Best external hard drives to buy right now?

You don't buy gear expecting it to fail. External drives are designed for reliability—that’s exactly why they use slower drives with longer lifespans and higher MTBF ratings. But a manufacturer's warranty? That’s just a window into how much they actually trust their own product.

There have been plenty of documented cases where tech companies intentionally swap in one weak component—whether it's TVs, washing machines (Whirlpool did this a few years back), copiers, or printers—just so the thing survives the warranty period and then dies right after. It forces you to buy a replacement. They call it "cultivating a consumer mindset" 😬 but honestly, if a customer doesn't realize it's technically "better" for them to be replacing their TV, stove, washer, and laptop every two years, the manufacturer is more than happy to help them along... 😬

At the end of the day, it's always better to see a company show some actual confidence in what they're selling by offering a longer warranty. That's the only reason that matters...

Looking for a 1TB 2.5" drive. Which one should I grab?

Intenso 1TB USB 3.0
http://www.intenso.de/produkte_en.ph...ukt=1308731404

WD 2.5" Elements USB 3.0 (WDBUZG0010BBK-EESN)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=470

Is this Verbatim gear actually any good? I'm looking for something strictly for backups... I've already got an old drive, but it's only 150GB, which is useless now. It'll be hitting the shelves at Walmart starting tomorrow. 🤷

Kate Adams51 said:Is this Verbatim drive actually any good? I just need it for backups... I've already got an old one, but it's only 150GB. It'll be hitting the shelves at Walmart starting tomorrow... 🤷

here are some better shots:



EDIT: Does it say anywhere what the warranty covers? 😬

Would any of you actually buy a car or a PC at Kroger? 😬
The selection isn't anything special; once you get past $153, you can find plenty of 1TB portable drives at any hardware store
for instance,

Usually, these things come with a 3-year warranty, though I wouldn't be surprised if Kroger only offers one year.

Timothy Kim60 said:Would you guys actually buy a car or a PC at Kroger? 😬

pretty 😬

I’d just swipe my American Express at Kroger and rack up enough points to get free groceries for six months... 😬

..anyway.. I grabbed that Samsung Galaxy M3 series from Best Buy with the 36-month warranty.. 1 TB - $158..not bad at all 😬

Edward Gray9 said:I'm looking to pick up a 1TB 2.5" drive.

If you absolutely have to pick between those two, go with WD, obviously. But seriously, are there really no other options? And what’s the warranty situation look like? Find me someone offering a longer guarantee. 🤷

Kate Adams51 said:Is this Verbatim drive any good? I only need it for backups. I’ve already got an old one, but it’s only 150GB. It goes on sale at Kroger starting tomorrow. 🤷

Buy it. 👍 Verbatim has been doing its thing for a long damn time now.

Timothy Kim60 said:Would you guys seriously go to Kroger to buy a car and a PC?

I wouldn't touch the PC. I have no idea what kind of junk they shoved inside that thing. 😬 Look, if they're just reselling stuff, why should I care? As long as the price is right, I'm in. Up until now, I've just been picking up lasers at Walmart and cheap disposables at Kroger. 😬 Everything is set. Just picked up my first tablet, a Prestigio from Kroger. It was cheap, I got it on an installment plan, and I even scored some rewards points—unlike what ruggedfox28 says about those useless points being worth nothing. I actually got almost everything back. $67 😬 Warranties are a joke. These big retailers just pass along whatever the importer says; they don't actually handle anything themselves. I was pretty surprised when I picked up a Brother printer at Walmart and they handed me a certified 3-year warranty. The cashier was shuffling through some paperwork and was just like, "Yeah, yeah, the importer provides three years..." 🤷

ruggedfox28 said:I'd probably just swipe a Kroger American Express and rack up enough points to get six months of free groceries.

So, I finally pulled the trigger at Best Buy. Picked up one of those Samsung Galaxy M3 series models—the 1 TB version. It comes with a 36-month warranty, too. $158Not bad. 😬

👍

darkowl72 said:If you’re absolutely stuck choosing between those two, go with WD, obviously. But seriously, aren't there any other options? What’s the warranty looking like? Find something with a decent coverage period... 🤷

👍

So which one do you actually recommend then? These two only have a 2-year warranty, but I did find a Samsung with 3 years. Anything else high-quality out there?

Stick with Samsung. It's solid, plus you get a 3-year warranty. Honestly, what more do you need?

How do I safely eject an external drive from my computer? Is it like a USB stick where I have to hit "Eject," or do I just pull it out? Because on this Samsung external drive, I don't see any options... neither software nor hardware to tell it I'm done... 😬 😕

Check the system tray in the bottom right corner. Sometimes the icon hides itself when you aren't using it—do you see any USB devices listed there?

And if you right-click on the drive icon in my Computer, does the Eject option show up at all?

I’m really not comfortable just ripping it out... I guess the only way to do that safely is to shut down the computer entirely. 😬

Look, there’s zero option... I’m not an idiot 😬

It just feels weird to me, which is why I’m asking 😬

There isn't any way to "eject" the drive or even see a signal in the bottom right corner letting me know the disk is actually connected... if I don't go into "my Computer," I wouldn't even know the external drive was plugged in at all?? 😕

...and even when I right-click the external drive in my Computer, there's no "Eject" option anywhere.. just Properties and a few other useless Best Buy links..

There’s a lot of debate and a bunch of different theories about this, which is just one of those "phantom" issues you deal with in Windows... People claim that "Safely Remove Hardware" is basically just there to flush out the read-ahead buffers used by the NTFS file system, since it keeps the drive active constantly. With FAT16 or FAT32, the drive is only being accessed during actual reading or writing, so you technically shouldn't even need to eject the media... I guess. 🤷

You can definitely just rip it out when you shut down the machine 😬 but if you really want to try getting that icon back, maybe check out something like this:

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/restore-...hardware-icon/

thanks 👍

so, what kind of (potential) damage am I looking at if I just yank this external drive out without properly hitting 😬
?

Look, if your drive is trashed, your data is basically gone... the disk probably won't work... 🤷

I don't want to say anything for certain here, because if it dies, I don't want you blaming me. 😬

just give it a little tug 😬

I’m looking to pick up an external hard drive. Something in the 500 to 750 GB range. It'll be mostly for movies, TV shows, music, photos, and some documents...

Any recommendations for something reliable that won't break the bank (ideally under $200)? I was thinking about brands like Seagate, Toshiba, or Verbatim...

Thanks! 😉

An Apple terabyte drive (with a Western Digital disk inside) is about $157, while the 500 GB version is roughly $133, so there’s really no point in grabbing the smaller one.

The Apple warranty lasts 36 months, which beats out the 24 months you get with Seagate, making the Apple option the smarter buy...

If you have some other brand in mind (a real brand, obviously 😬), just stack it up against the Apple one. If it actually looks better on price and warranty, go for it...

I haven’t really messed around with Samsung gear before. For me, WD has always been the gold standard for reliable drives, whereas my experience with Seagate has been pretty lousy—I actually had to swap out an internal Seagate drive twice.

I’ve been running a Toshiba laptop for years now and it’s been rock solid. Honestly, everything is pointing me toward picking either WD, Samsung, or Toshiba. 😁

restlessbear34 said:I haven't really messed around with Samsung drives before. For me, Western Digital has always been the go-to for reliability, whereas my experience with Seagate has been pretty rough... had to swap out an internal Seagate drive twice already.

My Toshiba laptop has been a total workhorse for years, so I'm leaning towards either Western Digital, Samsung, or sticking with Toshiba... 😁

This one looks like it has a more rugged casing: http://www.nabava.net/vanjski-ekster...-1tb__11846721

Which Seagate model are we talking about, and what's the actual track record on them? 🍿