish a fair bit of space but you can fill these up surprisingsly fast if you shoot a RAW or convert to DNG and/or save your edits as PSDs or TIFFs. I'd recommend the 500GB LaCie.

[michael_]

depends what you want out of it i guess, for me its going to be used for my laptop and storing files so i can then move them to my main desktop/storage box when i get back in the office, i also have 4 x 500GB seagate baracudda external HDDs in external enclosures, ill be upgrading that again soon to a new desktop with internat 4 x 750gb drives running as raid but that all becomes expensive.

[Dramatis]

Sounds like you should maybe save for some RAM as well!

Buy.com often has LaCie and Cavalry drives rather inexpensively. I just got a Seagate FreeAgent Go that is very portable and easy to use.

+1

And Seagate offers a 5 year warranty on all their drives which is, imo, the best in the industry.

[Jon]

I would most likely want to reformat it to be NTFS. Is there free way to do this or do you have to pay to get it done?
You can do this in Windows, using Disk Management.
So if I reformatted it, It would be almost useless for a Mac? What exactly do Reading and Writing mean, I think I have an idea but not entirely sure.Not quite. Once you got a Mac, you'd be able to read the data from the NTFS-formatted drive; you wouldn't be able to write the changed data back. Hoewever, in a year or two (which I infer to be your Mac timeframe), you'll want more storage anyhow, so you can just add another drive then.
If I can offer some advice:

The best standalone external drive that you can possibly purchase is made by LaCie. They are quite possibly the only company around that puts out quality products that you can stand behind.

I would really advise not to purchase an external western digital or seagate hard drive. As of late, they upgraded the external casing, to make it look more sleek and appealing, but have actually downgraded the internal components to maintain competitiveness in the market. I have had 5 Seagate hard disks fail on me in the last 3 years, and I am not taking anymore risks with them. After their acquisition of Maxtor, you cannot even tell what is an actual Seagate drive, and what is a Maxtor being branded as a Seagate....

The LaCie should do you good and is fully interchangeable between mac and pc.I've got 2 internal and at least 5-6 external Seagate drives, going back to 2004, and only had one of the internals fail, fairly early on in its life. Seagate replaced it no problem, and it's now doing just fine. I have full confidence in Seagate drives.

+1

And Seagate offers a 5 year warranty on all their drives which is, imo, the best in the industry.Agreed.

[michael_]

got the lacie a few days ago and used it quite abit over the weekend, its light, portable, fast and well just a great purchase, i just wish they made larger capacity versions.