Good portable HD?

nitzmoff

Looking to get a portable hard drive to back up my home machine and occasionally bring it in to work to back up my own stuff.

Anyone know a reliable and inexpensive HD to look for, or even a good brand name?

Thanks.

flaagan

How much data are you looking to carry? The flash sticks are getting reasonably large (and still reasonably cheap), and don't require the hassle of power and data cables. If those aren't big enough, I'd always say go with one of those Seagate / Maxtor ones at fry's, seeing as those hdd's brands have always been sturdy for me, and have awesome warranty coverage should disaster strike.

nitzmoff

Didn't think of using a flash drive, but I'm not sure it would have enough space. I'll need at least 80 gigs for this.

Thanks for the brand selections though, appreciated.

Daz

This one has stood me in good stead for ages but it might not be big enough for you (80):

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1639621,00.asp

arshlevon

i went and got a 180 gb laptop drive and a usb enclosure. the best part is the HD is powered from the usb so you you never have to plug it in. not carrying around another power brick in your backpack is really nice.

flaagan

A laptop hdd enclosure.. forgot about those! that'd probably work for you pretty well Nitz. Take a trip to your local Fry's and see what they offer.

Showster

if your not to fussy about brand / price. Aldi in the UK do a portable hard drive (USB) 320gb for 100 pounds. Have to go in on the right day though, they do some sort of offer system.

MoP

The small Seagate 100gb external drives (the ones with 2 USB connectors, not an AC adaptor) are very reliable, also small and solid.

hawken

I have two lacie porche 250 gig drives. they automatically turn on/off (on the mac, but not pc)

Jeff Parrott

I have a lacie porche 80 gig small drive. It's got usb and firewire on the back. I really prefer their design and size.

notman

[ QUOTE ]
i went and got a 180 gb laptop drive and a usb enclosure. the best part is the HD is powered from the usb so you you never have to plug it in. not carrying around another power brick in your backpack is really nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I did. Bought an enclosure for about $15, then used an old laptop HD I had. It's only 4G, but it works great... the 80GB drives should be getting fairly reasonable now.

sledgy

Laptop drives are built a bit more rugged than internal SATA or ATA drives. They'll cost more but it's worth it.

Lee3dee

if you making your own, stay away from IBM or Hitachi drives, deskstar drives in particular. 4 have died on me

hawken

stay away from making your own. unless you know what you're buying. The drives in consumer models can take a beating.