# External Hard Drives



## Lauren

Anyone seen good deals lately on external hard drives?


----------



## onlineprint

pc world - 320 gig ext maxtor clearing for 99 euro, was 129, 500 gig now 159.99 i think


----------



## ClubMan

I've always found _eBay _to be the best option. Obviously check the seller's reputation and (just in case) the _HD _manufacturer's warranty/RMA policy.


----------



## ClubMan

Lauren said:


> Anyone seen good deals lately on external hard drives?


2.5" or 3.5"? The former are generally more portable and can usually be powered directly from _USB_. The latter are bulkier, may need cooling and require their own power supply so probably best for use in a fixed location.


----------



## Lauren

2.5 USB portable type please! Thanks for the replies so far!


----------



## ClubMan

Best price I got on _eBay _recently was for a 120GB _Samsung HM120JC _in a _USB 2.0 _housing for about €83 including delivery.


----------



## z108

Theres  a 500 gig drive in Maplins (Jervis Street, Dublin) for something like 129 euro (cant remember the exact number but its low!). I look at it every time I pass by as I think I could do with one.

I'm torn between the idea that you get what you pay for and it might not last and  the fact that although there is a unknown brand on it theres  a label on it which says the brand  is made by Western Digital so I dont know


----------



## ClubMan

There are only a handful of _HD _manufacturers and in most cases they are all pretty reliable and offer good warranties. If in doubt check out the specific make/model online before buying. Sometimes getting specific _HD _make/model information for a boxed drive can be tricky though.


----------



## tiger

You can also buy drive enclosures,  which allow you to add your own drive(s).  Need to know if your looking for network or usb, and the drive type/size.


----------



## CCOVICH

If you are interested, I would recommend a multi-media hard drive, i.e. one that you can hook up to your TV and control via remote-good for music and movies etc.

e.g., something like .


----------



## car

More a commentary then a note but with external drives being so cheap, people are using them more and more as their main drives.  The problem with  doing that is you then need another 1 as a backup.   
e.g, Ive several 250-300gb drives at home for different purposes at least 1 of which is a backup to the other,whats coming for home users are RAID enabled drives such as this which have 1.5TB raw or 1TB mirrored.


----------



## car

> If you are interested, I would recommend a multi-media hard drive, i.e. one that you can hook up to your TV and control via remote-good for music and movies etc.


www.ibood.com recently had a 320gb for 150e delivered to ireland.  Got one and was a lifesaver on holidays with the kids waking early.  Ive seen that on there at least twice in the last 6 months so subscribe to their daily mail and grab them when they come up.


----------



## DrMoriarty

CCOVICH said:


> If you are interested, I would recommend a multi-media hard drive, i.e. one that you can hook up to your TV and control via remote-good for music and movies etc.
> 
> e.g., something like .


I recently put something like that together very cheaply by ordering  for $29.25 delivered and then separately picking up a 120GB 2.5" drive on eBay for another €50-odd. Works a treat, and you could go for a higher capacity if you wanted to carry around more stuff.


----------



## z108

Lauren said:


> 2.5 USB portable type please! Thanks for the replies so far!



To answer your question specifically I have seen a similarly good value to the 500GB  but also portable hard drive in maplin too but the exact numbers escape me for now  . If I pass by that way again Ill post the numbers here


----------



## CCOVICH

DrMoriarty said:


> I recently put something like that together very cheaply by ordering  for $29.25 delivered and then separately picking up a 120GB 2.5" drive on eBay for another €50-odd. Works a treat, and you could go for a higher capacity if you wanted to carry around more stuff.



Very nice Dr. M.  Exact same spec as what I have linked to but for less money.


----------



## CCOVICH

car said:


> www.ibood.com recently had a 320gb for 150e delivered to ireland.  Got one and was a lifesaver on holidays with the kids waking early.  Ive seen that on there at least twice in the last 6 months so subscribe to their daily mail and grab them when they come up.



Yeah, I have seen the ibood offer alright and was tempted.  Problem is (well not really a problem!) that I already have an external HD, I also have MP3 input on my home cinema and kitchen stereo and I have a Belkin i-trip, so no real need for anything else!


----------



## ClubMan

sign said:


> To answer your question specifically I have seen a similarly good value to the 500GB  but also portable hard drive in maplin too but the exact numbers escape me for now  . If I pass by that way again Ill post the numbers here


I don't think that you can get 500GB 2.5" hard disks! I think the max capacity these days is about 160GB?

Some people seem to have missed this key information from the original poster:


Lauren said:


> 2.5 USB portable type please! Thanks for the replies so far!



Update: a quick _Google _suggests that a few hard disk manufacturers have recently unveiled 200GB 2.5" hard disk models.


----------



## CCOVICH

[broken link removed][broken link removed] at Maplin and certainly looks like 3.5" as it is mains powered (and doesn't have a fan).


----------



## z108

ClubMan said:


> I don't think that you can get 500GB 2.5" hard disks! I think the max capacity these days is about 160GB?
> 
> Some people seem to have missed this key information from the original poster:
> 
> 
> Update: a quick _Google _suggests that a few hard disk manufacturers have recently unveiled 200GB 2.5" hard disk models.





Perhaps I could have been clearer but I didnt intend to say the 500GB was the 2.5" hard disk. I intended to say I saw 2 different offers of which both appeared to be similarly good value.


----------



## MonsieurBond

sign said:


> Perhaps I could have been clearer but I didnt intend to say the 500GB was the 2.5" hard disk. I intended to say I saw 2 different offers of which both appeared to be similarly good value.





The Maplin one is a 3.5" WD drive in a non-WD enclosure.

A 500GB WD through-and-through external 3.5" drive as in the [broken link removed] can be had for the same price on Komplett.ie (although you have to add delivery @ €13). Looks cooler, can be vertical or horizontally mounted, stackable.

WD also do non-mains powered, i.e. USB powered, WD drives - branded as Passport. On [broken link removed] also - prices from €80 for 120GB to €195 for the 250GB.


----------



## caribou87

I got my 300GB off ebay last year, was very cheap for the time. An its served me very well. Very quiet an quick. Sorry, cant remeber the name.. 

But to check ebay out!


----------



## Thedoc

Lauren,
Bought a Plextor USB powered portable 120GB external a few weeks ago from Amazon UK (delivered to N Ireland address though). Cost about 95 Euro charged to credit card.  I've used this brand before for disc drives and find them very reliable. They also do a 160GB model too.

Have a look here,
http://www.plextor-europe.com/products/px-ph12u2.asp?choice=PX-PH12U2

Hope this helps,


----------



## gel

Offer from Pixmania €99 for 500GB-


----------



## carpedeum

gel said:


> Offer from Pixmania €99 for 500GB-


 
That price from Pixmania is very good. I paid *159.99* Euros for the same *500GB* drive from PC World at Airside last month. 

I have always used Maxtor or Western Digital external drives both at home and at work with no problems. I have also been lucky when ordering cameras (manuals supplied in French can be replaced with download PDF's) etc from Pixmania and have had no probs

*Update: Sat. 11th August*:

Today's Irish Times has an ad by PC World for a Maxtor *320GB* External Drive (model: MAX320GI) reduced from €119.99 to *€99.99*!


----------



## ClubMan

DrMoriarty said:


> I recently put something like that together very cheaply by ordering  for $29.25 delivered and then separately picking up a 120GB 2.5" drive on eBay for another €50-odd. Works a treat, and you could go for a higher capacity if you wanted to carry around more stuff.


I was toying with the idea of doing something like this myself but I cannot for the life of me find such enclosures on _eBay* _for c. US$30 never mind 120GB 2.5" _HDs _for c. €50. You don't happen to have any links handy by any chance? Any idea what might be the minimum useful _HD _capacity for this purpose (I know that this is a bit of a how long is a piece of string question...)? I have a few 2.5" and 3.5" _HDs _knocking around but they may be too small for this purpose...

* Update: I meant "buy it now" rather than messing around with auctions - don't have the patience for that sort of carry on! 

Update 2: Oh - I just tried a bit more searching and can find items in or around the prices outlined above. Sorry!


----------



## car

Myself and one of the lads in the office (well really him but I showed him the post) got one of those HD media player based on Dr Ms post for around 40e delivered,  we took an old 20gb 2.5" out of a laptop that wasnt in use anymore, 5 minutes to seat it into that player and presto a 20gb media player.    Works perfectly.  
Heres a similar one on [broken link removed] for about 30 sterling delivered.

edit, that media player needs a special usb cable for connecting to an external.  A mini-type on one end and a hex-type connector on the other (need to order peats or maplins didnt have them), so as we dont have one  we havent tried to read an external while the 2.5" was in situ so dont know if thats possible, ie, you may have to remove the 2.5" if you wanted the player to read an external.  Dr M may have more on this.


----------



## DrMoriarty

car said:


> Dr M may have more on this.


'Fraid not, as I've (so far) only connected my own either to the PC, to copy files onto it, or to the TV, to play them back. I don't have the player to hand at the moment, but I'll try what you describe later and report back (this may take a few days, as I'm away until the end of the week).


----------



## ClubMan

car said:


> edit, that media player needs a special usb cable for connecting to an external.  A mini-type on one end and a hex-type connector on the other


Can you post a link to details or an image of this cable?


> so as we dont have one  we havent tried to read an external while the 2.5" was in situ so dont know if thats possible, ie, you may have to remove the 2.5" if you wanted the player to read an external.


Why would you want to do this?


----------



## BlueSpud

Bought one of these babys to back up my photos etc from my home PC. 

120Gb
2.5" & small
USB powered, comes with cable, albeit a very short one
Backup software (incremental & encrypted)
€62.54 + vat
Great little yolk, leave it in the office & every few days, or when I download photos, I back up the data.  the backup software is cool, you select what you want to backup, and it highlights favorites & mail files.  It only backs up what has changed.  Didn't know it had the s/w so that was bonus.


----------



## car

> Can you post a link to details or an image of this cable?


 From looking at the media player, we figure that this is the cable thats required with the mini type on one end to connect to the player (as seen on some digi cameras) and the hex/square type at the other end to connect to an external HDD.   But must stress we're not sure that that mini type connection is correct, if you do get the player, Id bring it into a shop to be sure.  Id rang peats and maplins and they said they didnt stock it.



> Why would you want to do this?


 If you have the 2.5" drive seated then if you wanted to read any other external drive the 2.5" drive may need to be removed.  Again, we're not sure on this but as we dont have the above cable we're unable to test.  The cable that comes with it is the mini type on one end and a standard USB on the other for connection to a PC as Dr M describes.  This works fine.


----------



## ClubMan

Ah - you may well need a special _USB _cable for USB OTG connectivity between two devices without the need for a _PC_/laptop as opposed to connecting the device to a _PC_.


----------



## gel

gel said:


> Offer from Pixmania €99 for 500GB-


 
Went and got one from Pixmania. Very happy with the product. Only (small) quib was that it took a week & half to arrive. I ordered another product from Komplett on the same night and it arrived within a few days.


----------



## Guest124

My P.C. has a 250GB SATA Hard Drive - any recomendations so I could back this up to an External Hard Drive?


----------



## europhile

Can iTunes be backed up to an external hard disk?


----------



## askalot

europhile said:


> Can iTunes be backed up to an external hard disk?



It can be but you will need a backup programme like Superduper since iTunes itself only gives you the option to backup to disc i.e. DVD.

I suppose if you only wanted to backup iTunes and don't want to buy backup software then you could just drag and drop the music folder and the separate library folder that contains your playlists, play count ect. to the external drive. 

The advantage of backup software is that most of them will enable you to do incremental backups so that it only copies over the files that have changed since the last backup, this really speeds up the process.


----------



## Guest124

- Medion 250GB - €99.99 - any good?


----------



## ClubMan

BroadbandKen said:


> - Medion 250GB - €99.99 - any good?


Is it at 2.5" _USB _powered drive or a 3.5" which requires external power? Not clear from the link although I assume the former.


----------



## europhile

Was this mentioned yet?  €85.


----------



## ClubMan

That's a 3.5" drive which is not directly comparable to a 2.5" one.


----------



## europhile

Could you explain, please.


----------



## ClubMan

I thought that I had above? 

2.5" drives are more portable/compact and normally powered directly from the _USB_ port(s) without the need for an external power supply. Small box that you just plug in and that's it.

3.5" drives are more bulky and always require an external power supply unit and maybe also fan cooling etc. so you have more bulk/weight and annoying cables.

The former are good for carrying with you on the go. The latter are good for fixed installations or maybe intermittent portability but not carrying with you day to day. 3.5" drives also come in much higher capacities than 2.5" drives but the latter are getting bigger these days.


----------



## aircobra19

europhile said:


> Can iTunes be backed up to an external hard disk?



BTW, theres two parts to iTunes. 
1) the music files 
2) the iTunes database & other files.

http://lifehacker.com/software/itun...tunes-library-to-an-external-drive-238296.php


----------



## aircobra19

ClubMan said:


> I thought that I had above?
> 
> 2.5" drives are more portable/compact and normally powered directly from the _USB_ port(s) without the need for an external power supply. Small box that you just plug in and that's it.
> 
> 3.5" drives are more bulky and always require an external power supply unit and maybe also fan cooling etc. so you have more bulk/weight and annoying cables.
> 
> The former are good for carrying with you on the go. The latter are good for fixed installations or maybe intermittent portability but not carrying with you day to day. 3.5" drives also come in much higher capacities than 2.5" drives but the latter are getting bigger these days.



In addition to the above...

3.5" drives are cheaper and usually quicker than 2.5" drives. 

Different interfaces are quicker than others. 
USB/USB2/Firewire 400/Firewire 800/eSata etc. 

Don't have all your data on one disk. Have a another disk with a copy of it, preferably in a different location, in case of theft/fire etc. 

I use 2.5" for carrying around and 3.5" for infrequent backups. I started with 3.5" as they were a lot cheaper. But I'm slowly moving to 2.5" disks as its handy with USB power. I'm trying to decutter junk I don't need from my disks, to reduce the amount of data I backup. I used to keep lots of old stuff that I never look at anymore.


----------



## Guest124

Maxtor
500GB External Hard Drive Model: MXTJ500GB
€109.99 PC World - any good?


----------



## Guest124

Western Digital 250GB 2.5" external hard drive model: WD 250GB 2.5" PASS - €109.99 in PC World.

Any good?


----------



## car

Is this the same one in elara for 89e?      Theyre ok,  what it says on the tin,  Ive 3 WD externals and no problem with any of them.


----------



## landlord

BroadbandKen said:


> Western Digital 250GB 2.5" external hard drive model: WD 250GB 2.5" PASS - €109.99 in PC World.
> 
> Any good?


 
If you are in the States, I picked this one up for 100 dollars (64 Euro) in circuit city. Great deal and fantastic drive !!! Its portable powered by  your USB so you dont have to worry about a U.S. mains power supply.


----------



## pansyflower

[broken link removed] €66 + carriage from Komplett thday.


----------



## Spinnaker

Medion 250GB Portable drive on promotion from next thursday at Aldi    euro79 

Any experiences ?


----------



## DrMoriarty

I've had a couple of their 3.5" drives for a while now; no problems.

Nice price for a 2.5", presuming it comes with the usual three-year warranty? (not mentioned )


----------



## Mumha

I bought of one these  and it is excellent. I actually bought an eSata II card for the pc but haven't needed to use it as the speed is on the ball. 

I'm definitely going to buy a second EHD and get my brother to mind it for me, just in case. I can update it then, perhaps every 3-6 months.

Gone are the days when you could store all your stuff on a few CDs or DVDs.


----------



## mathepac

TARGA 500GB external HDD, network, eSATA, USB 2 connections, external power-supply and three connecter cables, €139.99 : [broken link removed]

IME, they'll sell out fast.


----------



## ClubMan

Once again - be careful to distinguish between 2.5" _USB _powered portable drives and 3.5" ones that require an external power supply and so are not really portable.


----------



## gel

Both Pixmania.com  & Komplett.ie are selling 500 GB drves for €70/73 + €13 postage at the moment.

Gel


----------



## aircobra19

2.5" Don't need to plugged into mains, and the box is smaller.
3.5" Need to plugged into mains, and the box is bigger. 

If you've a few external 3.5 drives they start to get very bulky and finding a lot of power points becomes a problem. They are usually faster than 2.5 drives though.


----------



## RMCF

aircobra19 said:


> 2.5" Don't need to plugged into mains, and the box is smaller.
> 3.5" Need to plugged into mains, and the box is bigger.
> 
> If you've a few external 3.5 drives they start to get very bulky and finding a lot of power points becomes a problem. They are usually faster than 2.5 drives though.



Will also add:

2.5" - these tend to be drives made for laptops and as such they have to be designed to use less power - and normally spin at 5400rpm
3.5" - these tend to spin at 7200rpm (sometimes 10000rpm) and obviously read/write data quicker, but as was mentioned they will need an seperate power pack and are not ideal for carrying around with you. They also have much bigger capacity than 2.5"


----------



## shnaek

Just picked up this one myself:
[broken link removed]
1tb for €115. It is a 3.5", but I wanted something with huge storage capacity. It will be a while before we see a 1tb 2.5" drive.


----------



## Guest124

Thinking of getting an external hard drive which I need but would also like a media player in it as well but you cant find any that will play x264 files so I might just go for an external hard drive. I was also thinking of a laptop as my external hard drive and media player if you get me?  I could back up data on to it's hard drive and use vlc player on it and connect direct to tv for playing x264 files,avi files etc.
Any idea's on this? What's the biggest, cheapest 2.5" drive available?


----------



## Guest124

The Iomega Prestige 1TB Desktop Hard Drive USB for €119 in Peats -any good?

www.peats.ie    - bottom right on main page.


----------



## brazen_dude

ken, check this, komplett's 1TB is 105€... [broken link removed]


----------



## Guest124

brazen_dude said:


> ken, check this, komplett's 1TB is 105€... [broken link removed]


 

- You have to add delivery at €12.55 at least.


----------



## Guest124

*Medion 2.5" 250GB External Hard Disk Drive *

each €59.99 * 
Connect via USB to your PC or notebook. 

8MB cache
5400rpm
Includes: USB 2.0 connection and USB cable, (no AC adaptor required)
Slimline and portable design
   - any good?


----------



## RMCF

Thats a pretty decent Euro price for a 250GB HDD.

You might be able to get better sterling value from likes of Amazon or Play, but if you can't buy from these and have to buy from the RoI then its decent. 

I wonder what brand of drive they use?


----------



## Guest124

Any other good deals?


----------



## bullworth

I got a 1 terabyte  (1000 gig) Iomega branded portable hard drive last month from Peats in Parnell street for circa 120 euro. However a friend in Holland says she can get 1000 gigs for about 80 or 90 euro there so we still have some way to go.


----------



## Pique318

Not necessarily the same thing (although most manufacturers claim 1TB = 1000GB).
Not true...1TB = 1024GB...just to let peeps know.


----------



## bullworth

Pique318 said:


> Not necessarily the same thing (although most manufacturers claim 1TB = 1000GB).
> Not true...1TB = 1024GB...just to let peeps know.



Yeah true. however  a member of staff there said correctly or incorrectly that it was 1000 Gigs. Plus when I check the available space manually this checks out


----------



## DrMoriarty

RMCF said:


> Thats a pretty decent Euro price for a 250GB HDD.


Now available in a  for the same price.


----------



## Guest124

I was thinking of getting the Iomega 1TB at €119 from Peats. I might just get two of these which will give me 640GB and no plugging them in to power supply.


----------



## Guest124

Maxtor 1TB desktop hard drive for €99.99 at PC World - no details on model etc. I wonder is this an external?


----------



## sfag

those western digital passports are mighty small in physical size and dirt cheap - 60 euros from pixmania for 150gb. a little more for the bigger gb's. Ebay tesds to be dearer for these kinds of things as the big sellers stack them high and sell em fast.


----------



## theresa1

bullworth said:


> I got a 1 terabyte (1000 gig) Iomega branded portable hard drive last month from Peats in Parnell street for circa 120 euro. However a friend in Holland says she can get 1000 gigs for about 80 or 90 euro there so we still have some way to go.


 

- I got the Iomega Pro 1TB (total size 931gb) esata for €129. My pc does not have a esata socket so I'm using usb2. Anybody know can you use the never down software with usb2 instead of esata? Any free software to sync folders on pc with external hard drive -recognize changes etc. I would like to archive some stuff also just on the external hard drive but say if I add photo's on my pc they will go across to external drive also. Any help appreciated?


----------



## elefantfresh

On the radio this morning, REEDS of Nassau St fame are doing 1TB external for 99e - dont know what make it is.


----------



## AlbacoreA

theresa1 said:


> ...Any free software to sync folders on pc with external hard drive ...


 
I use Karens Replicator. SyncToy v2.0 is another one.


----------



## theresa1

Thanks AlbacoreA - will check both out.


----------



## theresa1

AlbacoreA - I've now gone with SyncBack -so good so far.


----------



## AlbacoreA

Why that one?


----------



## theresa1

AlbacoreA said:


> Why that one?


 

- Just read great review's and decided to give it a try. Karen's Replicator has great review's as well so i could have went either way really.


----------



## AlbacoreA

If you find it has some killer features let us know. Its not freeware like the others so maybe theres something cool it does.


----------



## bubon

Medion HDD 2 go 1Tg ultra speed.


----------

