Storage Solutions 500GB Portable hard drive

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raptor3624

raptor3624

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I am in need of a portable hard drive with a storage capacity of 500GB.But I am totally confused between the different brands.I dont know which one is the best or atleast safe bet for my money.My choices seem to be Verbatim, Buffalo, Transcend, Maxtor, WD and Seagate.Budget would be ~5K(stretchable to 6K if the HDD is worth it)

Now, brand doesn't matter to me the most as speed, sturdiness, build quality and warrenty matter.Maxter seems to be the cheapest among all.But I have heard praises regarding Verbatim's Storage media too.Buffalo seems to be quite robust too.
Few dealers at TE are selling Verbatim, Buffalo and Transcend.Would appreciate your comments to zero in on atleast 1 or 2 models.:hap2:
 
raptor3624 said:
How useful is a firewire port for a portable drive?
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Well, IMO, its not worth the extra cost, unless you plan to use it for some really high speed transfers or video-editing and stuff.
 
I bought in TE-Dealer section, Trancend 3.5" Casing with esata support (which my motherboard supports) and WD 500GB, I am quite happy
 
I have Tranascend 320GB.... Its fast and sturdy... impeccable build quality... I recommend this over WD.
 
vij said:
I have Tranascend 320GB.... Its fast and sturdy... impeccable build quality... I recommend this over WD.
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Speed of pretty much every drive will be same. Build quality may be a bit better, but then transcend has only 2 years warranty as well. Keep that in mind.
 
Well.. i wd narrow it down to two brands in 2.5":

1) Seagate Free Agent

5 yrs warranty

Superb Look and Feel

Trustworthy Old Friend

2) Verbatim

3yrs Warranty

Aesthetically built

Mistubishi Inc Product

Verbatim is cheaper and looks like a winner if u r fine with the 3 yr warranty.
 
techie_007 said:
Speed of pretty much every drive will be same. Build quality may be a bit better, but then transcend has only 2 years warranty as well. Keep that in mind.
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Fast is not a relative term :P

I said its fast and sturdy. Compared to WD the build quality is much better.

Its also cheaper than WD, although Verbatim might be as cheap. With ebay discount coupon you can get the Transcend Storejet 320GB drive for about 3.4k shipped.

And yes, 2 years warranty is right.

Whatever you decide, consider getting from ebay. You can use discount coupons.

Also theres this anniversary gift offer http://pages.ebay.in/anniversary/
 
I had the same dilemma some time ago. I can tell you some of my thoughts.

IMO, the Buffalo seemed like a good buy but I learnt that it has a 5V DC input for additional power. Now, the sole purpose of my going for a 500GB portable is that I'm fed up with dealing with the cable clutter. I was turned off by this fact i.e. I want all power to the drive from the USB cable even if it is additional power.

W.r.t the Verbatim, I felt that the build quality would be a little flimsy from the reviews I'd read. It looks good in the pictures but it's just silver plastic. (As a brand though, I think you won't be disappointed with the performance.)

IMO, the main contenders are the Maxtor, Seagate and WD external drives because of the warranty and ease of getting them replaced. Here WD is even better because they come to your door to collect and replace.

I've done two RMAs and it's been really easy with WD(except for raising a call the 1st time...the 2nd time, I did not even raise a call and it was replaced simply via an online RMA).

But, I know that I've dropped my portable HDD some times earlier and the thought of losing 500GB scares me too much. The Transcend 500GB offers shock absorption with it's rubber casing and was available through a TE dealer(who generally offer better prices and are more responsible and helpful) so I went for it. Yes, the warranty is 2 years only (I wish it was at least 3 years) but maybe something better might come along and I may not be using this capacity after 2 years.
 
welll.. to tell you the truth even I am quite clumsy and sort of a butter-fingers with my gadgets.The build quality and service becomes quite an important issue.
 
People in singapore generally buy the WD Scorpio Blue 500gig and an ACRyan eSATA 2.5 case. can get upto 80MBps on eSATA :P suggest you to look for similar options.
 
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