Looking for good external hard drive/enclosure?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I am going to be purchasing two external hard drives and want usb2.0 as well as firewire 400/800 and I want something compact. One of these will be used with my laptop and I want something compact that I can take on the go with me on my laptop case. The other will be used for hard drive backups and I want it small so it can fit inside a fireproof safe.

So far what I'm most interested in is the Lacie Rugged All Terrain drives, specifically their 120gb or newer 160gb drive. What are opinions of this?

Since I'm buying two I"m looking for the best deals I can find. Is it cheaper if I buy a good drive and then a good firewire 400/800 usb2.0 enclosure? Will this save a lot of money and if I go this route what is a good drive to go with as well as a good enclosure? It's important to have these features but be compact as well as rugged.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    smaxsmax Posts: 361member
    I have had very good luck with Western Digital MyBooks. Available in USB only, USB/FW400 and USB/FW400/FW800. Come in a variety of sizes too.



    Then again, I'm not sure if they're small enough for your purposes. They are reliable hard drives though.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    For your laptop you might want to consider going with a USB flash drive, depending on how much memory you need. The reason I say this is because USB drives can be very compact yet still hold quite a bit of information.



    For the desktop, I am actually looking at something from Lacie that just sits on the desk along with the monitor/computer/etc...They have a 500GB one that I believe is USB/FW but I'm not sure of the speeds. You should be able to find an external for your desktop with the specs you need pretty easily. Good luck!
  • Reply 3 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by markw10 View Post


    I am going to be purchasing two external hard drives and want usb2.0 as well as firewire 400/800 and I want something compact. One of these will be used with my laptop and I want something compact that I can take on the go with me on my laptop case. The other will be used for hard drive backups and I want it small so it can fit inside a fireproof safe.

    So far what I'm most interested in is the Lacie Rugged All Terrain drives, specifically their 120gb or newer 160gb drive. What are opinions of this?

    Since I'm buying two I"m looking for the best deals I can find. Is it cheaper if I buy a good drive and then a good firewire 400/800 usb2.0 enclosure? Will this save a lot of money and if I go this route what is a good drive to go with as well as a good enclosure? It's important to have these features but be compact as well as rugged.



    I'd go to NewEgg.com, and pair up an internal drive with the external enclosure of your choice. I've gotten several good setups that way, and saved a butt load of cash on premiums. just make SURE that you read the reviews on the enclosures, and I would always recommend going with a metal one over plastic.



    hope that helps.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    The 500GB My Book Pro has FW400/800 and USB 2.0. It's silver case matches the Mac Pro.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    When looking, you will pay more for it but look for an enclosure with fans. From what i hear, most external drive crashes are eaither head crashes from dropping it or overheating.



    I do not know any more about it but i saw a Bytecc drive with 2 fans on NewEgg. I have an older Bytecc enclosure that i use for a hard drive. it is actually made for a cd drive so it is very big but it does have a fan and it have been reliable.
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