I really need to get a new external drive. I had a MyBook, but it quit working before I even had it a year. It was one we used as a network, and kept plugged in. This time I want to go with a large external that I can plug into the USB, and then unplug it and keep it in the firesafe.

I have heard a lot of people say they have the Seagate FreeAgent Walmart.com: Seagate FreeAgent GO Portable Hard Drive, 500GB 5400RPM: Computers

And my cousin has a Toshiba:
Walmart.com: Toshiba 500GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive: Computers

I wonder if anyone has any experience with either, or what you would recommend? It is going to be for backing up all of my photos.

You're probably not interested in my option, but I use an Apple Time Capsule.  Doubles as a router, making backups couldn't be easier.

The external hard drive i use is a 1TB iomega prestige from bestbuy. It just plugs into the usb port like a jump drive. So user friendly it's insane. So far I've backed up all my music and pics onto it. I like it thus far. My friend who had one before has used his for about a year now and likes it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8908612&st=iomega&lp=6&type=product&cp=1&id=1216424110118

I've been told be some people to use 2 backups though. Maybe another external HD or burn it all to DVD/CD.

they're all the same really, some come with pre installed software that wants to sync your crap and whatnot. The easiest way to deal with it is to reformat it and just use it as a drag and drop drive. You can even turn an old ide hard drive into an external drive with a $15 enclosure, that's how i have a 500gb external. 

well here is my.02, i wouldn't get an iomega and would question what brand of HDD is in the Toshiba.  If it is a Hitachi i wouldn't get it but most of the time that isn't listed, just the brand thats on the plastic case on the outside.  With the seagate though you are more likely to get a quality HDD that i would trust a lot better.  Just FYI it might be cheaper to get a drive enclosure, can be had for 30 or less and purchase a HDD that you can put in the enclosure.  The enclosure doesn't have to be fancy but i would go for a reliable brand HDD, western digital or seagate are the ones i typically go for.  I don't trust a hitachi as far as i could throw it.

i've built and sold over 30 computers and everytime i used hitachi drives because at the time they made the fastest 7200 rpm drives around, and because i get a discount, and none of them ever failed, even my own pc has a 6 year old hitachi deskstar in it and it's never had a single problem. Hitachi makes good drives. most all hard drive brands have warranties for at least 2 years.

hitachi (formerly IBM's hdd division) and seagate make the best drives, end of story.
however the way i look at it is that any hard drive is disposable, because no matter how good - they will *all* eventually die.
make sure your important data lives in at least 2 places and how good the drive is doesnt matter.

I have a 500gb Western Digital hard drive but the software on it is corrupt or something...is there any way it could be repaired and used?

You can go on Western Digital HD's site and download a tool to check and repair the drive (if possible)

I have a Seagate Free agent and it works OK for a storage backup... I do the same and keep it in a safe. For daily use its a bit slow and causes strange windows problems sometimes... This may be due to the fact that mine only has one huge 420BG music folder on it. 

Quote from: makenzie71 on April 27, 2009, 05:38:49 PM
I have a 500gb Western Digital hard drive but the software on it is corrupt or something...is there any way it could be repaired and used?

theeeeeeeeeee - software, as in, the backup software that should be doing whatever ?

OR

the harddrive isn't accesible at all ?

I have MyBooks ( 2x 500Gb Firewire RAID ) that I use for pictures. Then there is a 160Gb "old" picture backup. Then there are the 2 other laptops that rsync to each other once a week or so. Then there is a 40Gb "old old old" backup that has a disk image ( really just a dd data dump ) of a fresh installed mac os with Mail.app, Safari bookmarks, etc all setup for my users.

The best ?

2-3 externals in a RAID. Firewire is ok. USB2 may be, I haven't tried it. Don't depend on one drive. You'll loose your pictures/porn/mp3's/whatever !

I'm sure I hae a couple more hdd's around here somewhere, but they won't respond to pings.

The drive isn't accessible at all.

Try the WD tools

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en