External HDD Suggestions
Can we discuss which external drives are reliable? I can confirm that I’ve had 2 drives die on me, and I’ll never buy those brands again. They are:
Looking for reliable suggestions. I know Seagate have always had a good name - any others that people swear by?
Get 2.5" drives as they don’t need external power…
I dunno - I run Dicers, UC-33e, UC16 and a Launchpad that are not powered, think I’d rather keep my ext. HDD powered to reduce strain on the system.
Hard drives have moving mechanical parts which are more prone to failure than devices without such parts. You might have gotten unlucky. You might have abused your drives. In any case, your tiny sample doesn’t allow you to discriminate between the reliability of various manufacturers.
I recommend looking at the Seagate GoFlex series, mainly for their upgradability. Note that these are somewhat rugged (I’ve had mine survive a 3ft drop) but not as rugged as it gets 
. If you suspect your drives failed from abuse, go for something like a LaCie Rugged drive instead.
Cheers Jasper - much appreciated.
Do you work for Western Digital, or Samsung? 
I don’t knock my drives about (“they FELL down the stairs”, “they’re always bumping into things”…) the most recent one is dying as we speak, I suspect because I left it switched on overnight. (It started grinding after I re-started it). Luckily, I backed it all up to my Laptop just in time.
The most recent failing drive was left on overnight, while the laptop was switched off. I’m wondering if something has happened to the bearings? The drive is stood up on it’s side, not laid flat…
I’ll certainly give Seagate GoFlex and Lacie Rugged’s a look. Thanks for the heads up.
The 1 TB drive that cost $200 versus the 1 TB drive that cost $100 will have better parts and should last longer. I’m surprised no ones’ come up with a phrase that’s easy to remember that sums this up. Something like “you get what you pay for” maybe?
You heard it here first.
I have four of the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB hard drives in my home server. They have been running for six months non-stop without a hitch and cost about $55 each at Superbiiz. I suggest one of these, plus a cheap external HDD case from Newegg or meritline.
Note: just don’t leave an external HDD plugged in and on all the time or they will crap out.
a drive standing up on its side is positioned poorly, just like old cd rom drives that were inserted into the case sideways.
this drive was recommended before by a dj on this board who uses it, and seems a bit of beast
im currently using an old lacie porsche 250gb, which i know is over 5 years old. still kickin, serves the files just right. actually had a 3 hour set last night with no problems.
WD and Samsung are fine brands on their own. I use only WD drives when building desktops, as they tend to last 3 or more years, which is about how long id ask them to last when serving files 24/7.
newegg has extensive review history on many of the drives they sell, might want to check those out.
I’ve got a WD 500GB portable HDD and its great. I bought it like 2 yrs ago and it still kicks ass. The only gripe I’ve got with it is the USB connection isnt the strongest but its still working great.
I keep all my video files on a Seagate Freeagent Go 320GB, it’s USB bus powered and works really well for me despite having dropped it a couple of times. Very well built.
I have a £50 Seagate 500GB, runs cool and no problems so far fingers crossed
I’ve always liked the Western Digitals… Never had any issues, other than when I dropped one of course. But even then it still worked, just made horrific noises.
I have had more problems with the enclosures failing than the actual drive. I know some people swear by the external drive, but in my experience it always seems to be the weak link. I think 2.5" drives might be a little more durable than the 3.5" ones as they are designed to be portable. If you have to have one make sure you get a rugged one.