What's the Best External USB 500gb Drive Out Now?

[ryevick]

Looking to get a new external 500gb usb drive to back-up my 320gb drive (that's less than a year old and screwing up) and have been looking all over at reviews and don't really see a lot of positive feedback on any of them. HELP! Probably going through ebay as well so if you know a trustworthy seller that would help... Thanx!

 

[electronicsfreak]

Well asking for the best is asking for world war 3 in here as we all have our opinions. Me personally I prefer Seagate drives. Never had a problem with them and they usually have 5 year warranties. Thats just my opinion though, others will differ.

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[wahnula]

Reviews I have read indicate the WD MyBook Pro II to be the best choice. That said, I would never buy a pre-built external drive, I am a builder . I would (did) find an eSATA (or FireWire or USB2, whichever option is available to you) enclosure like this:

http://www.directron.com/ecests.html

It has a switch (to shut down drive when not in use), its own power suppply, but no cooling. Its aluminum case keeps it cool enough during use. I would pair it with an inexpensive SATA drive like this:

http://www.directron.com/st3500630as.html

rather than buy a pre-built unit. I already own what I consider the best backup program, SyncBackSE (from 2BrightSparks, $24), but Acronis and others make good backup programs.

Were I to build an external box today, I would not depend on a single drive, I would go for a minimum 4-drive RAID 5 array (3 drives and a hot spare). IcyDock makes a nice unit:

http://www.gadgetell.com/images/2007/04/icydock-4-drive-enclosure.jpg

and so does Norco:

http://www.jefflaplante.com/cart/images/NORCO/ds500_1.jpg

These units are NAS systems that you can grow into, you don't need to fill them up right away. You can also build your own using a free open-source program called FreeNAS. Good luck with your decision.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me