External HDD - portable or desktop

certhelp

I was thinking of getting an external HDD with the following requirements:

1. Not bulky or require much space
2. Preferably portable
3. Upgradable
4. 1TB+ storage

I looked at a few external desktops with hard drives in them already and just the enclosure + own hard disk ones. It seems like the external HDDs from vendors like WD, Seagate, etc. are much cheaper than the enclosure + HDD. You can get a portable or desktop version of 1TB storage for under $100 or even $70 is you shop around. But the same with enclosure + separate HDD costs $130+. Aside from different port options like eSATA, FireWire, are there advantages in buying an enclosure + own HDD?

RobertKaucher

The number one advantage would be warranty. Most prebuilt systems have only a one year warrantly. If you buy the disk by itself, you get a 3 year (WD) or 5 year (Seagate). That's the way I always do it...

certhelp

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST

I have 1 Maxtor and 2 WD external hard drives that have been working without a problem for the last 6+ years. Also had a Seagate external that had to be returned within a week of buying.

In the TB range there aren't many options availble for upgrade. There are only 2 or 3 options for 2.5" 1TB HDDs and not a single 2TB 2.5" HDD yet. So, the only advantage is warranty.

demonfurbie

Some of the enclosures can also be used for a nas

Also on some you can get a hard drive swap tray system

lilmansdad

any recommendations on brands? Checking newegg and Amazon, even high rated drives get alot of negative reviews. Is there any one manufacturer that is significantly better than the others? Or do all of them just have (alot it seems) bad apples?

WafflesAndRootbeer

External HDDs suck. There's no sugar-coating it. Overheating, corrupted file spaces, Windows write-behind caching problems, and anything using a desktop drive is gonna require an AC adapter/power brick. Rolling your own with a good case and a high-grade low RPM drive is the best way to go if you want some big portable storage but swapping the HDD for an SSD is really the only way to go if you can afford a high-capacity SSD.

tpatt100

I have two external HDD and I stopped using them after I bought a new computer and just threw two of them inside my new PC. I have a small one for my wife's iMac that is only used for the time machine backups.

MAC_Addy

I recently bought a Synology DS411j. 4 bay NAS. Can have upto 16TB on it. The user interface is amazing and the ability to log into it from outside your network is a plus.

Tackle

You also don't know if they have a 5400rpm or 7200rpm hard drive in the prebuilt ones. Though with some research I'm sure you could figure it out and buy the correct one for your purpose.