External HDs

[sy64004]

I'm looking to buy an external HD for backup and moving files from one computer to another. Can anyone give me some advice on what to look out for and if there are certain brands to avoid?

I've just been looking at a Western Digital Essential 80GB USB2.0 and it looks good and the price doesn't seem too hefty, but is it capable of handling a few knocks, has any one got one of these and if so are they any good?

Thanks for any help

 

[Reg]

I have used several different external HD's and most have been pretty good. One to avoid is anything that has an IBM hard drive. I have had more disasters with IBM drives than any other brand of HD.

 

[alan2273]

I have a Belkin USB2 external enclosure which will take an optical or hard drive.
I brought this because I can put any hard/optical drive in it as it is not fixed to one hard drive, so in the future if I want to stick a bigger hard drive or an optical drive, no problems.

 

[Zedric]

I have used several different external HD's and most have been pretty good. One to avoid is anything that has an IBM hard drive. I have had more disasters with IBM drives than any other brand of HD.

If they still sell IBM disks you should avoid them. Especially since the IBM hdd division was bought by Hitachi quite some time ago, so any IBM disks aren't very new.

 

[sy64004]

Thanks for the heads up guys.

I just ordered a 120GB Maxtor one touch from ebay

Sy