Which External Hard Drive should I buy/Do you suggest?

[pigoo3]

I asked OWC why they used Toshiba and they replied it fit well in their container and there was a 3 year warranty.

They were probably just the cheapest to buy in bulk, wholesale. All drives use standard physical form factors and the enclosures are designed to suit the form factor, not a particular manufacturer.

Exactly Chris. What a bunch of BS from OWC (or at least from the one customer service person)!

- Nick

 

[RavingMac]

First thing I do with any HD, WD, Seagate, whatever, is to reformat it and get rid of the software. That way I get to use all the bytes I purchased and don't have to fiddle with unnecessary software.

 

[bobtomay]

If you can find one of those WD My Books with FW still sitting on the shelf, you should be able to get it at a discount. They're last years models and WD is not making those with FW any longer. I picked up one with the 3TB drive a few months ago at Fry's at too good a price to pass up when they were unloading their stock of them. Using it with my MBA via thunderbolt to FW and gives me a large part of my iTunes library local instead of on the network.

As advised by others - just format any drive you get and don't use any drive manufacturers software. WD in particular has just recently had a problem resulting in data loss related to their software and it wasn't the first time it happened over the years and I am a fan of WD drives in general.

 

[nancyspeed]

How about this brand? It appears to have no included software. Most reviews said it is Hitachi but another guy says Toshiba.


Fantom Drives Gforce/3 1TB USB 3.0 3.5" USB 3.0 External Hard Drive GF3B1000U Black



USB 3.0 Interface options
PC + Mac compatible
Quiet fan-free design
Easy Installation
Stylish brushed black aluminum enclosure

 

[RavingMac]

FWIW I have several of these that I use for backup and media files.

Amazon.com: WD My Passport for Mac 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 (WDBLUZ0010BSL-NESN): Computers & Accessories

I also bought these to keep them in

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CJ8DNG/?tag=macforums0e4-20

 

[nancyspeed]

That is exactly what I finally purchased today! My last question on them I hope is--I plugged it in and time machine started backing up. But nothing ever came up on the screen (as indicated it would in the 3 step directions) to install the "drive utilities and security." That is just fine with me but now I wonder why it didn't show up. I only have 41 GB total to back up. I hope it is backing up my email too.

Now to put in my new WD hard drive and extra memory! But I think that means I am going to lose office for mac since I gave my third license to the preacher.

Thank you!

FWIW I have several of these that I use for backup and media files.

Amazon.com: WD My Passport for Mac 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 (WDBLUZ0010BSL-NESN): Computers & Accessories

I also bought these to keep them in

Amazon.com: Case Logic Portable EVA Hard Drive Case QHDC-101 - Red: Electronics

 

[RavingMac]

Use Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or Super Duper to clone your old HD to your new one before install and that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[carlhataway]

Nancyspeed, I too buy an awful lot from OWC, call them and talk to them tell them your concern about Toshiba. The Tech guys at OWC are very friendly and helpful, the number is 800-275-4576. Your concern about Toshiba can also be applied to Seagate drives. I use nothing but Western Digital and I bet there is someone out there who will say WD should be avoided also. It's a vicious circle! LOL

 

[Elrich]

I had an external Toshiba drive that died on me several months ago, after two years of use. I considered going to nothing but cloud backups, but I didn't want to have to rely on having an Internet connection to access it.

I did some research online on drive reliability, and bought a G-Drive 1TB USB drive. Now, two months later, this drive refuses to show up in the Finder! Disk Utility displays it, but claims (inaccurately) that the drive is 100% full, and that it's not writeable or repairable.

But I'm not ready to give up on it. Any recommendations of ways to repair it/recover the data?

Fortunately, most of the data (mainly my music files) is backed up on a Buffalo 1TB hard drive, which has been in use for at least five years, but is the size of the average paperback book and needs an external power source, so it's not ideal for traveling.

Also, is there ANY small USB drive I can rely on for a reasonable period of time? Or should I just go to the cloud and live with paying a monthly fee?

 

[chscag]

We probably should move this to a separate thread, but for now....

A good backup strategy does not rely on one method or source. Our recommendation is to backup to both an external USB drive and a good quality cloud service. You can do some research on which cloud service is best for you, but as far as external USB hard drives are concerned, Toshiba, WD, Hitachi, Mercury drives from Mac Sales, are all good choices. I personally avoid anything from Seagate and LaCie but you may feel differently.

 

[RavingMac]

Often it isn't the drive that has failed, but the interface. Swapping the HD to another enclosure may give you access to your data. Below is an example; don't have this particular model, but it's cheap and reviews seem to be good.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/?tag=macforums0e4-20

 

[Postoak]

I have been using Seagates for almost 10 years now and only had one to crash on me, when that happens just chalk it up and get another one and start over.

 

[QueenMe]

There is no reason why a hard drive would be more or less reliable based on the OS of the system that it is plugged into. In my experience no HD manufacturer is perfect, but I think WD and Seagate are better than some of the others.

Recommending Seagate over WD. Had 2 WD, failed the first 6 months, have 5 Seagate for more than 7 years now.

 

[brantlyj]

My hard drive is 75% full. I would like to add an external drive for Photo's and iTunes. What would the best drive to go about doing that.

I'm guessing it would not be difficult to move those files to the new drive and have iPhoto and iTunes look there?
Or how difficult would it be to upgrade the internal HD on a 2005 iMac?

 

[Dave22]

i've used two different LaCie drives.so far I've had no problems whatsoever and I am thoroughly happy with the purchase.