External Hard Disk Recommendations

Hi,

I’m looking for recommendations for a reasonable capacity external hard disk drive that I can move between pcs.

Needs to work on Windows XP and will only hold Word docs and Photos.

Thanks

Not a hard-drive, but i have a 32gb USB stick which i use. No wires, easy stuff 🙂 Got it for £25 from flebay

Just saw a 1TB external HD in Staples for £70. Not the prettiest thing, but very cheap.

I like the freecom toughdrives, small and rubberized

TM ffs that cheap.. 1TB…

I’ve used LaCie drives a fair bit. They are very solid and reliable, I’ve found. A friend broke a Western Digital one, which was really plasticky and flimsy.

I’m a bit wary of USB Flash memory sticks, as I’ve had a few fail on me. Ok for transporting files that are backed up, but I wouldn’t trust them entirely, for permanent storage. I had one get so hot, it melted the plastic enclosure.

LaCie do a rubber-armoured mini drive, that looks ideal for lugging around.

I just got round to buying one today after umming and ahhing over it for about a year 🙂

Went for a Maxtor Basics 2.5″ drive, 250gb. Plenty big enough as my PC is 160Gb and my lappy is 120Gb.

It is £58 in Currys/PC World, I reserved it online at £44 then went and picked it up instore a couple of hours later which avoids the £5 delivery charge.

Up til now I’ve used a second internal hard drive to back up my stuff, I plug it in, transfer files and then take it out and put away for safe keeping. I was expecting the new external drive to be slower being USB2.0, but copying 48Gb of files took longer on the internal SATA drive. (Both drives were on the same channel, primary and slave, so that might slow it down a bit)

Similar to Spooky but mine was a Western Digital 1TB from PCWorld online for £68 with instore collection. Also has USB2.0 connection.

I had a LaCie one for a while.

I was very reliable until my wife dropped it off the desk. It’s now useless.

I’ll probably get another LaCie though.

Instead of buying a new drive, I got an external drive enclosure and re-used an HD from a desktop PC when I got a laptop…Paid under £20 for an Akasa one and it works a treat

Well, I’ve a Lacie network space 1TB that’s absolutely bloody useless, and their support has been even worse. I shall be avoiding them in future….