External HD -- What Capacity To Get?

[bimmerchop]

Well, I'm about to make the switch over to Leopard, so I want to get an external HD while I'm at it. I'm pretty much set on getting a WD since I've had good experience in the past with their HDs, but how large capacity wise should I get? I plan to mostly use this external HD to store my photos and music. I was thinking that a 500GB might suffice... any thoughts?

 

[CanadaRAM]

As big as you can afford.

500 Gb is in the sweet spot at the moment capacity/cost

 

[MrXiro]

Also... did you want to take it on the go?

I just got a 250 GB WD Passport for my Macbook but I also swapped the HDDs out. So I now have a Passport with a 120gb Hitachi inside and 250 in my Macbook

I also have a 320 GB Seagate 3.5 external for my home backups those are faster drives. It's better to have faster drives to access your files more quickly.

 

[bimmerchop]

Well, I was just planning to use it for backup of my photos and music. I'm not a professional photographer or anything, but I do like to shoot as a hobby. Music wise I don't d/l too much either... right now I have just about 500 songs uploaded on itunes. So it's not really a matter of what I can afford, as it is possibly "wasting" $ on something I won't really need. I don't plan on taking it anywhere with me, so I'm not looking for a portable one either. I was considering this one by WD...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8478756&type=product&id=1185267958970

 

[PCRanger]

Yeah, that looks good, you want to get one with Firewire, because it really does perform a lot better than USB 2.0.
You might be able to save a bit of money by getting a drive without eSATA, as I believe that adds to the price quite a bit.
Other than that, 500GB sounds pretty reasonable, as I've already filled up my 320GB External HD!

Good luck with your purchase

 

[spacepower7]

Depending on usage

If you are mainly going to use it for storage/backup and if you don't need firewire, then I would suggest this Seagate 750 GB drive with USB2 and eSata.
It's only $199 this week at Best Buy. I have had 2 of these since May with no problems (except they're almost full with my data.)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8294017&type=product&id=1172277308443

They make a firewire version of it too, but that is $299.

I agree that 500 GB is the sweet spot for price/storage but the one you linked to is $229 which is in my opinion at least $50-60 overpriced. You can usually get USB2 500 GB for average $129 and firewire/usb2 versions for $169-179.

Also, the 250GB Western Digital passport portable is on sale for $139 at Best Buy.



Even Better

Western Digital 750GB firewire/USB/eSATA for $229 at circuit city

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=193196

 

[amac4me]

I personally prefer Lacie drives. I've used them for years without any problems. Very reliable.

Get the largest drive that you can afford. Then partition it as you see fit. In my view, it makes sense to spend a little bit more now as opposed to regretting a decision later on.

 

[bimmerchop]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Yea, the one from BB is pricey, I didn't mean I was actually going to order from there, just meant that was the specific model from WD I was considering. Sorry for the confusion. I'm hoping to find one around one of the local stores sub-$200, but if I can't, I'll probably try to find a nice HD online at newegg

 

[CanadaRAM]

The thing with photography is that you want to back up your original files, uncompressed (RAW or with minimal JPEG compression). If you archive reduced-size JPEGs only, you never know when you are going to need to use the original full res files. Happened to me, a magazine called and bought a dozen photos of mine, and I went through h*ll bringing the JPEGs back up to acceptable resolution. It all worked out in the end, but it would have been much easier if I had saved the original camera files.

 

[jnc]

I've ended up with two WD 500GB drives. Back in January, I never thought I'd fill one - how things change! You'll find you adapt to having more space, never having to delete anything... and then you need another.

they've come down quite a bit since the start of the year - if I were to do it again I'd go for a 750GB or 1TB just for convenience (one drive, one cable, one power supply)

 

[mag2001]

I have a WD passport and a MyBook both are 250gb are are great

 

[sWaltuo]

Well, I was just planning to use it for backup of my photos and music. I'm not a professional photographer or anything, but I do like to shoot as a hobby. Music wise I don't d/l too much either... right now I have just about 500 songs uploaded on itunes. So it's not really a matter of what I can afford, as it is possibly "wasting" $ on something I won't really need. I don't plan on taking it anywhere with me, so I'm not looking for a portable one either. I was considering this one by WD...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8478756&type=product&id=1185267958970

I am a fan of WesternDigital Hard Drives! Never had a problem and think the price is decent. I would suggest about double the size of the internal hard drive if you are only looking at backing up music and photos b/c even in a few months no matter how many photos you take or if you decide on going on a download spree of music then it will make a perfect backup!

hope this helps

best wishes

 

[alec]

I like this heavily discounted 750 GB Seagate (though it is a bit of a tank) and (believe it or not) 500 GB Iomega drive.

 

[koobcamuk]

I've ended up with two WD 500GB drives. Back in January, I never thought I'd fill one - how things change! You'll find you adapt to having more space, never having to delete anything... and then you need another.

they've come down quite a bit since the start of the year - if I were to do it again I'd go for a 750GB or 1TB just for convenience (one drive, one cable, one power supply)

It's like having more money - you just spend more!