External drive reccomendations?

[Davegod]

I'm think of buying an external drive for my media (full rips of my DVD & blurays).

Totally out of the loop these days, I never new much about external drives but I don't even know who's making the good drives. Are we only left with WD and Seagate now? They're about all I'm seeing.

Needs to be 2gb+ with USB3 (eSata a bonus). Performance just has to be ample for BR playback and not too annoying for copying things over. Once those boxes are ticked I guess priority is the noise, reliability isn't as big an issue as usual since in the worst-case scenario I still have the original disks.

I'd rather it just work without installing software, so in future I could plug it into a TV or one of those little players, like a USB stick. And because I don't like bloat.

so far I'm seeing:
Seagate STAY2000202 2TB Expansion 3.5 inch Hard Drive
WD My Book Essential 3.0 2 TB External Hard Drive

Veering towards the Seagate as no software.

Can I just check these things aren't horribly less reliable than an internal drive? I can get a 3TB caviar green or Barracuda for slightly more.

 

[corkyg]

I have long advocated using a good external case and adding any 3.5-in SATA drive of your choice. This is a good case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817392048

Has both USB3 and eSATA, and you can put any SATA drive of your choice in it. No software involved.

 

[tweakboy]

Firstly you need to make sure the External has a on off switch. Not cheap like maxtor , in which you have to pull out cable.

Any how ,,, I love what I have,,,,,,, LaCie 500GB , made with porsche parts, sexy black and blue light from underneath.. Neil Poulton design. It has on off switch, plus support for usb or firewire and eSATA ,, if you use eSATA it will be as fast as your local C hard drive. gl

 

[Charles Kozierok]

I used to use external enclosures. I no longer bother -- I just don't feel it is worth the hassle.

I have a couple of external 3 TB USB 3.0 WD drives that have served me very nicely for backups.

 

[thelastjuju]

They won't be any less reliable than the GREEN drives that are inside them.. but that is NOT saying much.. :whiste:

Green drives tend to have shorter lifespans than traditional drives.. but if you just back up your files onto them, unplug it and leave the drive off for the most part you shouldn't run into a failure at the same rate as people who are using external HDDs to play files off on a daily basis.

In which case, I'd try to go for an internal drive if possible, plus that way you can get either a 2, 3, or 5 year warranty depending on the drive instead of the usual 1 with externals .. nothing will beat the internal <-> internal speeds too.

 

[bjlockie]

I have long advocated using a good external case and adding any 3.5-in SATA drive of your choice. This is a good case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817392048

Has both USB3 and eSATA, and you can put any SATA drive of your choice in it. No software involved.

Why isn't it eSATA3?