External HDD - USB

[scooterscot]

I got one of these 500Gb Toshibas a few weeks ago for £58 inc VAT.

http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...prodID=1366274

Nice bit of kit, quite robust too. Made of real metal rather thank plastic too for a change

I just gave the 320 meg version of this away on freecycle recently. Just too small.

[scooterscot]

I got one of these about 6 months ago, except I connect via firewire 800 rather than using the USB port. And I can tell without a doubt, it's the dogs bollocks.

Like yourself I use it for storing movies as they were taking up too much space.

Connected via the 800 port is fightingly fast. I'll do backup of a business folder (around 20gig) in 5 or 6 minutes.

I'll also run windows virtual machines from the drive and they'll load typically in 15-20 seconds.

[Fred Bloggs]

I got one of these 500Gb Toshibas a few weeks ago for £58 inc VAT.

http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...prodID=1366274

Nice bit of kit, quite robust too. Made of real metal rather thank plastic too for a change

[snaw]

If you want to get serious straight away, get something like this

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...avigationKey=0

If you want to muck about a bit beforehand and end up with 4 external hard drives in various states of connectivity get a MyBook as mentioned above (Western Digital). Mine is super-quiet, compare to my Lacie NAS and other external drives.

Hmm, bit on the expensive side - I can buy 1TB external for under £100, hope that'll last me a year or three and buy this when the price invariably drops in the interim from the £534 listed.

The WDD seems ok, also the seagate freeagent as well.

Some of those others are decent suggestions, but I'm only after a backup drive really for now. By the time I get to needing that much extra space it'll be time for a new PC anyway and I'll just order whatever humungous drive is around for plenty cheapness.

[voodooflux]

If you're after something Über-portable then I can recommend the Western Digital My Passport Essential. I have the 320Gb version, and while it isn't anywhere near optimum capacity/performance per pound it is very compact and USB powered.

[Spacecadet]

The Drobo also looks pretty interesting, there is a network addon too for another £100 or so

[Moscow Mule]

If you want to get serious straight away, get something like this

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...avigationKey=0

If you want to muck about a bit beforehand and end up with 4 external hard drives in various states of connectivity get a MyBook as mentioned above (Western Digital). Mine is super-quiet, compare to my Lacie NAS and other external drives.

[the_rangdo]

I tend to put my own together.

1GB Western Digital 'Green' drive ~£85, Icy Box USB/SATA enclosure, ~£25

Job done

[Spacecadet]

i've got a western digital hdd - one of the small ones you can use with a laptop.
Not let me down and i know a few other people who have used them without any issues

[daviejones]

Any recommendations?

My movie library is fast chewing up my disk space, and I figure that I can free up one of the disks in my PC I use now for backups as regular storage and back it all up to external HDD.

Bigger the better, reliable, quiet - any suggestions?

Apple Time Capsule. Big, quiet, reliable, has built in access point but is a bit more expensive.

[snaw]

Any recommendations?

My movie library is fast chewing up my disk space, and I figure that I can free up one of the disks in my PC I use now for backups as regular storage and back it all up to external HDD.

Bigger the better, reliable, quiet - any suggestions?