External hard drives

[HEIRESS]

I don't want one for network purposes or anything, just straight up storage and I guess back up.

Thoughts on this bad boy?
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/System_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=A2122578

Any other suggestions (leaning towards best bang for my buck category) would be wonderful!

[Freebasser]

Western Digital 'My Book'.

[HEIRESS]

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=43966&vpn=WDBAAF0010HBK-NESN&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD%20Retail

Looks like a pretty darn good deal too.

[Freebasser]

Yep, cheap as chips, and no problems to boot.

I've had mine (*thinks*) for about 4 years and I haven't had a single issue with it (y)

[Drederick Tatum]

i would assume that most drives around the 100$ range are going to be all pretty similar and solid. mine cost about that. its one piece of technology that seems to get continually cheaper.

[Bob]

i've been using my current external one for years and years and i think it's time to replace it but i have a question; if i buy a new hard drive, is there any way to transfer everything that was on the old one and still have all of it work? basically i have a lot of games and other programs installed to the external drive, so if i just copy and paste everything from the old drive to the new one, will they still run normally? will it fuck up all the shortcuts? will bad things happen in the registry...key...thing? or will i have to go back and reinstall everything?

[JimmyTheScumbag]

Buy.com has good prices on externals. (http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=external+hard+drive&qxt=home&display=col) I just a 2 TB Phantom for work for $150.

[HEIRESS]

i've been using my current external one for years and years and i think it's time to replace it but i have a question; if i buy a new hard drive, is there any way to transfer everything that was on the old one and still have all of it work? basically i have a lot of games and other programs installed to the external drive, so if i just copy and paste everything from the old drive to the new one, will they still run normally? will it fuck up all the shortcuts? will bad things happen in the registry...key...thing? or will i have to go back and reinstall everything?

As long as you still plug the new hard drive into the same usb drive the pathways should be the same?

Actually, lets wait for someone with skills to reply...

[HEIRESS]

Buy.com has good prices on externals. (http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=external+hard+drive&qxt=home&display=col) I just a 2 TB Phantom for work for $150.

I would love 2 TB but if I force myself to take the time to go through and delete bullshit movies files etc that I'm never going to watch again I should be able to make do with 1 TB for a good while.

[saz]

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=43966&vpn=WDBAAF0010HBK-NESN&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD%20Retail

Looks like a pretty darn good deal too.

that's the one i have, it's sweet.

[HEIRESS]

done and done.

Thanks for your superb help everyone!

[mikizee]

Just with those WD mybooks, dont sit them up vertically. Have them lying down. A friend had is drive ruined just by the thing tipping over. My WD mybook is now ruined for reasons unknown. I'm pissed too, as it had a lot of important shit on there.

[kaiser soze]

I bought my girlfriend the 1tb Iomega Prestige for Christmas.

It is a hefty drive with some weight to it, USB 2.0/Firewire 400, power switch, and a nice finish. Very quiet too. Mixed reviews but if you treat it well it should last. It requires a format for MAC/Win depending which OS you are using it with.

I just have an old 100gb maxtor (internal turned external) and a 320gb maxtor onetouch mini - no problems with either. I'll get a TB when I need it.

[jabumbo]

go for the bang and get a solid state drive!

[synch]

Bob, if the external drive gets the same drive letter assigned it should work properly.

If it doesn't get the same drive letter you can assign it manually. How depends on the Operating System you have but with most Windows versions you can right click on "(My) Computer", select "Manage" -> Storage -> Disk Management.

Jabumbo, I have SSD in my pc and laptop, loving it, but they aren't for storage. They are still waaaaaaaaay too expensive for that. You can get roughly 3-4 TB of storage for the price of a 80 GB SSD :(

HEIRESS, you already seem to have bought the WD, which is good. One thing the old versions had which I assume they still have is that they turn themselves on when you turn your computer on and off when you shut down. It might seem trivial but it's very annoying if it doesn't do that :)