need an external USB3 hard drive. any recommendations?

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I want small, and 1TB in size. and one that just plugs into USB with no extra power chords to plug in. and Id like a good price. any recommendations? thanks. :)
 

chscag

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Lots to choose from. Check on Amazon.com, Best Buy, Staples, NewEgg, etc. Just about every portable external hard drive sold works from USB 3.0 bus power. You can buy 1 TB portable drives $50 - $75. Shop around.
 
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I want small, and 1TB in size. and one that just plugs into USB with no extra power chords to plug in. and Id like a good price. any recommendations? thanks. :)

Agree w/ Chscag - plenty of options - just another Amazon LINK - I own over a half dozen external HDs, all are bus-powered - a couple are thunderbolt connections to my iMac for TM backups (Buffalo & OWC 1 TB drives) - for my laptops and CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner), a mixture of brands (Western Digital, Seagate, OWC, and a LaCie SSD) - Other World Computing is a site often recommended here - I have 2 of their external HDs, a little larger than the others and w/ a 'space-look' appearance (which I like) - look @ the reviews and good luck. Dave :)
 
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As they all come out of only a couple of factories in Thailand, you pays your buck and takes your chances.

Suggest looking for one with a three year warranty. They do come on special from time to time.
 
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is it wise or safe to give an old drive away? it still works I just don't want it because its big and not bus powered. I used disk utility and wiped it, zeroing out data with one pass. should I be overly worried about giving this drive to someone? or should I just destroy and trash it?
 

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is it wise or safe to give an old drive away? it still works I just don't want it because its big and not bus powered. I used disk utility and wiped it, zeroing out data with one pass. should I be overly worried about giving this drive to someone? or should I just destroy and trash it?

If it were me...I would feel ok about giving it away. Especially since you did at least a one pass zero out data. "One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure".:)

Actually I might have been a little extra careful & run the zero out data/secure erase a couple times. But doing it at least once is important.

- Nick
 

chscag

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Agree with Nick about doing the security erase more than once. I usually do mine at least three times before "assuming" it's safe to throw away or give away. Of course if you're really paranoid about security, a 20 Lb sledge hammer works best. ;D
 
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I agree, I've had 4 external HDs and three have failed. The 4th a Western Digital is still going.

REDUNDACY is your best friend - :) I have my iMac & MBPro backed up to TMx2 and CCCx2, so a total of 4 discs for each machine; also own a MBAir (my travel computer w/o much of importance on the drive) - just doing 1 HD each for TM & CCC - also on the iMac have personal folders going to Carbonite online and for my MBPro the same folders on a LaCie SSD - doing OK w/ this setup on Apple computers; in my PC days on Windows, I had at least 2 if not 3 external BU HDs fail. Dave :)
 

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