Good external harddrive?

[MTsoul]

Hi

I'm formatting my computer, will need a good external harddrive to backup some important documents. Not videos or anything, so I won't need more than 200 gigs.

Any suggestions? Price isn't too much of a big deal. A good, reliable HD is what I need.

TIA

[Templarian]

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=199 Portable?

or

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=220&language=en desktop?

If its not for a laptop you may just want to get an internal storage drive for your backups and other stuff.

[McGuffin]

If you're looking for an external harddrive, you're probably better going with a normal 3.5" HDD and getting an enclosure for it. That's what I'm looking at doing with:

Seagate HDD (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18409&vpn=ST3320620AS&manufacture=Seagate)
Vantec NexStar3 Enclosure (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17167&vpn=NST-360SU-BK&manufacture=VANTEC)

[MTsoul]

It's for desktop. But I want an external because I move a lot of stuff around between computers and I hate the Windows Network sharing thing.

I was looking at the western digital portable one, which looks pretty sweet. That desktop one is awesome though. I'll look around for some reviews and prices..

Thanks.

//edit - Why is that McGuffin? How is that better?

[McGuffin]

A few reasons. External harddrive's tend to cost you a dime for the storage capacity you get, and another good thing about external enclosures is that you can change/upgrade the hard drive at a later date. The cost savings are tremendous though.

One of the main things you need to look at is cooling. Moving gigs and gigs onto ANYTHING external can create a good amount of heat in either the external harddrive or enclosure. Keep it cool, and your data is safe. Let the temperature get too high, and you're increasing your risk greatly.

[Templarian]

Yea the only good this about the portable is its small size. McGuffin is right you will save a good amount of $$.
Wire leading into plastic bag inside mini fridge ftw.

[McGuffin]

Haha, a mini fridge, that's awesome. I've been thinking about good ways to keep my external HD cool, normally a fan will do just fine, but incase I'm doing anything hardcore user a fridge or freezer isn't a bad idea... (it's for my laptop, so if worse comes to worse I can always go down in the kitchen and copy the files over there :P)

[Pixelangry]

I just bought an enclosure, saves you butt loads, and the upgrade thing is right as well.
Plus u can use it for multiple hardrives, swap them in out.

Ha, i use a fan and a miracle thaw when transfering lots of files to my external, it really does help.

[minimalistik]

I think a Seagate 200GB would do nicely.

[MTsoul]

Sweet thanks for all the replies. Seems like I'll go get a new HD and an enclosure.

Which enclosures do you suggest?

[Templarian]

^just get one with good airflow (like the design), and looks sleak.

[MTsoul]

If you're looking for an external harddrive, you're probably better going with a normal 3.5" HDD and getting an enclosure for it. That's what I'm looking at doing with:

Seagate HDD (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18409&vpn=ST3320620AS&manufacture=Seagate)
Vantec NexStar3 Enclosure (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17167&vpn=NST-360SU-BK&manufacture=VANTEC)
Haha I just got these 2 pieces. Currently formatting the new drive.. taking a long time...

[McGuffin]

I'm not exactly sure how formatting a drive works, but if it's intensive on the bus, it'll be slow. The drive shouldn't have any speed problems, the bottleneck is the cord.

[blazes]

I roll old skool
http://www.73.com/a/dc076.gif