Portable hard drive

[carnut]

Having bought a new DSLR i now want a portable hard drive to store photos and to backup other files

Can anyone recommend the best value for money deal for a USB powered drive in the 100 to 500 gb range?

 

[whitenemesis]

I use one of these, excellent performance / value

 

[whizzkid11]

If you want USB powered, and maximum storage - then the only suitable would be the Western Digital Passport.

I have a 320Gb western digital passport elite - work perfectly and very quick for a usb drive, small size fits in your pocket and a large enough capacity.

Highly recommended..

 

[BTB 500]

If you're storing original pictures on it (as opposed to backups), you should budget for two IMO. And periodically copy one to the other.

How portable do you need it to be (pocket, briefcase?)? Fast USB2 disks are steadily falling in price, even Maplin have some good deals at the moment.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Family.aspx?Menu=1664&worldid=-3

 

[columb]

If you want USB powered, and maximum storage - then the only suitable would be the Western Digital Passport.

I have a 320Gb western digital passport elite - work perfectly and very quick for a usb drive, small size fits in your pocket and a large enough capacity.

Highly recommended..

Out of 20+ we had, 15 went back... Rubbish.
I had to wait for mine like 4 weeks!

Cheers
Chris

 

[Parrotman]

Had western, chucked it out and bought Seagate - excellent, no problems.

A word of caution though. Do make a back up also onto dvd. A friend transferred all their pics onto an external hard drive. That went kaputt and they lost all their pics!!!!!!

John

 

[whizzkid11]

Out of 20+ we had, 15 went back... Rubbish.
I had to wait for mine like 4 weeks!

Cheers
Chris

The 320Gb is the later edition which has had the issues fixed and now uses the far superior drive. I did my mresearch before getting this and the elite is the only one that I would touch... the prices reflect the difference.

The main thing is that was the largest capacity, usb powered, pocket-sized drive on the arket at the time.

If externally powered is no issue - I use Maxtor OneTouch, Lacie Big Disk Extremes (2 of), and the most reliable of them all.... is the Miglia. I have the radiator in my office turned off... all the storage and pc's keep the place lovely and warm.

 

[whizzkid11]

Had western, chucked it out and bought Seagate - excellent, no problems.

A word of caution though. Do make a back up also onto dvd. A friend transferred all their pics onto an external hard drive. That went kaputt and they lost all their pics!!!!!!

John

It would be worth getting another larger internal hard disk dedicated for storage/archiving.... and then to back that up to an external drive.

 

[whitenemesis]

The Freecom (post#2) is the smallest native USB drive available. The drive is actually a Samsung.

 

[Satch]

I use a Seagate USB drive to hold pics. Works well but a few quid on a subscription to something like Photobucket does not go amiss if you have images that are really important.

Also gives you the abilty to access from any computer.

 

[carnut]

Thanks to everyone for the above advice

It boils down to Freecom v WD

I like the look and feel of the freecom and the price is lower (by £15) but Im intrigued by the WD software. Does it really do Autobackup ( some reviews say its only got demo/trial software) and how does it show pics on TV ? ( there must be some interface USB to RGB?)

The next question is size Does size matter whether its 160gb or 320gb....ive estimated that at 20pics a week @2.5mg each I will only use 52gb during the rest of my life !! so is 320 overkill and is there any demerit such as transfer rate? ( and have I done my sums right? )

 

[whitenemesis]

The Freecom comes with Back-up software and yes it is just A 90 day free trial.
You really cant have too much storage space and the speed is really impressive, virtually as if it were an internal drive.

The showing pitures on a tv requires the tv to have a USB input, many do these days..

 

[rf065]

I've been considering one of these too, the Western Digital looked good but a search on the 'net found loads who said theirs had packed in within 6 months.

Russ

 

[columb]

The 320Gb is the later edition which has had the issues fixed and now uses the far superior drive. I did my mresearch before getting this and the elite is the only one that I would touch... the prices reflect the difference.

The main thing is that was the largest capacity, usb powered, pocket-sized drive on the arket at the time.

If externally powered is no issue - I use Maxtor OneTouch, Lacie Big Disk Extremes (2 of), and the most reliable of them all.... is the Miglia. I have the radiator in my office turned off... all the storage and pc's keep the place lovely and warm.

Quite possibly you are right. I would still buy WD SATA disk -but not passport in plastic case. ONLY hard aluminium...

Well, having so many frustrated users means - NO MORE PASSPORT DRIVE

The problem is that they are quite fragile (casing) - good idea, bad execution.

Cheers
Chris