hard (drive) decision

[mixed_up_media]

I need to buy an external hard drive, but I find myself unable to decide on one.

Part of my indecision perhaps comes from wanting it to do too much.  My main purpose in buying it is to provide more storage space for my laptop, which unfortunately has a rather small hard drive.  I would ideally like something portable that can draw its power from the

Comments

[llnaughty]

aww thanks for the compliments. and for thinking of me.

whenever i give computing advice, especially product recommendations, i accompany it with this disclaim: whatever item/service/brand i've had great experiences with, i guarantee that someone else out there will have had horror stories. also, people are more likely to complain than to praise, so keep that in mind when looking at reviews.

i currently have three external hard drives, a 250 GB western digital usb 2.0/firewire 400 drive, a 500 GB lacie usb 2.0 drive, and a 1 TB western digital usb 2.0 drive. it may seem i have a strong preference for wd drives, but i look for the best combination of price and reputation. so despite low prices, i wouldn't buy more "generic" brands like cavalry and fantom, and the price gap between them and the top brands (wd, seagate, hitachi, etc) is shrinking fast.

okay, i'm probably going too deep here, so i'll just try to address what you raised in your post. yes, you kinda do want one drive to do too much. :-)

i don't know how large the hard drives are in your laptop and desktop, but if you do want to stick to one external, usb-powered drive, then the 320 GB wd passport is your best bet. this is a good deal on it.

if you want more versatile options, as many have suggested, two external drives, one traditional, one portable, would make the most sense.

for the portable, the 160 GB version of the wd passport should be around $90. the "essentials" version is only cosmetically different and "newer" (a.k.a. more recently introduced, not that the regular passport models are older stock), but adds a $10 premium to the price, so stick with the cheaper models.

the 160 GB seagate freeagent go is competitively priced and come with a 5-year warranty instead of wd's 3-year on the passports. circuit city's got a good deal on one. you won't have to pay for shipping, and it's instant gratification if your local cc has it in stock.

for the traditional external drive, the variety of models from wd, seagate, maxtor, lacie, hitachi, etc are endless. look at the warranties. most of the more affordable models only come with 1-year warranties. again i just look at the best prices regardless of brand (sticking with the big ones), and i check prices at pricegrabber.com and look for deals at slickdeals.net.

[llnaughty]

oops, mixed-up-media, i meant to address the second paragraph (and the rest of the comment) to you. :-)

[mixed_up_media]

No problem. And thanks very much--you've been incredibly helpful! :)

[llnaughty]

any time!

[mixed_up_media]

Say, do you mind if I friend you?

[llnaughty]

not at all. do you mind if i friend you?

[mixed_up_media]

Not at all! :)

[lietya]

And thank YOU for once again being willing to ride to the rescue! :) You really do know your stuff. I'm actually saving this comment for future reference.

(That terabyte drive still scares me. I still think 250 Gb is a big drive!)