Advice on external HDDs

[bitman]

As a note, all drive manufacturers have had problems at one time or another. This is why you'll get so many differing opinions when asking such an open ended question. I've personally had good luck with Seagate drives, but have also seen some particular models from them which were known to have issues.

I worked in the PC hardware industry as a Network Administrator for about 10 years and saw almost all drive manufaturers go through good and bad times. Since most that still exist today have purchased other manufaturers, often those who had significant problems themselves (i.e. Maxtor, Quantum), these relabled drives have sometimes given them a bad name. That's why it's best not to pick a manufacturer, but rather the drive models with a good track record.

What you really need to do is concentrate on the type of use first, then start investigating the particular models from different manufaturers that are currently available. Once you have a couple specific models and capacities you'd be interested in, try looking up those specific drives with general Internet searches. If there are many problems, a lot of complaints should show up all over the Internet. Remember there will almost always be at least some complaints unless the model is very new, so compare between those you've chosen at similar hardware oriented sites.

Generally, drives that try to be the fastest or largest capacity and/or are very new technology are the riskiest. I've had (and seen) the best luck with older model lines that have years of history, but are always adding newer electronics to improve interface types and performance. That's why I've used Seagate lately, since they have several model lines with a long solid history at the platter level, but are constantly being upgraded with faster interface electronics for the latest computers.

Bitman

[chewdz]

I agree with Bitman. So now I have a 320GB Seagate FreeAgent GO external hard drive. Awaiting first use on my notebook. Is firewire faster or USB 2.0 faster??

[drragostea]

chewd, good choice. I have Seagate FreeAgent Go too : D.
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Firewire and USB 2.0 have roughly the same (or around that area) transfer speed at around 400 Megabits.

[chewdz]

Which one is more recommended for backing up files?? Although they have the same speed, one of them should stand out better isn't it??

[drragostea]

As long they do their jobs of backing up the files smoothly there is no "recommended" one . Doesn't Seagate FreeAgent Go external HDDs only come with USBs?

Feel free to do the research on both cables.

[chewdz]

They say on the case that optional dock is available. What's that??

[drragostea]

I have the optional dock but I don't see any Firewire slots .

[chewdz]

What's the dock for??

[drragostea]

The dock is used to look good .
The dock has no impact on the syncing expect to hold the drive in a standup position. That's about it. Besides that there's no difference (they both use a USB input).

[chewdz]

I see... I was thinking of getting the optional dock. Since it made no difference, I'd rather not get one.