Recommendations for portable hard drives?

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

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.

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What is the best portable 1TB hard drive?

portable hard drive amazon image

tinker

I need a 1TB hard drive just to back up my files (mainly movies and TV shows). I was looking into the Clickfree C6 portable hard drive but the reviews weren't great. Which hard drive have you used in the past or recently that you think is the best? Thanks!

Answer
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045JLPMO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=acomprar-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0045JLPMO

Honestly to make this easy, here are some steps you can follow, since I believe this to be the better of the 3 mainstream external 2.5" drives (Toshiba, Western Digital, and Seagate).

1. Why bother with the software in the first place?? just reformat the drive, or delete the software. Sure it is a bit annoying having 40 gigabytes taking up space right out the box, but is that really the only main source of concerns for this drive?

2. Now for the USB cord. out of the multitude of variations of 1tb usb 3.0 drives I have run and tested, every manufactuer has just about the same length of cord. If you want a longer cord, and or are wondering how you are going to power this drive other than with the supplied USB, then why are you buying this particular external HDD? this model is not for you if you are NOT an on the go type of person. what I mean by that is, if you do not lug your external drive around, why dont you go buy a powered 3.5" external HDD model for the same price as you would this one and have twice the space?

3. As far as the construction of the drive goes it is solid. I have tested the Toshiba 1TB 3.0 as well as the Western Digital 1TB 3.0, and my opinion is that Toshiba and Western Digital were too concerned about how slim and compact they could make the case of their external HDD, which has resulted in may more failures of those particular brands than I have seen from Seagate. Small shocks, such as light drops and accedental shock is a killer for the Western Digital as well as the Toshiba more than the Seagate models I have seen. Yes I know that there are about 3 or more warning labels stating the these drives should never be hit, moved, droped, abused, etc... but If it WERE to happen I have noticed that the Seagate construction has had a better chance from failing due to these certain cercumstances than the other brands I have tested and seen.

4. If there is any con's about this drive I will say that I am not a fan of the two piece adapter. they should have included their USB 3.0 "Upgrade" cable with this drive and not the two piece unit that is currently supplied with it, as the upgrade cable is also a few inches longer and one solid piece. The two pieces I am referring to are the adapter that plugs into the drive itself and the USB 3.0 cable that goes from that adapter to your USB device.

5. Im not here to bag on any one company, and or promote Seagate as the best of the best when it somes to drives in general. I am just stating overall that if you are looking for a 1TB 3.0 USB 2.5" drive, then this is what you are looking for. I just thought I would post this up as I keep seeing negative reviews on this drive just because of a bloatware issue not a material type defect. hope this helps! If not im sorry for wasting you time.

What external hard drive is the most reliable?

Goushirou

I've been reading multiple reviews for various brands such as iomega western digital and seagate and for each brand people are complaining about them breaking or dieing and as a result I am super confused. So what IS the most reliable brand? More specifically whats the most reliable portable external hard drive that has at least 500gb of space?

Answer
Honestly Western Digital is one of the most reliable..

The people who complain online are the very few that get defective drives, so don't mind anything you read.. Unless it's from a trusted source.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002QEBMB4?ie=UTF8&tag=eawatolobefa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002QEBMB4

That's a 1TB Western digital for under $100..

Here's a 1TB Iomega that stands upright:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GALRIA?ie=UTF8&tag=eawatolobefa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003GALRIA

$75 for that one.. Nice.

$80 for Seagate:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UI49XA?ie=UTF8&tag=eawatolobefa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001UI49XA


Also, I'd be sure to get a 3.5" vs the 2.5 laptop hard drive versions, which are quite a bit slower..

Hope that helps :)

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