oilyrag Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Looking to buy an external hard drive to store a lifetime of family pictures and music on. I'm a bit lost as to what I am looking for, but I'm thinking something along the lines of this http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/19511003/Buffalo-Drivestation-1Tb-USB2-External-Hard-Disk-Drive/Product.html Needs to be reliable and not cost the earth (if possible)? Any advice from the PW massive would be very welcome, from a self confessed technophobe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDsniper Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Make sure it has a fast read a write speed as I have had some that take a age to write to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris t Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 yeah, can't see any issues with that. Personally, I'd avoid installing all the crapware that comes with kit like this these day though. After connecting it to your machine it should just show up in windows explorer. No crapware/software required. Also I'd normally recommend that important data is kept on the computer AND on the usb drive. Because both are just as likely to fail as each other. So don't keep all your eggs in one basket.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lampwick Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 I just bought a Buffalo drive station USB 2.0 1 TB Easy to instal cost about £60 of the net and seems to br ok but only had it a week! Shippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Just bought a 'Buffalo' portable 'mini station',500GB for £55 for the very same reason.You can probably buy them much cheaper but I was in a rush! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeh Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 I just bought a Buffalo drive station USB 2.0 1 TB Easy to instal cost about £60 of the net and seems to br ok but only had it a week! Shippy I've had one a year and it still works fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyrag Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Thanks lads. I have a horrible feeling the PC is about to die, my laptop along with the kids laptop have a combined memory capacity similar to mine I have various sticks I can shift important stuff on to, but fancied something I could dump the lot on in one hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloke Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 I bought a Samsung 1.5 TB external drive last year and so far it has been bombproof. Mind you it has a really stoopid blue light underneath that you can brighten- what the heck for, is anyone's guess! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny v Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Got the WD Elements 2 TB at Christmas and can't believe how much it will store. No messy additional software and dead easy to use ( has to be for me). Cost about £80 V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Bang on about the **** ware folks, got the mrs a WD 500GB, and she loaded the software that came with it. Boot up time was now a few mins and it was running really slowly. Removed the software off the PC and the drive and all was normal again. The drive now just shows up as a separate drive in explorer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds chimp Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I have two HD on my PC and an USB plugin of 500mb....hopefully wont lose anything but as said dont bother with the software that comes with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam_in_Cornwall Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Have a look on Ebuyer, they have a good selection of all things PC, reviews by users too and they are competitive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james8iles Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I have a brand new in box 320gb hard drive if you want it. £37 posted. Spec: IOMEGA eGo Portable 320gb Hard Drive USB http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/17249265/Iomega-eGo-320GB-2-5-inch-External-USB-Portable-Hard-Drive-SuperSpeed-USB3-0-Red/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518%7Ccat:17249265%7Cprd:17249265 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) If you have multiple machine consider a NAS drive its a HDD that connects to the network (via broadband router) costs a bit more but allows mulitple simultaneous user to access data and allows other devices like TV's and Radio to play your music. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/western-digital-my-book-live-personal-cloud-storage-network-hard-drive-2tb-black-09520191-pdt.html?srcid=867&cmpid=comp~Google~~09520191&istCompanyId=9a35962d-802d-4e67-9721-0a3328ca1f02&istItemId=xpxpappq&istBid=t http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0047CNXJ2/ref=asc_df_B0047CNXJ26361874?smid=A17AS5ETPMZ9A1&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22218&creativeASIN=B0047CNXJ2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004R23XMY/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0047CNXJ2&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=01WJJ0YY1VXFD7P1F79B Edited January 31, 2012 by HDAV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinistercr0c Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Buffalo, Western Digital, Seagate, Iomega - all are good quality manufacturers who do decent USB connected external drives. Your only real choice is how big a drive you want? Personally I'd go minimum of 500mb and preferably 1Tb or more..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyrag Posted January 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thank you all for the replies and input. After a bit of reading I will probably go for the Buffalo Drivestation 1tb, I like the idea of having the HD as part of the network but I would prefer to backup all the important stuff onto it and hide it away. The only negative of doing it that way is remembering to back everything up. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyrag Posted January 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I have a brand new in box 320gb hard drive if you want it. £37 posted. Spec: IOMEGA eGo Portable 320gb Hard Drive USB http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/17249265/Iomega-eGo-320GB-2-5-inch-External-USB-Portable-Hard-Drive-SuperSpeed-USB3-0-Red/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518%7Ccat:17249265%7Cprd:17249265 Thanks for the offer James, but I'm looking for something with a little more memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 The only negative of doing it that way is remembering to back everything up. Thanks again. Indeed it is the auto back up programmes for some NAS drives are ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.