Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive

jan roos · 10-04-2009, 03:41 PM

Can anyone please recommend a good external hard drive that is easy to use for backing up my laptop?

I have one from iomega but I cannot figure out how to use the thing.

Many thanks

dorothydot · 10-04-2009, 03:59 PM

I use a 500-gig external from SeaGate and love it. I also bought a program [nominal one-time fee] that lets me save everything on my Apple laptop as a bootable back-up.

I totally love it.

Hope this helps,
Dot

TaiZ · 10-04-2009, 04:03 PM

There are 2 options I would like to mention. If your really looking for a good backup HD, the "ABSmini" 40gb HD is pretty good, prolly the best option, although you can't boot from it incase your HD fails.

I currently use the Hitachi SimpleTouch.. great unit. I have not had a problem with it.

I have used Maxtor externals, and I've had several problems with them corrupting data

vagabondette · 10-04-2009, 04:15 PM

I have a 500G passport and I love it but you may not need something so mobile.

mmurtha · 10-04-2009, 04:15 PM

Hey jan,

LACIE makes good d2 quadra peofessional HDs. I have a 320 GB eSATA, and has both firewire 400 and 800, with the USB 2.0.

I like mine real well, and it's fairly easy to work with.

If you need something on the extreemly simple level though, Western Digital's are good, or they used to be. There's hardly no setting up to these - just plug them in and go to towm. They last for a very long time, and can take a beating too.

Hope this helps ...

Mary

jan roos · 10-04-2009, 04:19 PM

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will take a look at them all. I noticed some hd's says desktop hard drives but they operate with USB. I assume they work the same on a laptop as a desktop?

Cheers

mmurtha · 10-04-2009, 04:21 PM

Jan,

Yes they should. It's like any other piece of hardware you would add.

mannex · 10-04-2009, 05:27 PM

I use a Maxtor USB external drive, and it has worked fine. Looks just like another disk drive.

I also use Mozy.com as a second, off-site backup.

Goatboy · 10-04-2009, 09:38 PM

I have an external usb hd that I built, but depending on the amount of storage you need, why not just look at usb thumb drives? Some of them are coming in the 10's of gigabyte range now. They are easy to use and small enough to carry anywhere.

If you do go for a usb hd, my personal suggestion would be to find one with its own power cord so you don't have to draw power through the usb port. I've blown several ports by trying to draw too much power through them.

Quentin · 10-04-2009, 10:18 PM

What we do these days is simply have a cady (USB External Hard Drive case) which we can add any laptop hard drive to and then use them for backups.

thmgoodw · 10-04-2009, 10:21 PM

I have both a 1TB and a 500GB Maxtor USB external drive and they both have worked great for me.

thmgoodw · 10-04-2009, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jan roos

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will take a look at them all. I noticed some hd's says desktop hard drives but they operate with USB. I assume they work the same on a laptop as a desktop?

Cheers

Any of the USB ones will work with both. I generally have my external HDs hooked up to my desktop, but maybe once a month i need to move something large between my desktop and my laptop so I just plug the HD into my laptop and drag and drop. Works great.

GeorgeWhitaker · 10-04-2009, 10:43 PM

The best USB hard drives in my experience are Western Digital and Seagate. I have a 500 GB Western Digital myself. It really works like a charm and helps me store my huge library of files. Just be sure to get one that is USB 2.0, so that data is loaded at its fastest rate.

Traffic-Bug · 10-05-2009, 12:38 AM

You can take portable hard drives or you can take desktop hard drives. Go search in ebay and choose your pick.

mayapearl · 10-05-2009, 01:53 AM

HI,
I am about to travel OS for a few month and I want to make sure that my important stuff is backed up. How much could i put on a 10 G thumb key?

I just need it to be very portable as I want to travel light.

Thanks,
Maya

xiaophil · 10-05-2009, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmurtha

LACIE makes good d2 quadra peofessional HDs. I have a 320 GB eSATA, and has both firewire 400 and 800, with the USB 2.0.

IMO this is the best recommendation of the lot.

If you have tried to move a large amount of data over USB you will know what I mean.

Even if USB manages to complete without errors, it is not really a suitable interface for mass data transfer, as you may soon discover.

Once you have lost some hair with USB backups, those Firewire and eSATA interfaces will be your salvation - very, very high speed and specifically designed for this purpose, especially eSATA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quentin

What we do these days is simply have a cady (USB External Hard Drive case) which we can add any laptop hard drive to and then use them for backups.

That's a desktop hard drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mayapearl

How much could i put on a 10 G thumb key?

You could put about 10GB on that.

Cheers,

noangel · 10-06-2009, 09:52 AM

I'm going with Clickfree... nothing to install and it sorts all your files automatically for you.

l23bc · 10-06-2009, 09:54 AM

intresting i just seen a good advert about external hard drives from a company called p.c world on the television its a 350 gig hard drive about 35.99 just google the name pc world you may find it there,

andy

seasoned · 10-06-2009, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l23bc

intresting i just seen a good advert about external hard drives from a company called p.c world on the television its a 350 gig hard drive about 35.99 just google the name pc world you may find it there,

andy

They sound like REAL idiots! $35.99 sounds too low, and PC world is NOT a legal name for another company!!!!!

Reviews and News on Tech Products, Software and Downloads - PC World

Steve

seasoned · 10-06-2009, 12:12 PM

..........

CDarklock · 11-03-2009, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xiaophil

You could put about 10GB on that.

LOL

That was awesome.

Shaleniie Devi · 11-03-2009, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quentin

What we do these days is simply have a cady (USB External Hard Drive case) which we can add any laptop hard drive to and then use them for backups.

This is exactly what I did as well and it's much better than getting an all new hdd.

susanm · 11-03-2009, 04:58 AM

I also love my WD Passport. In fact, I have more than one.

ktmurf · 11-03-2009, 05:36 AM

I've got a Western Digital Harddrive in a Rosewill External Enclosure, both 3.5". Bought seperately and put together once arrived. Zero problems and I've got it setup through the PC it's hosted on for network access so my other PCs and what not can access it too. Very convenient.

Western Digital will probably get all of my harddrive business until the end of time. I've had dozens of them and the bang per buck ratio is amazing plus they're warranty and return policy/procedure can't be beat!

Kevin J Foy · 11-03-2009, 05:37 AM

Hi Jan

depends on how old your laptop is and what kind. I use a network drive on our wireless network. Which is a Buffalo. or just a buffalo drive which you can plug straight in. Drivers are already loaded on the drive. If it's not a network drive it will be USB.

10-04-2009, 03:41 PM	#1
jan roos Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA. Posts: 765 Thanks: 25 Thanked 40 Times in 30 Posts Contact Info	Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive Can anyone please recommend a good external hard drive that is easy to use for backing up my laptop? I have one from iomega but I cannot figure out how to use the thing. Many thanks
	Visit my blog For Some Great Tips On Internet Marketing and Network Marketing.

10-04-2009, 03:59 PM	#2
dorothydot HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southern Maryland Posts: 309 Thanks: 157 Thanked 39 Times in 37 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I use a 500-gig external from SeaGate and love it. I also bought a program [nominal one-time fee] that lets me save everything on my Apple laptop as a bootable back-up. I totally love it. Hope this helps, Dot
	"Sell the Magic of Your Dream" www.DP-Copywriting-Service.com

10-04-2009, 04:03 PM	#3
TaiZ Warrior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 11 Thanks: 0 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive There are 2 options I would like to mention. If your really looking for a good backup HD, the "ABSmini" 40gb HD is pretty good, prolly the best option, although you can't boot from it incase your HD fails. I currently use the Hitachi SimpleTouch.. great unit. I have not had a problem with it. I have used Maxtor externals, and I've had several problems with them corrupting data

10-04-2009, 04:15 PM	#4
vagabondette HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Currently in Mexico Posts: 242 Thanks: 40 Thanked 32 Times in 23 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I have a 500G passport and I love it but you may not need something so mobile.

10-04-2009, 04:15 PM	#5
mmurtha Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hubbard, Ohio, USA. Posts: 4,189 Thanks: 169 Thanked 91 Times in 70 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive Hey jan, LACIE makes good d2 quadra peofessional HDs. I have a 320 GB eSATA, and has both firewire 400 and 800, with the USB 2.0. I like mine real well, and it's fairly easy to work with. If you need something on the extreemly simple level though, Western Digital's are good, or they used to be. There's hardly no setting up to these - just plug them in and go to towm. They last for a very long time, and can take a beating too. Hope this helps ... Mary
	Post an Auction Listing, and get a chance to win $200 at Marketing Forum and Marketplace Like to Argue, Fuss, and Fight? Duel with your opponent at Duelz.com

10-04-2009, 04:19 PM	#6
jan roos Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA. Posts: 765 Thanks: 25 Thanked 40 Times in 30 Posts Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive Thanks for all the replies guys. I will take a look at them all. I noticed some hd's says desktop hard drives but they operate with USB. I assume they work the same on a laptop as a desktop? Cheers
	Visit my blog For Some Great Tips On Internet Marketing and Network Marketing.

10-04-2009, 04:21 PM	#7
mmurtha Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hubbard, Ohio, USA. Posts: 4,189 Thanks: 169 Thanked 91 Times in 70 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive Jan, Yes they should. It's like any other piece of hardware you would add.
	Post an Auction Listing, and get a chance to win $200 at Marketing Forum and Marketplace Like to Argue, Fuss, and Fight? Duel with your opponent at Duelz.com

10-04-2009, 05:27 PM	#8
mannex Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 52 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I use a Maxtor USB external drive, and it has worked fine. Looks just like another disk drive. I also use Mozy.com as a second, off-site backup.
	FREE WSO with Giveaway Rights >> The Fast Start Guide to Becoming a Highly Paid Independent Consultant

10-04-2009, 09:38 PM	#9
Goatboy HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 129 Thanks: 65 Thanked 11 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I have an external usb hd that I built, but depending on the amount of storage you need, why not just look at usb thumb drives? Some of them are coming in the 10's of gigabyte range now. They are easy to use and small enough to carry anywhere. If you do go for a usb hd, my personal suggestion would be to find one with its own power cord so you don't have to draw power through the usb port. I've blown several ports by trying to draw too much power through them.

10-04-2009, 10:18 PM	#10
Quentin DIY Internet Marketing War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Australia. Posts: 3,234 Blog Entries: 9 Thanks: 1 Thanked 179 Times in 92 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive What we do these days is simply have a cady (USB External Hard Drive case) which we can add any laptop hard drive to and then use them for backups.
	Complete 6 Month Internet Marketing Course. Join Here \| Offline Marketing Manual Streaming Audio Made Easy Download Here \| Audio Book Recorder 100,000 PLR Articles Download Here \| Free Online Profits Ebook

10-04-2009, 10:21 PM	#11
thmgoodw HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 280 Thanks: 15 Thanked 42 Times in 31 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I have both a 1TB and a 500GB Maxtor USB external drive and they both have worked great for me.

10-04-2009, 10:43 PM	#13
GeorgeWhitaker Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Boston, Mass Posts: 512 Thanks: 7 Thanked 5 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive The best USB hard drives in my experience are Western Digital and Seagate. I have a 500 GB Western Digital myself. It really works like a charm and helps me store my huge library of files. Just be sure to get one that is USB 2.0, so that data is loaded at its fastest rate.

10-05-2009, 12:38 AM	#14
Traffic-Bug Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Oregon Posts: 929 Thanks: 0 Thanked 44 Times in 39 Posts Social Networking	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive You can take portable hard drives or you can take desktop hard drives. Go search in ebay and choose your pick.

10-05-2009, 01:53 AM	#15
mayapearl Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 93 Thanks: 43 Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts Social Networking	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive HI, I am about to travel OS for a few month and I want to make sure that my important stuff is backed up. How much could i put on a 10 G thumb key? I just need it to be very portable as I want to travel light. Thanks, Maya
	Maya's Own Green Living Temple

10-06-2009, 09:52 AM	#17
noangel HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: , , Australia. Posts: 195 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I'm going with Clickfree... nothing to install and it sorts all your files automatically for you.
	This could save your cat\'s life! http://www.TheHealthyCat.com

10-06-2009, 09:54 AM	#18
l23bc call me andy War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: liverpool uk Posts: 605 Blog Entries: 9 Thanks: 42 Thanked 27 Times in 27 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive intresting i just seen a good advert about external hard drives from a company called p.c world on the television its a 350 gig hard drive about 35.99 just google the name pc world you may find it there, andy
	This Free Ebook Reveals to Anyone How to Make A Endless Steady Income Online-for Life! Dominate Twitter The Easy Way--ask me how!!

10-06-2009, 12:12 PM	#20
seasoned Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: , , USA. Posts: 9,921 Thanks: 58 Thanked 80 Times in 68 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive ..........

11-03-2009, 04:58 AM	#23
susanm Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sunny Southern California Posts: 80 Thanks: 19 Thanked 16 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I also love my WD Passport. In fact, I have more than one.
	Just passing through.

11-03-2009, 05:36 AM	#24
ktmurf www.sbwonline.com War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 38 Thanks: 15 Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts Social Networking	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive I've got a Western Digital Harddrive in a Rosewill External Enclosure, both 3.5". Bought seperately and put together once arrived. Zero problems and I've got it setup through the PC it's hosted on for network access so my other PCs and what not can access it too. Very convenient. Western Digital will probably get all of my harddrive business until the end of time. I've had dozens of them and the bang per buck ratio is amazing plus they're warranty and return policy/procedure can't be beat!
	Kevin - www.sbwonline.com www.murphyvanhoy.com/affiliates.htm www.businesskittoday.com www.businesskitonline.com www.legalformskitonline.com

11-03-2009, 05:37 AM	#25
Kevin J Foy Warrior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 20 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Contact Info	Re: Recommend a good user friendly external hard drive Hi Jan depends on how old your laptop is and what kind. I use a network drive on our wireless network. Which is a Buffalo. or just a buffalo drive which you can plug straight in. Drivers are already loaded on the drive. If it's not a network drive it will be USB.