Best external hard drives to buy right now?

Well, you aren't wrong! 😁
I'm just hoping whichever one I pick doesn't die on me—really don't want to lose those photos. 😢

WD offers a 24-month warranty
Samsung gives you 36 months...

Hey,

I'm looking for an external hard drive to stash my movie collection on.
Need at least 500 GB, USB 3.0, and I don't mind ordering online if it stays under $167. Anyone got any solid recommendations within that budget?

Samsung offers a 36-month warranty, so this one would be a solid choice...

Thanks a lot 👍

Hey there
I'm looking for some advice—which of these two drives should I grab?

http://www.bestbuy.com/...example1

http://www.amazon.com/...example2

The plan is to use it for storing all my movies, series, and music... basically just plugging it straight into the TV. Thanks!

If I were you, I’d go with the one that comes with the longer warranty.

Which one of these three would you recommend?

https://www.mimovrste.com/25-diski/z...-eesn?v=580180
https://www.mimovrste.com/25-diski/i...0-crn?v=846011
https://www.mimovrste.com/25-diski/s...0-crn?v=612656

Not a single word. I don't understand a lick of English, or whatever this is...

Hey there! I just picked up an ADATA HV100 1TB external hard drive. When I plug it into my laptop, the disk makes a humming sound like it's spinning up, but it doesn't show up anywhere in my file explorer. Usually, every other hard drive or USB stick I've ever used works perfectly fine without any issues... Any idea what I should do? Thanks!

What laptop, what USB?

HP. Using a Windows 8.1 USB. It actually won't show up on any device. For instance, when I plug in my Adata HV620 500GB, it opens up immediately. Yeah, I tried it on a friend's laptop too—same thing. The drive makes a buzzing sound, but nothing shows up on the laptop.

Just to be safe, try plugging it into a desktop instead, specifically using the ports directly on the motherboard at the back. It’s possible the drive itself is just dead. It doesn't happen all the time, but it definitely happens....

Or, if you bought it from a local shop, just head back there and make them test it on one of their own machines...

Thanks. I'll give that a shot. The folks over at Best Buy suggested I try enabling it through Disk Management, but it isn't even showing up there!!!

You aren't going to see that showing up in Disk Management, no matter how much you stare at it. Have you tried cycling through every single USB port on your machine? Maybe even swap out the cable for a different one if you have a spare lying around. If you can, try testing it on a couple of other computers just to be absolutely certain. If it fails to register anywhere, then honestly, just take it back to Best Buy and get your money back.

I'm looking to pick up a solid external hard drive to stash all my photos, movies, series, and other files... maybe around 2 TB? Does anyone have a recommendation, or know if there are any good sales running right now? I'm totally down to buy it online. 😬

..Obviously, I'm watching the price tag, so finding that sweet spot between cost and quality is key... 😬

http://www.amazon.com/external-hard-drive-black-051520414

Honestly, I think you couldn't ask for more than this Samsung drive with its 36-month warranty.

darkowl72 said:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/q/external-hard-drive

Honestly, if you want peace of mind, you can't beat a Samsung drive with a 3-year warranty. Hard to find a better deal than that...

Thanks for the tip 👍

But there isn't much info here on the specs. Like, what's the actual RPM?

Can I just grab the exact same model in a 1 TB version instead? 😬

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...01619/review/2

If you look at the review, the biggest complaints about the M3 series are basically just "slightly poor random write performance" and its "boring appearance." Honestly, who cares if the random write speeds are a bit off when it's being used as a backup drive? It’s not a big deal. It spins at 5,400 RPM—which is pretty much standard for any external drive you'll find—and comes with 16MB of cache.

And yeah, there's a 1TB version available too, if that's enough storage for you.

darkowl72 said:I just finished reading this deep dive on the latest PC gear, and honestly... it’s kind of a trip. You look at these specs and realize how fast things are moving. One minute you're bragging about your rig, and the next, it feels like yesterday's junk. The review goes pretty hard on the performance benchmarks, too. It’s one thing to read the marketing hype from companies like Whirlpool when they talk about efficiency, but seeing the actual numbers hit the screen? That's where the reality sets in. It’s all fun and games until your frame rates drop during a heavy session... Anyway, I'm curious what you guys think. Is it actually worth dropping the cash right now, or should we just wait for the next cycle? I feel like I'm constantly chasing the horizon here...

So, looking at the feedback, the biggest gripes about the M3 series are basically just "random write speeds are a bit sluggish" and "it looks boring." Honestly, who cares about random write speeds when you're using a drive for backups? It’s practically irrelevant... and as for the look? Please... Man, that look is just plain boring...It’s running at 5400 RPM, which is pretty much the standard for any external drive you'd pick up, and it’s got 16MB of cache memory... nothing crazy, but it gets the job done.

Yeah, you could always go with the 1TB version if that's enough storage for you...

👍

Who even cares about looks anymore? Seriously... 🤣 😬

It’s basically just a tool that gets the job done, you know? Not really meant to be a showpiece... 😬

Yeah... I mean, why does anyone even sweat the warranty on these drives? But honestly, they fail so often that it’s basically a mandatory part of the purchase at this point...

Honestly, I’d take my old files back over a shiny new replacement any day... Just give me my data back from that dead drive and we're good... 😬