Best external hard drives to buy right now?

Bryan Evans77 said:You can format it however you want.🙂

Right-click the drive, hit properties, then format...
just pick the one you need.

At least, that's how it's supposed to work.

Yeah, you're right. Do it that way. Thanks.

Jamie Ramos5 said:then you go with exFAT, or if you need to move massive files without any headaches—like high-res movie rips—you go NTFS.
unless the Infinity unit doesn't have a firmware update to support NTFS.

My Infinity unit is running firmware 1.0.2, which is stuck with exFAT. There is an update, version
1.0.6, that adds NTFS support, but upgrading feels like playing Russian roulette since I've heard stories about people bricking their hardware during the process.
The receiver is only two months old and still under warranty, and since manufacturers won't touch a claim if you mess up a firmware flash, I'm sticking with
exFAT for now. Once the warranty expires, then maybe I'll take the risk with the new firmware.👍

If you don't actually need it, then honestly, I’d skip it—though I have to ask, how on earth does one even manage to wreck a receiver? Is that an official technical term or just something people say? It sounds incredibly strange to me.

Jamie Ramos5 said:If you don't need it, skip it. But how does a firmware update brick a receiver? Is that an official report? Seems sketchy.

I’ve been scrolling through some tech forums, and apparently, plenty of people have had their receivers fried by this new firewall update.
I can't pin down the exact cause—maybe it's just user error during the install
or something else entirely. Word is, Infinity users specifically run into trouble if they’re on
version 1.0.1. You absolutely cannot upgrade that one. If you do,
the screen just goes black and you lose all channel scanning capabilities. I’m currently running version
1.0.2, which came pre-installed from the factory, so I’m going to sit tight until my warranty expires. It works fine now, and I'm perfectly happy using exFAT
for now. I'll deal with the upgrade later.🤷

Is it actually possible to format a 320 GB external hard drive from NTFS over to FAT on Windows XP

I need to clarify things here. I finally figured out how to format this new external drive that's sitting on my desk.
Just convert it from NTFS to FAT32. Honestly, using EaseUS Partition Master is the only way to get this done right.
I stumbled upon this online. I saw it mentioned on a forum and it actually seems like a solid fix, so if anyone else is dealing with similar headaches, check it out.
Give that software a shot; it actually works.

I’m not entirely sure which brands offer the best balance of transfer speeds, reliability, and overall value right now.
Seagate seems like a solid bet to me. I'm looking for something around 500GB with USB 3.0 support, aiming for a decent price per GB.

Does anyone have a specific recommendation?

Three bucks for 500 MB? That’s basically highway robbery if you ask me. I mean, let's be real here—do you even actually need USB 3.0? Does your motherboard even have a 3.0controller?
If the answer is a resounding no, then just go ahead and grab that one I’ve probably already annoyed everyone by mentioning too many timesthe SanDisk Elements portable USB 2.0 with the 500 MB capacity
.
Actually, you might want to check if your setup supports USB 3.0 and look into getting a WD My Passport 3.0 instead; it ends up costing just a hair more per megabyte, but it's worth it. Here is the link

Folks, I have a question that has been weighing on my mind for quite some time now. I currently have this EHD that holds all my games, video clips, photos, and various other files, and I run everything directly from that drive (from the EHD). Now, I find myself wondering—is this actually detrimental to the health of the EHD, and more importantly, how long can it realistically stay plugged into my computer without any issues?

It’s not exactly terrible—but if you actually care about whatever's sitting on that drive, you really ought to have a backup ready to go.

I’ve got a problem here. Moving a movie from my drive to an external EHD via USB 2.0 is taking forever. A 700 MB file takes about 14 minutes, and a 1.4 GB one drags on for over 25 minutes. In my book, that’s an absolute eternity. I'm wondering if I have some setting messed up on the usbio port or if there's something else fundamentally broken.

Look, you might be working with some seriously vintage hardware here—I mean, is your computer still running on USB 1.1 or something? 😁
If that isn't the culprit, then we’re likely looking at a corrupted file or perhaps an issue with the drive itself that's causing those sluggish write speeds. Then again, if you aren't rocking a modern machine, heavy multitasking could easily be eating up all your resources and dragging everything down. Give me a bit more detail to work with so I can actually help you out...

I'm planning on picking up an external drive pretty soon to store my photos and MP3 collection—ideally something in the 1GB range or larger—so I was hoping to get some input from the group on what’s actually worth buying.
I've heard some chatter that the larger desktop drives—the ones that require their own dedicated power outlet—tend to be more reliable or higher quality than the portable ones, but I guess I'd love to hear if anyone here has had actual experience with that.

A one-gigabyte portable drive? I assume you actually meant 1 TB, unless we’re traveling back to the late nineties. You might want to try scrolling through the forum for a second; if you look through the existing threads, you'll find plenty of people have already answered that exact question.

Quick question for the group—if I leave an external drive plugged into my PC via USB and just let it run constantly, will that cause any issues regarding heat dissipation? Should I be turning it off periodically, or is it fine to just leave it running indefinitely? Thanks!

Quick question—if I have an external drive without its own power supply constantly plugged into my computer via USB, does leaving it running all the time cause any issues regarding heat dissipation? Should I be shutting it down periodically, or is it perfectly fine to just leave it on? Thanks!

Jamie Ramos5 said:Maybe your rig is so ancient that you're still running on USB 1.1. 😁
If that isn't the case, you're probably looking at a corrupt file or a faulty drive that’s bottlenecking your write speeds. On the flip side, if you aren't running a modern rig, heavy multitasking might be choking your performance. Give me some actual specs to work with.

My rig is an old workhorse. I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 3 with USB 2.0 ports. Every time I plug in an external drive, I get that annoying pop-up telling me I could be getting much faster speeds. It's like driving a classic muscle car only to have a sensor tell you that you should be in a jet.
I need to get this high-speed USB host controller installed. I tried downloading it for Windows XP, but...
I checked the site, but there isn't a single free version to be found anywhere. It's like trying to find a decent cup of coffee in a gas station—nothing worth your time.

Can someone point me toward where I can snag a 1TB external hard drive for under seventy-five bucks?

Not really. this is the most budget-friendly option available. You might find something from a place like Best Buy or similar retailers for maybe $5-$3.25 less, but I’d personally suggest checking out Micro Center if you want a reliable shop...

I’ve got a question about buying an external hard drive with USB 3.0. Can I actually use it on my older computer if it only has USB 2.0 ports? My logic is that I might as well grab one now since I'll probably be upgrading to a newer rig with USB 3.0 in a year or two anyway.
I'm looking at picking up this SanDisk Ultra . Does anyone know if there's a better option out there for roughly the same price? Thanks.