Dubious
I have used USB sticks for everything. Now, I am running out of space on my 16GB one, and since the prices for 32GB and 64GB USB sticks are close to bigger drives, I might as well buy one. USB sticks are small and convenient, but I don't want multiple USB sticks to fiddle around with.
Most prices I've seen online are £60 for 500GB and £80 for 1TB. I might not need 1TB memory, but is it a worthwhile investment?
Does anyone have recommendations for the smallest / cheapest / reliable / fast portable hard drives?
Answer
1TB is quite a lot of space. My recommendation would be, if you don't think you can fill it up now, then get a smaller drive. Hard drive prices are currently inflated due to the floods in Thailand, but once pricing returns to normal, you can expect prices to keep going down. By this time next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see prices down 30% - 50% per GB. Buy what you need now, and upgrade when the need arises (usually for a much lower price). That's true for hard drives, and it's true for pretty much all electronics.
If you want high reliability, I'd recommend you build your own. All you need is a hard drive, and an enclosure. By selecting your own hard drive, you get to cherry-pick the best hard drive you can afford, and pair it with an aesthetically pleasing enclosure.
My recommendation would be a 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. It's a 2.5" laptop hard drive, so the form factor is very portable. It's also very quiet, and very reliable. Western Digital is almost universally regarded as the best current HDD manufacturer. The Scorpio Blue is also reasonably fast (It's WD's mid-range laptop model), and should easily max out a USB 2.0 connection.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Scorpio-5400rpm-Internal/dp/B003D18DM0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1321337036&sr=8-3
Pair the HDD with a cheap USB 2.0 enclosure like one of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-5-inch-aluminum-sata-hard-disk-enclosure-usb-2-0-port-11914?r=43327236
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-5-sata-usb-2-0-hdd-enclosure-with-leather-pouch-black-51124?r=43327236
If you insist on getting a pre-built external hard drive, I'd recommend the Western Digital Elements 500GB portable version. It's a little more expensive per GB than the prices you stated you found online, but is well worth it. I have been using my old 640 GB model for the better part of 4 years without a single problem. The reviews on Amazon are almost all positive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Elements-500GB-Portable/dp/B002COI612/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1321337412&sr=1-6
1TB is quite a lot of space. My recommendation would be, if you don't think you can fill it up now, then get a smaller drive. Hard drive prices are currently inflated due to the floods in Thailand, but once pricing returns to normal, you can expect prices to keep going down. By this time next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see prices down 30% - 50% per GB. Buy what you need now, and upgrade when the need arises (usually for a much lower price). That's true for hard drives, and it's true for pretty much all electronics.
If you want high reliability, I'd recommend you build your own. All you need is a hard drive, and an enclosure. By selecting your own hard drive, you get to cherry-pick the best hard drive you can afford, and pair it with an aesthetically pleasing enclosure.
My recommendation would be a 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. It's a 2.5" laptop hard drive, so the form factor is very portable. It's also very quiet, and very reliable. Western Digital is almost universally regarded as the best current HDD manufacturer. The Scorpio Blue is also reasonably fast (It's WD's mid-range laptop model), and should easily max out a USB 2.0 connection.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Scorpio-5400rpm-Internal/dp/B003D18DM0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1321337036&sr=8-3
Pair the HDD with a cheap USB 2.0 enclosure like one of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-5-inch-aluminum-sata-hard-disk-enclosure-usb-2-0-port-11914?r=43327236
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-5-sata-usb-2-0-hdd-enclosure-with-leather-pouch-black-51124?r=43327236
If you insist on getting a pre-built external hard drive, I'd recommend the Western Digital Elements 500GB portable version. It's a little more expensive per GB than the prices you stated you found online, but is well worth it. I have been using my old 640 GB model for the better part of 4 years without a single problem. The reviews on Amazon are almost all positive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Elements-500GB-Portable/dp/B002COI612/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1321337412&sr=1-6
whats the cheapest portable hard drive?
slice_the_
hi, i would like to have more hard drive space for my laptop to play games such as half life 2, wow.ect... i need a cheap portable hard drive but it needs to work well. thanks...
sorry...i meant external
Answer
Lots of companies sell them, check newegg.com for current prices, or many other retailers such as amazon.
It's like asking the best place to buy eggs. It depends on who has them on sale, and how much the farmer's charge the markets depending on volume, etc.
Beware that just because a drive is labelled "portable" doesn't necessarily mean it is more safe from damage than one labelled "external hard drive".
Check the price and specs of various models, and read reviews posted by owners of the devices.
www.tomshardware.com is my favorite site for evaluating computer parts, but don't stop there.
Lots of companies sell them, check newegg.com for current prices, or many other retailers such as amazon.
It's like asking the best place to buy eggs. It depends on who has them on sale, and how much the farmer's charge the markets depending on volume, etc.
Beware that just because a drive is labelled "portable" doesn't necessarily mean it is more safe from damage than one labelled "external hard drive".
Check the price and specs of various models, and read reviews posted by owners of the devices.
www.tomshardware.com is my favorite site for evaluating computer parts, but don't stop there.
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Title Post: Recommendations for portable hard drives?
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Rating: 100% based on 9998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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