Portable HDD's, help

[planecrazy.eu]

Hi

Can some one advise me what would be the better make(s) to go for from the following list?

SEAGATE
IOMEGA
BUFFALO
hITACHI

These are within my budget of £70 for a 1TB drive. If you know of any better, please advise me, its very welcome.

Only one i dont want, is any WD HDD's, 2 have failed on me, and i will never go there again.

Thanks

[Saab Dastard]

Neither Buffalo nor Iomega manufacture hard drives, they buy in from others (probably including WD), so you might end up with your bete noire anyway.

Iomega has a history of rotten customer support, and poor reliability - although that does refer more to the nineties than the noughties! They are now a subsidiary of EMC, since June last year, so should have access to decent storage technology.

I would compare the features of the drives, and also read customer reviews to help make up my mind.

SD

[AlphaMale]

I have the 320Gb NESO HDD wich is smart and works really well. The 1TB version is £82.80 so a little more than you want to spend but worth looking for deals.

They use Hitatchi HDD's.

[cessnapuppy]

I can fully endorse what Saab has said re Iomega. They are a like a box of chocolates, except instead of chocolates you get something else, brown also, but not as tasty. I've heard more anguished data screams regarding same than I hope to remember.

I've got good results with Seagate and Hitachi.

Make sure you have a good backup policy: Personally, I would buy an empty external case, and the drive separately.

Place the drive INSIDE THE PC periodically for backup/mega size data transfer, (even with USB 2.0 it still takes a long time to transfer 30gb -much more 1,000 gb!)

[Basil]

You've got me worried now :suspect:
I've an 'Elements' and a little 'Passport' each 250GB (or 232GB depending how you calculate) and both are WD.
They're just used for backup and putting all of my desktop in my case on long trips. Worked OK so far.

Desktop has Samsung and uses a Maxtor external for backup. Can't remember what's in the lappy.

[Sprogget]

I'm worried now - two WD Caviar 500gb hdd's in my main box at home. Two years and counting, so far so good...

[bnt]

I don't know if I would classify a manufacturer's entire output as unworthy: if they have problems with one range, they hopefully learn from that in the next generation. Seagate famously had major firmware problems (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9126360/Update_Seagate_offers_free_data_recovery_for_faulty_drives_n ew_firmware?taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top&taxonomyName=storage) in 2008, while IBM got sued (http://www.pcworld.com/article/59943/article.html) over mass disk failures in 2001.

If you're really concerned about what disk goes inside the external enclosure, you can roll your own: get an enclosure and HDD from someone like Scan (http://www.scan.co.uk/), and put it together. If I was doing this today I'd probably prefer a Samsung 1TB drive for about £75. No, I don't think that's too much - it's amazing how we're already taking Terabytes for granted, isn't it? :8

[Bushfiva]

Buffalo tends to use Western Digital. Buffalo is a brand of Matsu****a, which recently renamed itself after its most famous brand, Panasonic. They're decently engineered products.

[Saab Dastard]

I have no problems with WD - Yes, I've had a failure recently, but it was within 1 year of purchase, so was replaced FOC by WD.

I've had more failures with Seagate disks over the last 15 years than any other make, but then I've probably used more Seagate disks than any other make (all work-related, rather than at home).

SD

[Keef]

There was (maybe still is) a website that gives percentage failures per some-number-of-units-in-operation for HDs. I'll see if I can find it again.

When I last looked, Maxtor had awful ratings (like 700-ish whatevers). Most of the others were around 200, and LaCie around 60. So I bought a LaCie external on eBay, and it went on the blink inside a few weeks. When I opened the case, it was a Maxtor HD inside. I don't know if that's cos LaCie use Maxtor, or some rogue swapped them out.

My laptop has a Fujitsu and it's never missed a beat. Home is a selection of allsorts, and none have missed - but the WD one has gone a bit noisy so it's been retired. It's also the oldest HD there, so maybe age has got to it.

Addendum: this chap (http://www.alsheating.com/maxtorharddrivefailurerate.htm) doesn't seem enamoured of Maxtor.

[Mad Monk]

Lacie [they are only the front end and case] which can be shaky depending on model, the Rugged is pretty good.
Choice depends on connectivity and usage. I now go for solid, bullet-proof externals, you pays your money you makes your choice. I have 1Tb and 500Gb G-Techs with Hitachi innards which have never given any problems in three years and I am one of those that problems will arise with as I do things with kit and software that one shouldn't.
Last night it looked as if I had lost a 1Tb, directory destroyed, power down drive, wait five minutes, power up and it was up and running. Did a de-frag just to be sure anyway.

[planecrazy.eu]

Looks like Hitachi would be the best choice, they are more or less the cheapest on my list too...

Both drives of WD i have are elements, both failed, but i was able (after 9 hours each) to get all my info back and restore to another drive.

WD Told me that its my fault i break them (i agree kinda)... They said that each time you need to make sure you "safely remove hardware" and not just rip out the usb like i do. Always make sure you boot the drive down before ripping out the power adaptor.

In short WD said, if the blue light is on, its not safe to turn off...

I have been using my maxtor in my usual careless manour, and had no issues at all. So all i can conclude is, the WD is fine unless your careless like me.

I have had a few friends having bad WD drives too, but again, then always do what i do and unplug the usbs with a further thought to eject or power down.

[Desert Diner]

WD Told me that its my fault i break them (i agree kinda)...

Thank you for posting this. I bought a WD (230GM) a few months ago when I was back in the states and I just now got around to pluging it in to the laptop. It is in at the moment. Fortunately I read your message before I was about to yank out the USB. I also do that/:ouch:

I'll be more careful from now on. :ok:

[planecrazy.eu]

Glad i can help some one =)

Since WD told me that i have ejected properly "EVERYTHING", right down to my ipod, as it used to just get yanked out too.

Suppose it was obvious MS wouldnt put a "safe eject" utility in windows if it served no purpose, turns out it does... Just now to find a purpose for some of the others windows stuff...

[bnt]

The reason why you need "safe eject" is because Windows can cache data heading for removable devices, meaning that it's not "written through" immediately. If you turn this off (in the Policies for the device) you gain the ability to yank the device out at any time, but at the cost of write performance.

It's not a Windows-specific issue, you have the same thing under UNIX systems - including Mac OS X, which has the bizarre "drag the drive in to the trash" process for ejecting it.

[Saab Dastard]

including Mac OS X, which has the bizarre "drag the drive in to the trash" process for ejecting it.

Is that still there? I remember thinking exactly the same thing back in 1994, when ejecting floppy disks from Apple computers.

One of the few things about Apple that seemed wrong to me.

So at least they are consistent, then!

SD

[mixture]

One of the few things about Apple that seemed wrong to me.

So at least they are consistent, then!

Oh yeah, as if having to right click on a tiny icon next to the clock and selecting "safely remove device" is any more representative of intuitive computing. :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

That Apple way was perfectly easy to learn.

I also seem to recall from the old days that Windows had no software mechanism to eject floppies... you had to push the mechanical button and hope you didn't mess anything up !

And no, it's not "still there", unless you want to do things the old way. From memory now all you need to do is click the eject icon next to the drive in any open finder window, i.e. exactly where you would expect to find it. I bet Windows Vista, 7 or whatever they are calling it today still hasn't changed ?

Really Saab .... I expected more than badly thought out FUD that usually only Windows fanboys spew out from you....:(

(Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a balanced point of view of both camps......I know one size does not fit all)

[Saab Dastard]

Wow,

That's some over-reaction, mixture! For the life of me I cannot see the "badly thought out FUD" in my post.

I simply agreed with another poster that it was an odd thing to have to drag a removable drive to the trash can to eject it. Conceptually bizarre, to my mind.

Note that I said it was one of the FEW things that seemed wrong to me. I have great respect for Apple and the Mac.

I was also surprised / interested that it was still part of the Mac way, some 15 years after I first came across it - hence the comment about consistency. Since I have very little to do with Macs these days, I accepted what bnt said about ejecting removable devices in OS X - if there are other ways to achieve the objective that's great, I'm pleased to hear it.

I'm not for or against either Macs or PCs, never have been. I admit that I am much more familiar with PCs these days, but I don't hold anything against the Mac or Apple, or their users.

SD

[mixture]

That's some over-reaction, mixture!

Maybe typed a little in haste.... but the underlying point remains, if you find "dragging to trash" bizare, I think it's a million times better than the weird right click nonsense.

I also think it's worth fighting back for the Mac once in a while ...

Reckon you must have caught me at the wrong moment......as in hindsight I should have perhaps tweaked my wording a little more :\

[Simonta]

SD, I was on the Windows 95 beta "light house deployments" project about 9 months before release.

One of the first things my customer said was "you have to click Start to shutdown?". I raised it as an issue on their behalf, turns out that everyone accepted that indeed it was bizarre but by that time, so many people were using it, that changing the design would have been at least equally bizare. The millstone of legacy and backwards compatibility, until Vista and the new task bar.

My guess is thatthe Mac drag thing is probably for similar reasons.

[Saab Dastard]

Simonta,

You're quite right - Windows has its conceptually bizarre aspects also!

SD

[Simonta]

Mixture. Windows had eject on floppies since W95. It was only enabled (and visible) if the hardware reported it as supported. Most PC floppies didn't have automatic eject but not Microsoft's fault.

Many people forget that Mac OS and Windows are fundamentally different in that Mac has always had a tightly controlled limited set of hardware to work with wherease Windows (and the PC architecure) is open. One of the main reasons why I chose Windows over Mac most of the time because I am an incurable futzer. In that regard, Apple has a much easier task than Windows although the gap has closed enormously.

Personally, I prefer Windows 7 to OSX, even in terms of usability which the Mac always used to lead on. Been using it for months now (still on the RC) and it's fast, stable and well organised. Love it!

[Blues&twos]

Well, for what it's worth I bought a 500GB Iomega hard drive about a week ago.

It's used on a new PC (a few months old) running Windows Vista.

Following the usual advice about clicking on the "Safely remove" icon before unplugging the thing, Windows instantly crashed (blue screen) and the PC rebooted itself.

Now my recently installed Norton Internet Security 2009 won't start properly and I get a mesage from Norton saying it needs to be uninstalled and re-installed.....

Now, whether that's because Windows went looking for a solution to the crash has anything to do with it I don't know.

Of course this might not have anything to do with the External HD. Who knows? Poxy computers.

EDIT: And interestingly, I followed Symantec's instructions to the letter to re-install my product and it came up with an "unrecoverable error"!! Solved this by re-installing from my CD rather than their suggested download. Why do these things never work for me at home? All day I work with control systems and computers, and everything's usually fine. I must have static fingers.

[eggnog the flippant]

I thought it was on PPRuNe that I noted this thread and I thought it was a month or so ago. Nice to be right for a change. Anyway, Santa turned up with a Hitachi Simple 1Tb HDD. Which was thoughtful of him. Setting it up I see that I'm invited to install 'Turbo USB 2.0' which: "will increase the speed of all your attached USB 2.0 devices. To access the install wizard (in English), click on TurboUSB.exe. If you want to change the default install location, click the Options button. Next click the check box to accept the license agreement. Then click Install." Er, will it? Can anyone say whether it's worth bothering with? I've spent some time on the usual searches (including here) and not seen much beyond the manufacturer/retailer guff.

[bnt]

I'd be very wary about such software. I'm not suggesting it's harmful in any way - never heard of it before - it just sounds like "one more thing to go wrong" to me. Who makes it? The name is generic, it doesn't help when looking it up.

Windows already has cacheing for such drives, which increases speed but means that you must eject safely or risk losing data. (See under the Properties for the device, Policies tab.)

[Blues&twos]

I'm in agreement with bnt on that. Also, do you really need it? I've never had a problem with the speed of USB 2.0 at home. I'm paranoid about installing anything I'm not 100% sure about after some unpleasant experiences in the past!

[planecrazy.eu]

Save having a new thread, thought i would post back here...

Purcahsed a Seagate HDD, failed 100% after 3 months, not to be put off, yesterday i swapped it for another Seagate 1.5tb drive, and today its clicking loads, which seems to spell the end.

So, what should one do? I need a drive, 1.5tb is the minimum i need, and i have £100 (poor buddget i know).

All i can find, other than the Seagate is WD and Iomega, which dont get rave reviews, unless some one can put me right.

Thinking of buying a Samsung drive and enclosure too. but any tips would be good.

I have found 4 others (external hdd's) within £100:

- 1.5TB Samsung Story Station
- 1.5TB Iomega Prestige
- 1.5TB Verbatim eSATA
- 1.5TB WD Elements

or WD, Samsung and Seagate do 1.5tb drives (internal) for around £80 + around £15-£20 for an enclosure.

Googled the lot, good and bad about all of them, so really confused on what to get to store photos i am not keen on loosing.

The Seagate drive i have is unanomous that its junk, most have sent the thing back at least once, mines a day old and it wont be getting repaired, i think its refund time.

Feeling quite bad about external 3.5" drives as they have ALL failed on me within months at best, but all the 2.5" drives are rock sold so far.

[CYPR]

I bought a Verbatim 500GB HD last november when it was on sale for $100 and so far, thank the good Lord, I haven't experienced any problems.

I understand from people in the business there are only three(3) main manufacturers of external HD's.

Good luck:)

[mart52]

Had two Seagate drives fail first half last year (I think both 1T).
Have been using a 1.5T Verbatim for the last six months without problem.
An earlier poster mentioned 2008 Seagate firmware problems, my data was backed up, but it would be nice to regain use of the two drives.
Does anyone know if there is there anything I can do myself regarding the Firmware to try and regain use of these drives?
Regards
Martin

[green granite]

mart52 Have a look here: Firmware Updates for Seagate Products (http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931)

[planecrazy.eu]

Looks like Verbatim seem to be OK, cant see much bad on the net, even though they are not really rated anywhere.

So its Verbatim 1.5 esata vs Samsung sata and enclosure, both coming to the same price.

The Verbatim is a 7200rpm vs samsung at 5200rpm, both 32mb cache, both USB2 for my purpose, the Verbatim has eSATA, but doubt i will be using that with no esata port or a clue what one is.

[Saab Dastard]

Seagate does a warranty return (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/warranty_&_returns_assistance/) that should get you a free replacement.

I have first hand experience that it works.

AFAIK, Western Digital does a similar warranty replacement.

SD