Best external hard disk?

[twentydollarnote]

Might seem a bit of a dumb question but i need to get a external hard disk to go with my 'Western Digital TV High Definition Media Player' so i assumed getting something made by WD would be better, which put me in the direction of this but reading a few write ups there seems to be a few complaints about this disk, anyone have any experience with it or can recommend whats the best option? I only want it for watching sports videos and some movies, nothing special. Thanks!

 

[sblack]

I have a WD Elements 1 TB. Absolutely no problems. Can get it for around $150

 

[scooterb]

I was always under the impression that Western Digital was the best.

I'm thinking of picking one up in the near future as well.

I'll have a look around whirlpool and see what I can conjure up.

 

[twentydollarnote]

ah cool thanks for that

 

[Conan Troutman]

Yeah I have one of those exact drives (WB My Book Essential 1TB). Haven't had any problems with it yet, but only had it a couple of months. Very happy with it so far.

I got it for $178 at Harvey Norman, but only because they were out of the elements drive which they had on sale at the time, so offered the My Book one to me for the same price.

I don't know a lot about HDDs though, so can't say if there's better or not. Haven't tried it on anything else other than my own PC. Powers down when the computer shuts down which is very handy, but for all I know they may all do that?? - I have no idea

 

[Leper Messiah]

I have the WD HD TV Media Player aswell and have 2 of the 1TB WD My Books that you're looking at also and they all work perfect with it.

I also have 2 mates that both have the 1TB WD Elements aswell and they've both had no problems either.

If you're going to be watching sports etc in HD you want to reformat the HDD to ntfs first however as FAT32 has a 4gb file size limit.

 

[mighty mick]

I have a WD Elements 1 TB. Absolutely no problems. Can get it for around $150

best buy we have sold so many of those and minimal if any returns, dont know what write ups your reading as the wd you were looking at is fine.

with wd and seagate drives somethings gotta be wrong from the start as we dont see returns as an issue.

i personally have the wdtv and the same 1 tb essential drive. storage is essential these days and if anything get ready for smaller units and more home servers.

 

[twentydollarnote]

is the WD elements 1 TB sold anymore? If its cheaper i am all for getting it.

 

[sblack]

is the WD elements 1 TB sold anymore? If its cheaper i am all for getting it.

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=wd+elements+1+tb&spos=3

I think I got mine on special, that is why it was so cheap. Although the seem about $10-15 cheaper than the My Book http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=wd+my+book+1+tb&spos=1

 

[DBAH0]

I got the WD My Passport 500GB for $105 over in the US here.

The good thing about it, is that it's a USB plug in, so you don't need to plug it into an outlet all the time.

 

[Atavistic]

I got the WD My Passport 500GB for $105 over in the US here.

The good thing about it, is that it's a USB plug in, so you don't need to plug it into an outlet all the time.

Yeah, the USB-powered ones are great. I have a 320GB WD hard disk and it has been fantastic; doesn't get hot and hardly takes up any space - you could fit it in your jeans pocket pretty easily. It's rather quiet, too.

I also have a 120GB Seagate drive which has lasted about four years so far. No problems with that either, but it's clunky and huge compared to the WD and needs an external power source. IMO plug-in hard disks are so three years ago.

 

[twentydollarnote]

I believe the my book is the same thats what drew me to it.

 

[twentydollarnote]

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=wd+elements+1+tb&spos=3

I think I got mine on special, that is why it was so cheap. Although the seem about $10-15 cheaper than the My Book http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=wd+my+book+1+tb&spos=1

Thanks, is there any major difference between the two? I take it the mybook is just a newer version?

 

[Lets Beyblade]

I have a 1TB My Book and that has been great. I bought it just after the prices dropped which was quite handy.

Pretty much you have to decide how much you want to pay and if you are willing to spend the extra amount for the ease of having a USB powered hard drive.

For the same amount of space the two variations don't come close in the price category.

 

[twentydollarnote]

They are only maybe $30- more lets beyblade. Anyway after initially leaning the other way, on bigfooty's advice i'm going to grab one of these tomorrow hopefully it all goes well.

 

[Mancey]

If you're going to be watching sports etc in HD you want to reformat the HDD to ntfs first however as FAT32 has a 4gb file size limit.

This^^^

Most HD movies are in .mkv format, which will play on the WD media device, but are usually around 4.5 gig or so.

You can't save a file that big on a fat32 drive, so go ntfs from the get go.

 

[sblack]

This^^^

Most HD movies are in .mkv format, which will play on the WD media device, but are usually around 4.5 gig or so.

You can't save a file that big on a fat32 drive, so go ntfs from the get go.

Doesn't really matter. I converted mine with over 500GB still on it. Really easy. If you have no need for >4GB files then there is no need

 

[red+black]

bumpies

Portable - http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=9
Desktop - http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=8

I'm researching a new drive and thinking of going for the 1TB WD Elements SE Portable. I had been looking at the 1TB Passport Essential SE but there are heaps of people complaining about the WD SmartWare backup software. Anyone dealt with that?

Dude here reckons he found a way to not only hide it but remove it. WD offer a fix that merely hides it but many people still have problems with the drive.

I might also get a My Book Desktop and use it with Time Machine. Only problem with all the drives is the proprietary connectors. Mini-USB and Micro-USB but you can only use the cable supplied with the drive.

What have been people's experiences with the various portable and desktop drives?

 

[Mancey]

I bought a 1TB seagate a while back that's been great. Removing all the preloaded software was fixed by simply hitting "format" before i used it

 

[mighty mick]

work at officeworks sell heaps of drives failure rates are minimal, user not knowwing what they are doing the majority of the problem.

my book 1.5tb drive $127.00
my book 1tb $98
seagate 1tb $99

 

[red+black]

Might go to Landmark Computers tomorrow and check out
- WD Elements SE Portable 2.5" 1TB for $145
- WD Elements Desktop 3.5" 2TB for $149

Use the Portable on the fly, partition the Desktop for Time Machine backups on the Mac as well as some extra storage.

Would be nice to get the 3.5" with FireWire but I want to avoid any potential hassles with the WD SmartWare software.

 

[mighty mick]

Might go to Landmark Computers tomorrow and check out
- WD Elements SE Portable 2.5" 1TB for $145
- WD Elements Desktop 3.5" 2TB for $149

Use the Portable on the fly, partition the Desktop for Time Machine backups on the Mac as well as some extra storage.

Would be nice to get the 3.5" with FireWire but I want to avoid any potential hassles with the WD SmartWare software.

pretty sure the elements dont have the software, just the essential range does with software and password protection

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

I have one of these - http://www.megabuy.com.au/samsung-g2-portable-640gb-25-external-p187617.html

Cheap, small, USB powered so no extra cords running around. It's completely silent and has currently been connected and running for days and is operating at room temperature, as always.

Of course, one of these would be pretty sweet: http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=43733

 

[red+black]

I think the SuperTalent RaidDrive would put Corsair to shame:

http://www.supertalent.com/products/stt_usb_detail.php?type=RAIDDrive USB 3.0

I'll check out the megabuy and centrecom sites, thanks.

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

I think the SuperTalent RaidDrive would put Corsair to shame:

http://www.supertalent.com/products/stt_usb_detail.php?type=RAIDDrive USB 3.0

Not for price it wouldn't.

I'll check out the megabuy and centrecom sites, thanks.

Nah - Just use www.staticice.com.au

You can look up any computer or tech related stuff for sale and it will find the cheapest place to get it - Best thing is that Officeworks will price-match any of the prices if they're in Victoria (they'll do it from interstate too, but they factor in shipping cost for that)