Which External HDD to get?

[SG-17]

I am getting an external HDD to back up my stuff, and I am not sure which to get.
My current laptop is a Toshiba and my HDD in my PS3 is a Toshiba. No problems with either so far. I have also heard that Western Digital hard drives are excellent. So which one would you recommend?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9402149&type=product&id=1218099648270
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8993164&type=product&id=1218007082970

 

[damunzy]

I personally like Western Digital (I have had them go bad but WD is good about replacements- I actually have an internal 500 gigger on the way to me).

Are you looking to take this drive along with you in your laptop back or just sit at home? If take along I would go with the WD one that you linked to. If stay at home I would recommend the following Western Digital My Book Essential 1TB External Hard Drive WDH1U10000N - Retail.

You could also get a regular internal HDD and an external case for about a 10-25 $ savings....let me know if you would like to do that.

 

[Gelion]

I very much recommend Seagate. It has worked for 3 years for me without a problem so far.
*knocks on wood*

 

[Zelig]

There are only a few HDD manufacturers (Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Hitachi), and they're all fine. Any other brand external drive is using one of their drives on the inside.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

As Zelig said, there are only a couple of HDD manufacturers. You're better off looking at the features of the enclosure to make your pick.

 

[Macha]

I have a WD NAS drive (My Book World I). I've had nothing but problems with it, and wouldn't recommend it (or by extension WD) to anyone.

The drive is currently failed (googling the error message comes up with the result that the entire drive is locked into read-only, including the settings file that controls if it's read only, seemingly) because of a firmware update problem.

Before that, however, I had a choice between using their supplied Mionet software (very very slow, nagware to update to the premium version) or smb (aka Map Network Drive - cut off after 500 mb of transfers in one file, or group of files, and needs a hard reboot, but not as painfully slow). Since it screwed up, I don't even have smb.

Customer service is appallingly slow aswell. No phone support (unless you are in the US), and email support takes up to 3 days per reply.

Their USB drives might be a bit better, but after that experience ,I'm not willing to part with the cash to WD to check it out.

 

[Perfection]

My choose? Buy them all!

 

[Atlas14]

I was looking to buy a 950 Gb Western Digital External HDD and under the pros/cons section for reviews it says "cons- no on/off". What exactly does this mean and will it be a big issue?