Good external USB 2.0 Hard Drive?

[Foggy_Goggles]

Maxtors are cheap but get shitty reviews

Apricorns are rated highly but are pricy

In using it just to back up. Looking for about 40GB. Is the auto backup software needed or worth it?

Thanks

[Raps]

I have an Iomega 80GB, but in firewire which rocks. They do make a USB version. Not expensive (forget what i paid) and it has held up well, plus it is light and makes quick transfers. Can't go wrong...

[Arty50]

www.lacie.com

[IE]

Hitachi, but I'm biased, look on www.pricewatch.com

[joshbu]

I found it cheaper to just buy a IDE drive and slap it into a USB 2.0 / firewire enclosure. I built a 120 GB external for just under $200 a few months back that way... (Or is that what you're asking about? Which IDE drive to pick?)

[Foggy_Goggles]

bu, I don't even know what IDE is.

[schuss]

IDE is the interface for most internal HD's. Most externals are just IDE's slapped in a special enclosure.

[joshbu]

bu, I don't even know what IDE is.

Buy this: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...144-102&DEPA=1

And this: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...145-843&depa=1

That'll get you a 80 GB external for about 80 bucks.

You'll have to do a little assembly. It's not brain surgery. Connect some wires, put in some screws, done.

That's what I did. I think it's the cheapest way to go. For a little extra, you can step up to the really huge drives. 200GB for like $150ish.

[meatdrink9]

foggy, I bought the iomega 250 gig for $200 after rebate on new egg just before x-mas. I love the thing. Take ALL of my music between work and home as well as movies, photos, design work, fonts etc... It's like I take my computer back and forth with me, but it's tiny. Been the best purchase I've made in awhile.

[backpack]

I currently have 2 x 120GB, 2 x 250GB and 1x60GB iomega external usb2/firewire drives. The 120s and 250s are of the desktop, not-huge-but-not-small variety, while the 60GB is about the size and weight of a small thin paperback.

Of course, my dad works for Iomega (== big discounts for me), so I'm a bit biased, but I haven't had any of them crap out on me yet.

Also, if you're willing to wait a month or two, the new "cheaper" version of the 250 is coming out, with a cool aluminum casing so it doesn't need a fan, but with no extra software (that's why it's cheaper).

If you don't need as much storage space and want something really tiny, the hard drives from iomega and others that use the same drive as the ipod, and run off USB bus power (i.e. no power cable) are really cool. Expensive, but cool.

One bit of advice, though, regardless of what type/brand of drive you use, ALWAYS BACK UP IMPORTANT FILES! Hard drives die all the time for various reasons. Data recovery is far more expensive than a second hard drive to mirror your data on. We're talking thousands of dollars for the most basic recovery operations. I know most people don't think about it, but I've had several drives die on me over the past year or so (laptop HD and iPod HD), and I barely lost anything because I had things backed up. Most people loose everything.

[vinnay]

for what its worth,

ive looked into this and heard that western digital makes the most reliable quality external HDs from a number of good sources.