Michael
Does anyone recommend a specific external hard drive? I'm looking primarily at USB 3.0, 3-4 TB. Price range can be from $100-$200 but nothing more. Thunderbolt would be nice, but at the time I don't have a computer that has a Thunderbolt port so that's more of a down the road thing. Also, I will be using this with Windows 8 (no Mac). I don't have any specific type of files to be stored on this exHD, rather it's a catch-all for my documents, music, pictures, and videos.
I saw this not too long ago:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFFQN3M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Looks like the reviews are decent, nothing fancy, nothing extremely bad.
Thanks in advance.
Answer
An external USB drive is an internal drive with a SATA/USB enclosure.
You cannot exactly know the internal until you buy it and only if you open it.
The one you show is cheap. It does have only a one year warranty and does not show the speed or cache level of the internal drive within. Only info is here:
http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/expansion-hard-drive/?sku=STBV4000100
As a guess, it is this one, but it has a 2 year warranty:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st4000dm000
Thunderbolt is for Mac Compatible drives, and the data interfacing is different. They cost more.
It would be an offshoot of ieee1394 Firewire.
Heat dissipation is an issue, as they don't have fans and air flow that you can work with in an internal drive setup.
This has a 2 year warranty and can get to Thunderbolt with an adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178111
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Desktop-External-STCA4000100/dp/B00829THLE
An external USB drive is an internal drive with a SATA/USB enclosure.
You cannot exactly know the internal until you buy it and only if you open it.
The one you show is cheap. It does have only a one year warranty and does not show the speed or cache level of the internal drive within. Only info is here:
http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/expansion-hard-drive/?sku=STBV4000100
As a guess, it is this one, but it has a 2 year warranty:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st4000dm000
Thunderbolt is for Mac Compatible drives, and the data interfacing is different. They cost more.
It would be an offshoot of ieee1394 Firewire.
Heat dissipation is an issue, as they don't have fans and air flow that you can work with in an internal drive setup.
This has a 2 year warranty and can get to Thunderbolt with an adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178111
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Desktop-External-STCA4000100/dp/B00829THLE
Best external hard drive?
Gwalla
I have a brand new MacBook pro i5 processor. I need an external hard drive to store my videos, photos, etc. What would be the best and fasted external hard drive?
Answer
Your "new" MBP is how new? Built since the end of February? (Retailers sometimes have stock for six months!) You ask about the drive, but that is only one link in the chain. You have to consider the case as well. The fastest HDD is slow through any USB connection. All MBPs have Firewire 800 connection which will leave USB in the dust.
For the HDD itself, go for 7200 RPM. Slower speed (such as the "green" drives) will be... you guessed it, slower.
Brands? I see another answer -- "stay away from... made in Asia". Let me look at this Western Digital HDD I have here -- easy to do since it is bad and tossed in a drawer-- It says "Made in Malaysia". I have two each of WD and Seagate in my desktop system. All have been perfect performers, but the Seagates have a bit better speed for some tasks. Almost any testing review will support my findings. That's why you pay 5-10 % more for Seagate. Most PCs have used the cheapest brands: Maxtor (awful, bought out by Seagate who just needed the factory-- nixed the brand, thank the gods) and WD. Apple used only Seagate until recent years. Now they use Samsung and Hitachi, both very reliable.
For the "newest of the new" MBP, use a drive case with Thunderbolt connection. That is the fastest local connection for an external HDD known to man. Cases with Thunderbolt are as yet quite rare, but expect the supply to boom in the next six months. For now, you can easily find a FW800 case, link below is an example. A case should be metal (aluminum usually). Plastic will hold in much more heat and that means shorter life for the drive.
My favorite case is the Macally at the link below. It looks a bit too cute (like a toy Mac Pro), but it has ports for USB 2.0, eSATA 3.0, FW400, and FW800. Has aluminum (aluminium if you speak British English) case for fast heat dissipation. I bought mine in Shanghai for US$59.
You will have two "good" choices for formatting the drive. "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" format can be used only with OS X, or with a Windows computer that has MacDrive software installed. NTFS format can be used with OS X if NTFS-3G or "SL-NTFS" (both free) or "NTFS for Mac" (not free) is installed. It can be used with any modern Windows computer. The NTFS-3G software can format any currently available size of drive (or partition) as NTFS. Some Windows formatting apps, such as the one in Win XP original edition, limit the partition size to 137GB.
There is a not-so-good format called FAT-32. It is slow with large drive volumes, and has a limit of 4GB for individual files. Some video files may be larger than 4GB. Various Windows format apps will have a 32GB limit for FAT partitions, but you can format any size partition FAT-32 with Disk Utility. For all these limits, just mark FAT-32 off your list ("cut the FAT"). Even Microsoft does not recommend it for any XP or later system.
Your "new" MBP is how new? Built since the end of February? (Retailers sometimes have stock for six months!) You ask about the drive, but that is only one link in the chain. You have to consider the case as well. The fastest HDD is slow through any USB connection. All MBPs have Firewire 800 connection which will leave USB in the dust.
For the HDD itself, go for 7200 RPM. Slower speed (such as the "green" drives) will be... you guessed it, slower.
Brands? I see another answer -- "stay away from... made in Asia". Let me look at this Western Digital HDD I have here -- easy to do since it is bad and tossed in a drawer-- It says "Made in Malaysia". I have two each of WD and Seagate in my desktop system. All have been perfect performers, but the Seagates have a bit better speed for some tasks. Almost any testing review will support my findings. That's why you pay 5-10 % more for Seagate. Most PCs have used the cheapest brands: Maxtor (awful, bought out by Seagate who just needed the factory-- nixed the brand, thank the gods) and WD. Apple used only Seagate until recent years. Now they use Samsung and Hitachi, both very reliable.
For the "newest of the new" MBP, use a drive case with Thunderbolt connection. That is the fastest local connection for an external HDD known to man. Cases with Thunderbolt are as yet quite rare, but expect the supply to boom in the next six months. For now, you can easily find a FW800 case, link below is an example. A case should be metal (aluminum usually). Plastic will hold in much more heat and that means shorter life for the drive.
My favorite case is the Macally at the link below. It looks a bit too cute (like a toy Mac Pro), but it has ports for USB 2.0, eSATA 3.0, FW400, and FW800. Has aluminum (aluminium if you speak British English) case for fast heat dissipation. I bought mine in Shanghai for US$59.
You will have two "good" choices for formatting the drive. "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" format can be used only with OS X, or with a Windows computer that has MacDrive software installed. NTFS format can be used with OS X if NTFS-3G or "SL-NTFS" (both free) or "NTFS for Mac" (not free) is installed. It can be used with any modern Windows computer. The NTFS-3G software can format any currently available size of drive (or partition) as NTFS. Some Windows formatting apps, such as the one in Win XP original edition, limit the partition size to 137GB.
There is a not-so-good format called FAT-32. It is slow with large drive volumes, and has a limit of 4GB for individual files. Some video files may be larger than 4GB. Various Windows format apps will have a 32GB limit for FAT partitions, but you can format any size partition FAT-32 with Disk Utility. For all these limits, just mark FAT-32 off your list ("cut the FAT"). Even Microsoft does not recommend it for any XP or later system.
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Title Post: Recommended External Hard Drive?
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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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