500GB External/Portable Hard Drives for storage

pawlu · #1 (**permalink**) 08-16-2007, 11:10 PM

Anyone have any good suggestions?

I have looked at loads on Amazon.co.uk etc and the reviews are very mixed about all of them, and some go wrong and delete all the data

There seemed to be a lot of people praising the Freecom ones, but it only had 5 reviews (however all given 5 stars).

Western Digital ones seemed to get bad reviews, as did Seagate etc.

This was the Freecom one Amazon.co.uk: Freecom Hard Drive 500GB External USB-2, silver: Electronics & Photo: Freecom

I have no idea about stuff like this, all I know is that I dont want to lose my photos/videos/music from the past 5 years!!!

Any suggestions/advice/pointers really appreciated.

Thanks

Alan Mills · #2 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 06:33 PM

Whatever hard drive you opt for there is always a chance it will go wrong at any time so losing all your data is ALWAYS an active possibility so you should never rely on a hard drive absolutely. It will be a recipe for failure. Not today maybe, but one day it will be.

The trick for you is to come up with and stick to a decent backup strategy.

i.e. your photos can always be burnt to DVD rom disks for backup.

LJR · #3 (**permalink**) 08-23-2007, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawlu

Anyone have any good suggestions?

I have looked at loads on Amazon.co.uk etc and the reviews are very mixed about all of them, and some go wrong and delete all the data

There seemed to be a lot of people praising the Freecom ones, but it only had 5 reviews (however all given 5 stars).

Western Digital ones seemed to get bad reviews, as did Seagate etc.

This was the Freecom one Amazon.co.uk: Freecom Hard Drive 500GB External USB-2, silver: Electronics & Photo: Freecom

I have no idea about stuff like this, all I know is that I dont want to lose my photos/videos/music from the past 5 years!!!

Any suggestions/advice/pointers really appreciated.

Thanks

I've got the Freecom 500GB external Hard Drive Pro. Arrived today. Doesn't bloody work. Making a strange noise and not being recognised in Finder (Mac OS X) over esata or usb2.

Once I get a working one I'll let you know whether it's any good or not.

pawlu · #4 (**permalink**) 08-23-2007, 09:42 PM

Cool, would be great to hear your opinion. Let me know how it is when you manage to get hold of a working one!!

Nikosony · #5 (**permalink**) 08-24-2007, 08:57 PM

I have a Freecom 160GB portable hard disk and I've had it for a few years now with no problems (keeping my fingers crossed). As Alan says you need to have a decent backup strategy, if you have really important files then you need to get a bit paranoid about them. Don't just rely on one device for storage, use DVD's aswell or what about installing a second hard drive into your computer. With prices being so low now, you might want to consider that. Then there's the alternative, a fireproof safe and twenty four hour around the clock security... ok maybe that's going overboard. It would be interesting to hear other forum members backup plans.

Violator · #6 (**permalink**) 09-03-2007, 04:30 PM

I have been using the Maxtor 300 GB One Touch model for approx. 2 years. It took me awhile to get used to it. It seems that everytime you back up, it does not just overwrite...it duplicates. Therefore I had to go in and delete the dupes. That is kind of a drag. It's possible that there is a tweak that I missed in order to avoid that problem, but if there is - it is hidden very well. Also, I had it set to back-up on a schedule,....turns out - that is annoying. Since then, I've opted to back-up on demand.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase. It just took awhile to learn how to use it to fit my needs.

MOSH · #7 (**permalink**) 09-03-2007, 05:35 PM

I've always used maxtor external drives, and have never hand any problems with them. Apparently Lacie are the most reliable, but then I've never had issues anyway.

It might sound crazy, but I use smaller drives (200-300GB) as 'working back-up' which I do manually when the need arises durring each project, then I have larger drives 500GB+ to back those up, then a duplicate of that at another location (This is done mainly to please my insurance company).

Like Alan said, never rely on the data being safe on one drive.

LJR · #8 (**permalink**) 09-04-2007, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawlu

Cool, would be great to hear your opinion. Let me know how it is when you manage to get hold of a working one!!

Received the replacement. Installed no problems. Runs silently. Nice and fast too!