Best external hard drives to buy right now?

Benjamin King2 said:Look, man, one kilo is actually pretty heavy once you factor in having two different cables—one USB and then a dedicated power cord. Plus, at about 5x5 inches, it’s basically the size of a small clutch or a women's wallet. 😁

Is there a specific brand out there that's considered the gold standard? I was leaning toward something like Western Digital since they offer that 3-year warranty.
I just really don't want to end up buying some cheap junk only to have the whole thing glitch out or die on me after a few weeks.
Just being a picky woman about this, I guess... what can you do? 😁

Look, nobody can actually guarantee how long a drive is going to last—it could totally die on you after three months, or maybe it’ll somehow chug along for twenty years. It's basically a coin toss.

You could also just grab this Transcend one since it comes with the same three-year warranty, plus the casing feels a bit more rugged if you happen to be the type of person who's constantly dropping things. 😁

So, I've been thinking about picking up an external HDD because my old 250GB Verbatim is pretty much on its last legs...
Up until now, I’ve been using this old drive to store movies that I watch on my TV via USB (without needing any extra power supply), and I’d really like to keep things that way. Since I have two TVs in the house, I want to be able to just swap the drive from one to the other whenever I feel like it, without having to deal with dragging extra power cables around or hunting for an additional outlet, and of course, I still need to be able to plug it into my PC.
Initially, I was looking at something in the 320GB to 500GB range, but I can't stop thinking about getting a 1TB drive instead—my only worry is if I go that big, what am I going to do with all that extra space if I eventually have to move everything off of it? I currently have three different sized HDDs in my desktop tower and they're already getting quite full... obviously, an SSD isn't the right choice for a movie library, so I have two of those, one 1TB and one 640GB.

There is also one other thing I'm hoping will work: I want to be able to have a 1m USB extension cable plugged into the TV, and then connect the HDD to that. Essentially, the extension would act as a buffer so I don't risk damaging the USB port on the TV itself, since I've actually broken a port before and I really don't want a repeat of that... but my old Verbatim wouldn't work that way, likely because it was suffering from voltage drops...
Does anyone here have experience with this setup who can confirm if it works okay with an extension cable like that? (I'm talking about 2.5" drives).
I tend to lean toward established brands like Western Digital, Seagate, or Samsung... naturally, that doesn't mean they're perfect or guarantee a certain lifespan, but I feel like they're more reliable—even though I did run into issues with a 3.5" Seagate inside my computer when it 😢 died...
I have the opportunity to buy these drives in the Netherlands at a Best Buy, which would save me about $80-$33. Is it ultimately worth it to wait for my father to bring one back from his work there, or should I just buy it here in Washington, D.C.?

For example, I was looking at this 1TB WD drive http://www.mediamarkt.nl/mcs/product...39,242141.html which is roughly $197, whereas prices at local retailers like Micro Center or Best Buy might be closer to $233 or $233 and so on...

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated 😉

Can anyone give me some solid recommendations for an external hard drive? Looking for something up to 3 TB. I want to use it for streaming movies over my home network...

Is this one any good:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hard-drive...l=051.520.283?

And let’s be real—none of the other manufacturers even have drives in that capacity range, so you aren't exactly spoiled for choice here. 🙂

Thanks! Any chance I can find this somewhere cheaper?

Ima 🙂

I spotted this deal on a site, but honestly, my main concern is which online retailer I can actually trust...

You can pick one up at Best Buy. Media Matters New York City

Is any web shop actually reliable just because they bother to post their terms of service, shipping policies, and user agreements on their site? Not necessarily. 😉

Hey 😁

I was just wondering—can you basically plug any external Western Digital drive into any computer 🤔?

It’s got me a little tripped up: if I pick up a drive that says it uses a USB 3.0 interface, but my laptop only has those older USB 2.0 ports on the outside, am I still good to go? Can I just plug it in and have it work normally, or is there something specific I need to watch out for 😁?

@Ashley Rodriguez44/">@@Ashley Rodriguez44 you will be able to connect them without any issues, so there is really no need to worry. That "3.0" designation simply indicates that the USB supports a much higher data transfer rate (meaning it is faster), whereas 2.0 is naturally slower, as it can move less data within a given timeframe...

Ultimately, for your specific setup, once you connect the Western Digital drive to your computer, the speed will be limited by your USB 2.0 port, and that is that. However, if you were to plug that exact same drive into a USB 3.0 port, you would find that transferring a file from your computer to the drive—or vice versa—would happen significantly faster than it does with 2.0

Thanks so much, 🙂
That’s what I was thinking too, but I figured I should probably double-check before jumping the gun! 😁

Oh, and by the way—have you guys seen this?

http://www.amazon.com/external-hard-drives...-sata__1306221

If anyone out there has some actual expert advice to share, please, don't be shy—let us know what you think! 😁

There are plenty of cheaper drive options out there, like this one:

That one made the shortlist too 😁
I went with this first one, maybe just because I feel like LG is a more reliable manufacturer 🤷

What’s the consensus on Hitachi hard drives? I’ve already had a few people recommend this specific model, so I figured I’d ask since I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to HDDs.
I was using that Verbatim drive (to be honest, I just got it from Best Buy as part of a promotional bundle, a 250GB unit), but it has been nothing but trouble.
Basically, I use my hard drive to watch movies through my TV—it supports USB drives and plays pretty much any format—but with the Verbatim, it kept glitching out. A few times while I was watching something, it would just freeze up, disconnect from the TV, and then try to reconnect itself... honestly, I actually ended up losing my temper and gave it a good smack in the media cabinet because it was driving me absolutely insane, which resulted in 😁 some damage where now I can't even delete certain movies or play them properly... what a mess.

Hey, I’m not exactly a tech expert, so I have a quick question...
I'm looking to pick up a 2TB portable drive for some travel (price isn't really an issue), but I'm wondering if my setup will hold me back. My computer is about seven years old, so it likely only has USB 2.0 ports.
Will a modern USB 3.0 drive actually work properly on an older system like mine?
Thanks.

It’ll work—just don't expect much from it since you're basically stuck with USB 2.0 speeds. The connector itself is totally compatible, though.

Thanks for the reply! Is it actually possible for me to swap out my current USB port for a USB 3.0 one on that old PC?

You can certainly pick up an additional USB 3.0 expansion card for a desktop setup, or if you're working with a laptop, there are a few different ways to go about it... anyway, you can find some options OVDJE

Harold Smith13 said:Thanks for the reply! Quick follow-up—can I actually swap out an old USB port for a USB 3.0 connection on that aging rig?

Sure you can, provided your motherboard isn't a total relic and actually has a PCI Express slot available: http://www.newegg.com/...controller...