I am scouting for a portable hard drive. ?

Championes

What is the factors determining the quality of a portable hard drive.
What brands to recommend.

Answer
I don't recommend you buy a 'portable' drive - it's simply a normal hard disk in a case with a USB interface.

You can buy those USB boxes with no disk inside, then simply buy a HDD.

All you have to decide is the size - if full size is okay, then the cheapest ratio is at 500GB (I got a Seagate Barracuda 500GB for equivalent 50 US dollars, and a USB box for $10 more).

When I use it at home - because it's a SATA disk - it takes me exactly 2 minutes to take it out of the case and install it in my computer (just plug in the ribbon and the power).

I recommend Seagate and Western Digital - and would rather buy two 500GB drives than one 1TB, because it's just soooo much cheaper.

We're talking several hundred dollars for the laCie - 4 times the cost of a Seagate!!!!!

Is this 'portable hard drive' or 'something to go with my Gucci Handbag'? =)) If you're worried about knocking it about, you put it in a protective bag - will that cost you extra $150?

Also, if the box is easy to open - it's very convenient sometimes to plug in the disk to your mainboard. I always put mine inside, then set the machine to back up my main 500GB, then unplug it and put it back in it's box.

This or That Hard Drive?

Goldenpian

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H2187VC/A/G-Technology-500GB-G-DRIVE-FireWire-USB-Portable-Hard-Drive?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&s=alpha (The 750GB since that's the only one available in the store.apple.com/se )

and

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H7430ZM/A/western-digital-500gb-my-passport-for-mac-portable-hard-drive?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&s=alpha (The 500gb)

The quality matters a lot to me. Which one is better, do you think?
Forgot this one:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H4803VC/A/GTech_500GB_GDRIVE_Slim_Portable_USB_Drive?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&s=alpha

(So three)
Hm.... Chintan why is the Westen Digital crap? (Just curious)

Answer
That's two Hitachi 2.5" hard drives vs. one WD. 2.5" hard drive.
G-Technology 500GB G-DRIVE mobile Portable Hard Drive -- $$129.95
- Firewire and USB 2.0
- 500GB Hitachi laptop hard drive inside
- 5400RPM

Western Digital 500GB My Passport for Mac Portable Hard Drive -- $119.95
- USB 2.0
- 500GB WD laptop hard drive inside
- probably 5400RPM as well

G-Tech 500GB G-DRIVE Slim Portable USB Drive -- $79.95
- USB 2.0
- 500GB Hitachi laptop hard drive inside
- 5400RPM

For speed, choose the first due to the Firewire connectivity. For reliability, choose the WD. For a cheaper price, choose the 3rd. Don't be enticed by the 'formatted for Mac' and 'Time Machine-ready' crap. They all are. So what does that tell you? It's the WD unless you are particular about the Firewire feature.

However, if it were my money, I would future-proof my investment on a USB 3.0 external hard drive like this:
LaCie Rugged 500 GB USB 3.0 Mini Disk Portable Hard Drive 301555 -- $99.00
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-Rugged-Portable-Drive-301555/dp/B0058VIWXI/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1339594514&sr=8-8&keywords=2.5%26%2334%3B+external+hard+drive

If attached to a USB 3.0 port, you can use the LaCie Mac USB 3.0 Driver to improve data transfer speed on your Mac (up to 30% performance increase compared to FireWire 800).

If you don't foresee yourself having a computer that has USB 3.0 in the near future and want to stick with Firewire then you can just get this:
LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB FireWire 800/ FireWire 400/USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 301371 -- $114.95
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-All-Terrain-FireWire-Portable-301371/dp/B0018B5CA8/ref=pd_cp_e_0

Or go back to the more expensive G-Tech 500GB that has Firewire:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H2187VC/A/G-Technology-500GB-G-DRIVE-FireWire-USB-Portable-Hard-Drive?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&s=alpha

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what is the best portable hard drive based on flash memory storage?

genetomas8

Answer
I was just googling and came across this product hope it helps you

Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive
Designed with the same commitment to quality that made WD external drives the number one drives in the world, Western Digitalâs WD Elements USB 2.0 external hard drives are the right answer for simply affordable add-on storage. Just plug it in to a USB port and start saving your photos, music, video, and files. Kit contains; USB 2.0 external hard drive, USB cable, AC adapter, Quick Install Guide.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Elements-External-WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN/dp/B002QEBMB4/?tag=klnprk22-20

portable external hard drive?

Adam

i am planning on buying this portable hard drive.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?name=st905004exa101-rk-expansion-portable-usb-500gb-hd&vgnextoid=f54a4d13af3df110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD&locale=en-US

i am wondering if it will survive being jostled around in by back pack or not. (it will be off of course) or should i invest in a LaCie "Rugged" hard drive??? (still portable, but designed to take a beating)

Answer
http://astore.amazon.com/greenspacelan-20/detail/B0041OSAZS
you can buy WD usb 3.0, 500gb and only $71.99. very good quality

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How to rip a standard 50 GB bluray movies onto my laptop hard drive for later use?

portable hard drive quality image

Leopold

Hello I have a collection of some bluray disk movies. Now i just want to store onto my computer (win OS) hard disk or the portable hard drive as common to see video formats. I would like the quality to be as close as possible and if it has to be a paid program to do that that is ok. A step by step guide would be much appreciated!

Answer
Why would you want to waste your hard drive space by cluttering it up with movies? And besides most movie disks have anti piracy security programs built into them so you cant copy them

Why would a portable hard drive simply fail to power-on when I never treat if roughly?

lordzarius

Could it be a USB problem? A internal power problem? I'm at a loss here, and I can't access a lot of important files that weren't located on any other drive . This portable hard drive is only about 3-4 months old.

Answer
I would try using the hard drive on a different USB port and maybe even a different PC. before resorting to the more drastic methods listed below.

It may be a faulty drive. I heard a number a few years back that 40% of all new hardware is bad. So, maybe your drive has already failed. I purchased a brand new dell a few years back and when I received it the printer port was fried.

If you can not retrieve the data and it is extremely important, there are companies that can recover data from damaged drives. But it is expensive. I think something like $500.

I've listed one recovery company that I was able to find below. I would try to get a review about the quality of the company before sending my hard drive off to have the data extracted. Many companies will only charge you if they are able to recover data.

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Best way to archive home videos on digital format?

portable hard drive quality image

Liam Rules

I have a bunch of home videos on analog VHS-C tapes and now ive moved up to digital camcorder but for long term storage what do people suggest? Im going to store backup dvd's but I also want to store everything on a portable hard drive. Should I save everything in the vob format or mp4, etc,..? Im looking for good quality but also not a huge file size. What does everyone else do?

Answer
You can convert .vob's to say a .divx or .xvid format pretty easily without losing all that much quality(considering your original source is VHS probably won't even notice any quality difference) and it will be about half the size. I'd buy two hard drives, a backup, and then a backup for your backup. It will cost some money up front but it's well worth it when you have a hd go down. You can find usb Tb drives for around 100 - 120 bucks a piece, which is pretty cheap. This is pretty much how I do it. Dvd backups tend to go bad over time, get scratched up, various different ways they just stop working.

What is out there that will hold and play a lot of music without compressing it?

average jo

I want to be able to have CD quality sound without the CD hassle. I want it to hold a couple thousand songs and be portable from my house to my car systems. I have an extra 80gb portable hard drive if there is someway to use that without a computer. I have a little 8gb MP3 player but it only holds 800 songs and they're compressed so it is fine with headphone while running but not on a better quality sound system.

Answer
Get a 160 Gig iPod classic, if you can find one. Use lossless compression. If you look elsewhere, read reviews on this as the quality of the chip that creates the sound from the digital information matters a LOT.

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