Help me pick out an external hard drive?

I narrowed it down to 3 drives that look perfect for me. If anyone can help me to pick one, I'd be grateful. I'm looking for an external hard drive that's big enough for me, 500GB is more than enough. My limit is about $65, and I'd be using it only on my PC. I know people are going to say why didn't you search Google. Well, I did and these are the best I could find. If anyone can give me any other good hard drives, I'd be more than grateful to check them out. Thanks guys!

The Western Digital Elements SE (500GB): http://www.jr.com/western-digital/pe/WD_BPCK5000ABK/

The Western Digital My Passport (500GB): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=4911987&type=product&id=1218575758552

The Toshiba Canvio (500GB): http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YAWI/ref=sr_1_13?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1353260134&sr=1-13&keywords=external+hard+drive

Edit 25/12/12, I forgot to mention that around the 20th of November I bought this 1TB Seagate Expansion drive for $60 at Target. Also it's a plus that it's seen as an internal drive. That's epic! :D

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perfect me buy help for hard drive jr one pc amazon external western digital the toshiba out best pick

asked Nov 18 '12 at 12:53

DJ Scooby Doo
9.5k●236●280●380

edited Dec 25 '12 at 18:57

I found this one as well in Target. http://www.target.com/p/seagate-expansion-750gb-portable-hard-drive-black-stbx750100/-/A-14299273#?lnk

Can anyone tell me if this is legit? I checked on Amazon and the consensus looks pretty good.

(Nov 18 '12 at 16:04) DJ Scooby Doo

9 Answers:

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Honestly they all have USB 3.0 and are all 500 GB. The WD Passport vs the Elements one is the Passport is designed to be more portable. other than that they are just hard drives. Toshiba makes their own and I have never had a problem with a hard drive from Toshiba. And I have had 3 different WD (internal) hard drives fail on my but I was running them in a always on server for over 6 years before any of them died. So ya you really cannot go wrong with any of the drives. If you can wait until next week you will probably be able to get a better deal on one in store or online.

answered Nov 18 '12 at 13:08

TheTechDude
17.0k●40●94●300

Yeah I could probably wait until Cyber Monday. I mean I just want to buy my stuff now when the pricing is good before they inflate for the Christmas season.

(Nov 18 '12 at 13:14) DJ Scooby Doo

Well, the last link you posted seems to be a very good deal.

(Nov 18 '12 at 17:58) TheTechDude

I've never had a problem with Western Digital and I've been using their portable Passport drive for years now. Toshiba has always been an 'iffy' company for me because they seem cheap, but they may not to other people. If you trust Toshiba and want to get it for the price, go ahead. But I've never had trouble with Western Digital and I think they made my Internal hard drive as well. Yeah, my 2TB hard was made by them. Just checked.

answered Nov 18 '12 at 20:17

Brett
116●6●6●11

2	Target has a 750Gigger on sale for $39 Seagate STBX750100 .. downside, only 1 year guarantee. USB powered 3.0 backward compatible to 2.0.... I am getting TWO. answered Nov 18 '12 at 21:37 olamoree 91●3

I had a WD Elements external drive that gave up the ghost after only about a year, although I have to say it wasn't actually the drive itself, as after removal and installation in another housing, it ran OK. Obviously a fault on the interface electronics. Heard similar stories from elsewhere. Not very encouraging though, is it?

answered Nov 19 '12 at 08:22

davolente
61●1●5

2	DO NOT GET THE TOSHIBA! Every single Toshiba drive I've owned failed with in months of the purchase. I'd get either WD. answered Dec 13 '12 at 00:41 Randy 891●71●82●93

2	I have a Lacie Porche external that's pretty good and looks pretty sleek especially next to my Mac, they go for about $75 though but worth it i'd say as they perform very well and look great :) answered Dec 13 '12 at 17:59 mutley2209 761●114●127●134

Don't like Western Elements they are NOT good enough for anyone and will die when you least expect it, I would rather save everything to discs than ever use one again

answered Dec 13 '12 at 21:06

lasaboy
561●1●3●12

I got a Seagate, if you looked at the edit.

(Dec 13 '12 at 21:06) DJ Scooby Doo

Weird. I've got one 3 years ago (2TB) and it still is going strong. Really depends on how you use it and treat it.

(Dec 13 '12 at 21:13) Randy

To me, it really doesn't matter because I get two & duplicate the saved data. A warranty on a hard drive is exactly like life insurance- by the time you use it, you're already dead--> :P

About the only thing I DON'T like is a proprietary connection on the drive. I just had a client ask if I could possibly retrieve some data off of an external portable drive. Usually, once I free the drive from the enclosure & hook it directly to S-ATA, I can get the data (because the enclosure was faulty, not the HDD). Unfortunately, this time the drive had a hard-wired connection to it (can't recall the make).

So, yeah. I say, stay current on the connection (USB3) & buy two of the cheapest you can lay your hands on.

Cheers!

answered Dec 15 '12 at 23:26

geekomatic
1.8k●11●13●36

The connector for the mini drives is pretty standard. Seagate and Western Digital use the same connector as of now. Carey Holzmen was talking about this in one of his videos.

(Dec 16 '12 at 11:26) Randy

A proprietary connection on the drive sounds unusual. Not seen that on the ones I have had to unfortunately take apart to put in another external enclosure after an interface failure. (I've had two, to date. "Old" IDE too). Why bother manufacturing one especially for the purpose, when a standard drive is readily available? Perhaps they were surplus to some other manufacturer's project.

answered Dec 16 '12 at 03:45

davolente
61●1●5

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Asked: Nov 18 '12 at 12:53

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Last updated: Dec 25 '12 at 18:57

Help me pick out an external hard drive?

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