I need to invest in one in order to clear up space on my laptop. It would be used primarily for storing music and photographs.
I need something reliable … not one of the cheapie external hard drives which easily crash and destroy everything.
Any suggestions?
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
I have western digital 320 GB since two years now. I usually store some course material and lectures alongw/pictures, movies and some music in there. It’s portable and pretty-looking (i know, but that’s kinda bonus for me since it comes in this pretty reddish maroon color) and it has never crashed on me, Alhamdulillah!
should cost around 70-80$ on ebay. hope this helps 
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
^ i have the same. WD is good. go for it Mehnaz.
My Passport Essential 320 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drives ( WDBAAA3200ABK )
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
There nothing like 100% reliable HD … Always make backup of ur imp data
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
canada computers prices: (available stock on general basis)
western digital 's my passport series, 500gb starts around $109.99
seagate’s free agent go series, 320gb black starts $89.99
and this company called LaCie…500 gb starts $129.99
these three are good brands in terms of EXTERNAL backup hard drives in two and a half inch environments..
when in doubt about prices among the recommended, use the formula:
#gb divided by price. (and u want lower values among the batch) . (price per gb).
so western digital comes to 500 gb / 109.99 = 4.54 roughly
seagate 320 gb / 89.99 = 3.56 roughly
and lacie 500gb / 129 = 3.84
my recommendation, pay a visit (if buying in person) ask for these three brands, and pick either thats on sale/promo/pushed by staff. for hard drives i dont recommend ebay as hard drives are VERY sensitive to be shipped and transported, your LOCAL stores are best bet to grab hard drives. if u get a bad one, at least u can return/exchange/refunded in timely manner. (i also dont recommend getting REFURBISHED or FACTORY reconditioned hard drives). (again same reason as shipping/transport).
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
Quick question: BestBuy has a Western Digital My Book Essentials 500 GB for $79.99 right now.
Is this the same as My Passport by Western Digital? I figure this is a good price.
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
I guess it’s a 2,5 incher? I don’t know If you are a person who get’s around alot or not, but If you are NOT, then why not get a 3,5 incher instead? You’ll get double the space for only 20-30 bucks more.
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
It says 3.5" ? 
Western Digital My Book Essentials 500GB 3.5" External Hard Drive (WDBAAF5000EBK-NESN)
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
I see, well I got my Hitachi Simple Drive with 1 TB capacity for 72 Euros, which would be about 96 Dollars. LOL Funny thing is that it’s not only cheaper but also has better reviews than the WD My Book Essentials.
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They don’t even have that available here. I think it’s cheaper to get certain electronics in Europe and even America. For some reason, everything is more expensive in Canada. Oh well, I’m going to order this. It seems like a good deal …
Edit: I did not buy it. I didn’t realize that it needs to be plugged into the wall in order to operate. I’ll wait till I can get a better deal on the Passport.
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
I am using Seagate 500GB with USB2
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
I am using maxtor one touch (now seagate) and its working fine. Only thing is, it used to crash my Vista computers but worked fine with XP. Currently its attached to the Windows 7 pc and working great.
Re: Reliable External Harddrive
I have a Maxtor 1 Terrabyte hard disk for backups etc. If you are going to backup music and photographs you need a 1 terrabyte one. I have filled up the hard disks in my computer with stuff and also a 500 GB external WD hard disk I had. I went for the 1 terrabyte one which comes cheap these days any way. Faced a similar situation. Go for it.
My laptop came equipped with Vista and it’s where all my relevant files are saved. 