External HD recommendations?

[BassBomb]

Hello,

I am from Canada but am in the states for little while. My Seagate 2TB 3.5" is starting to get very flaky (very slow, USB drops out, surface test crashes in EaseUS, FixAll on SeaTools stalls)
(out of warranty )
I have lots of important information on this drive that I need to get off (looks like it is still somewhat accessible)

What would you recommend in its place? I don't really have a lot of money to spend on a new drive.

Looks like 2TB runs around $75 for a 2.5" and 4TB is around $100 for 2.5" or 3.5"

I would need at least 2TB, reliable and inexpensive

What are the places to look in USA? Amazon, Bestbuy, NCIX, Newegg...?

 

[killster1]

i use the 2.5" wd 2tb drives often can find them for 50$. bought a few 4tb for around 80 and killed one of them (most likely my fault). If you wanted a 3.5" external then nothing beats the mybook 8tb for 150 (or less). As always you should keep a backup!

 

[UsandThem]

Just make sure to buy one only if there's no security in the controller, because if it does and the controller connection craps out, you aren't going to be able to get your data from the disk. I think the issue is the install the USB to SATA connection to the drive). I'll try and find the thread where it was discussed in much greater detail, because until I came over that thread, I was unaware they did that on some drives.

My vote would be buy a drive from Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy and buy your own enclosure.

 

[UsandThem]

I couldn't find the thread I remembered, but here are two similar ones that talk about it:

http://www.portvapes.co.uk/?id=Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps&exid=threads/wd-my-book-drives-and-encryption-automatically-enabled.2460318/

http://www.portvapes.co.uk/?id=Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps&exid=threads/recommendations-for-an-external-hd.2517561/

Some external drives are simply standard drives in an enclosure, and if you removed the drive and installed in a PC, you would be able to access your data. However, most aren't like that anymore.

 

[BassBomb]

Thats news to me regarding controller. I've used Vantec sealed enclosure on my other drives with separate drive purchased. I do like those

This would run me more $$$ because of that added cost though...

Any deals around?

 

[UsandThem]

Thats news to me regarding controller. I've used Vantec sealed enclosure on my other drives with separate drive purchased. I do like those

This would run me more $$$ because of that added cost though...

Any deals around?

Amazon and Newegg pretty much compete against each other every day, I'd take a look at their daily deals. You should be able to find something on sale that fits your needs. Just make sure to buy the drive from a legit seller, and not some questionable 3rd party seller where you might not get any warranty. For drives, I tend to only buy them directly from Amazon or Newegg (and not their marketplace sellers).

https://promotions.newegg.com/neemail/latest/index-landing.aspx

 

[killster1]

Just make sure to buy one only if there's no security in the controller, because if it does and the controller connection craps out, you aren't going to be able to get your data from the disk. I think the issue is the install the USB to SATA connection to the drive). I'll try and find the thread where it was discussed in much greater detail, because until I came over that thread, I was unaware they did that on some drives.

My vote would be buy a drive from Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy and buy your own enclosure.

why not just back up your data and buy what ever is a reliable drive? seems silly to recommend ANY separate drive / enclosure to someone with limited budget because just maybe the drive will fail and maybe he will not have the data backed up and maybe it will be retrievable if just didn't have encryption or a soldered on usb connection. But wait you didnt recommend a drive or a case for it just to buy it from amazon or newegg.. why those two places? i suggest ebay 2.5" 2tb wd for 40-50$

 

[Insert_Nickname]

why not just back up your data and buy what ever is a reliable drive? seems silly to recommend ANY separate drive / enclosure to someone with limited budget because just maybe the drive will fail and maybe he will not have the data backed up and maybe it will be retrievable if just didn't have encryption or a soldered on usb connection. But wait you didnt recommend a drive or a case for it just to buy it from amazon or newegg.. why those two places? i suggest ebay 2.5" 2tb wd for 40-50$

I agree. It's not a question if a drive will fail, but when. Usually at the worst time possible in my experience.

I always recommend a separate drive/enclosure buy for reliability. If the USB controller fails, you can just pull the drive and access it with any bog standard SATA controller. Plus you get to pick which drive goes into the enclosure, so you're not at the mercy of whatever the manufacturer had in stock that week.

Always remember, for data protection, having multiple copies are your best bet.

 

[UsandThem]

why not just back up your data and buy what ever is a reliable drive? seems silly to recommend ANY separate drive / enclosure to someone with limited budget because just maybe the drive will fail and maybe he will not have the data backed up and maybe it will be retrievable if just didn't have encryption or a soldered on usb connection. But wait you didnt recommend a drive or a case for it just to buy it from amazon or newegg.. why those two places? i suggest ebay 2.5" 2tb wd for 40-50$

I didn't see "limited budget". If you are comfortable buying drives from Ebay great, I am not. Why potentially deal with some unknown seller who resets all the SMART data, and sells it as "new"? He mentioned he is in the States for a little while, so I am not going to list every retailer out there. If he wants to buy from somewhere else fine. Go to PCpartpicker and research what he needs, or Slickdeals. As far as recommending an external case, once again he can read some reviews on Amazon and see which one fits his needs.

Anyways I gave my personal suggestions to him. Why couldn't you give yours to him without dissecting every word of mine as if your advice is somehow more "right" than mine was? You also did not recommend any specific drive.

Anyways back to the OP's question, Newegg released their newest sale overnight after I went to bed, and they have the retail package Toshiba X300 5TB drive for $109 after promo code. It seems to have good reviews, and has 128MB cache. Might be more than what you want for a backup drive, but I figured I'd recommend it since it's a good price.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822149628

They also have the 3TB P300 version for $64.99 after promo code:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149633

 

[rmd2001]

In addition to amazon and BB check Costco - might have some good deals (not a lot of drives though). B&H also has good selection and free shipping on most items (no tax except NY, NJ).
Regarding drives - I don't like 2.5". Also - if it's important data - look into dual drives with RAID1.

 

[BassBomb]

an update, I am back in Canada for a week and have access to my PC

since the drive has failed and it has caught me off guard... I am looking into data recovery services.

I tried using recovery software and dumping into my other enclosure, its a little bit hit and miss. There are some files that I may not be able to live without.

Is trying to hook this up internally to my PC going to have any additional success? Is attempting more data recovery myself just going to put the data more at risk ?

 

[mxnerd]

Put the drive internally will help a bit and is faster since you are accessing the disk via SATA interface directly.

Do the recovery ASAP.

GetDataBack for NTFS is the best I have used.

https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

It will search disk and try to find the tree (folder) structures, copy the one you think it's right to another disk.

===

Oops, I misunderstood the situation. The drive failed, not the NTFS file system.

===

Put the drive internally probably will give the drive more consistent power than 3.5" enclosure power brick. Many enclosure power bricks are cheaply made.

 

[mxnerd]

Data recovery services are expensive.

Linus did two videos about data recovery services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyr14_B230o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNUsoangGFs

 

[PliotronX]

If reliability is any concern, I much prefer choosing my own brand of disk and enclosure. As far as enclosures, this kind has been the best:

With a thin quiet fan keeping temperatures 15C below what these run at (in the same environment):

The little passport drives are hit and miss, with a sealed enclosure can run hot under a lot of writing and don't have their own power supply (which may be more convenient for portable use). Damn handy but not a good solution for 24/7 operation.

 

[BassBomb]

Put the drive internally will help a bit and is faster since you are accessing the disk via SATA interface directly.

Do the recovery ASAP.

GetDataBack for NTFS is the best I have used.

https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

It will search disk and try to find the tree (folder) structures, copy the one you think it's right to another disk.

===

Oops, I misunderstood the situation. The drive failed, not the NTFS file system.

===

Put the drive internally probably will give the drive more consistent power than 3.5" enclosure power brick. Many enclosure power bricks are cheaply made.

So hooking it up internally doesn't pop up in disk mgt, but will show up in device manager (or at least the controller will.

Hooked up via USB again, its flaky like before have to trick it or "uninstall" to get it to show back up. Got some files off of it, went thru folder by folder and what I can live without. Eventually started getting to the middle of the drive and nothing was readable "unknown error" in the software you recommended. I am sure it just means its failing

I will try again via internal, but look to see if BIOS can read it