I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD that has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I plan to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam.
Sam wrote: > I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer > with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This > replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to > purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD that > has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I plan > to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. > > > I would be inclined to get a 2.5 inch USB external hard drive for back up purposes, because they are powered by the USB connection and don't need a power block to be plugged in to use them. They are also more compact and lighter than the 3.5 inch drives. The downside is that they don't hold as much as 3.5 inch drives. Another thing to consider is getting a SATA capable drive, if your computer has an external SATA port (as mine does). Much faster backups that way. I recently bought a 2 TB Samsung drive (internal, not external). In my readings it seemed to me that they were having difficulties with Western Digital presently. These problems with hard drives go in cycles, one maker one year and another the next year. I'm avoid Western Digital drives right now. I highly recommend the free program Paragon Backup and Recovery 10.1 for mirror-image backups of the entire boot drive. It works with Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. -Al-
On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:218 -0600, "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote: >I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer >with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This >replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to >purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD that >has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I plan >to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. > > I have two Thermaltake Max 4 with Western Digital 640 gig drives (sata). Software is TrueImage. KenW
Sam wrote: > I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer > with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This > replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to > purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD that > has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I plan > to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. I use an Iomega Prestige 320 GB USB2 portable hard drive. I have an old Dell Dimension 8250 with XP SP3 installed. It appears to work OK with that, but I purchased it primarily to back up my wife's Win7 laptop. I've used it with the Microsoft backup utility to make an image of the Win7 drive on the laptop, and I've also used it with Acronis True Image to make a disk image of my Win7 installation on a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop. -- John Aldred
Sam wrote: > I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 > computer with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed > today!!). This replacement external HD will also be used with the > new computer I plan to purchase in the very near future. I would like > to have an external HD that has an internal fan and without any > backup software installed since I plan to use the Windows 7 image > backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. Not as pretty as an external chassis and no fan but I now use a Thermotake BlacX SATA USB docking station, commonly called a Toaster drive due to it's appearance. No worries about overheating but keep static discharge in mind when swapping or handling the drives. Mine has a power switch should I want to leave a drive in it while it's powered down and not needed. It lets me purchase and use any bare SATA drive up to 2TB be it 3.5 or 2.5 inch through any USB port. This way I can drop in a drive, make a backup and take it off site or store one in my car trunk in an old foam lined aluminum camera case. I use TrueCrypt to encrypt all my external drives so I'm not worried about the data if one is stolen. Nice being able to swap drives with out having to open up the case or purchase more external cases just for backups.
On 2/27/10, Sam posted: > I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer > with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This > replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to > purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD that > has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I plan > to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. I think the only really valid recommendation is that you don't use the same brand you had - for psychological reasons Actually, I agree with pretty much everything the other posters said, but not necessarily the ones who post later Like Al Smith and for the same reasons, I use a portable USB drive for my more frequent backups. Like GlowingBlueMist, I use a docking station and bare 3.5" drives for my more occasional backups. The portables tend to be slower than 3.5" drives, but since the USB bus is slower still, no problem. OTOH, on the laptop, I use a 2.5" bare drive for docking, so I could just drop it in if the built-in one fails. I would do the same for the desktop, but it's an all-in-one, so it would entail major disassembly. However, the warranty is over, so maybe that's OK now My software is Macrium Reflect (paid edition) for images and Casper for clones (belt and suspenders). Both have advantages and both have disadvantages, but I can live with them OK. -- Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com
"Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... > I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer > with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This > replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to > purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD that > has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I plan > to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. > > > I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. I stay away from Western Digital. -- Andrew
Andrew wrote: > > > "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message > news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer >> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This >> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to >> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >> that >> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >> plan >> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >> >> >> > > I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. > I stay away from Western Digital. > Why please. I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. I can return it.
"LouB" <Lou@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:4B8A806E.10002@invalid.invalid... > Andrew wrote: >> >> >> "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer >>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This >>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan >>> to >>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>> that >>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>> plan >>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>> >>> >>> >> >> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >> I stay away from Western Digital. >> > Why please. > I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. > I can return it. Well this is my experience, others have had good experiences with them I assume. I had 3 fail (all 500gb) in a period of about 2 months. A couple years ago they had the WD My Book 500GB drives on sale at Costco for something like $70.00 each. I bought three. 2 were used as backup drives and 1 of them was used as media for a media center DVR. I noticed they all got hot, I mean really hot, but thought nothing of it. Eventually they all failed. Since then I have bought Maxtor USB drives with internal fans. Now granted, the Media Center DVR was probably not the best choice of use cases for a cheap HD, but I have had the $99.00 Maxtor doing it for more than a year. Like I said, it's personal experience, maybe I got a bad lot, or maybe the WD My Book was a lousy product. I still don't know, but I don't buy WD anymore. -- Andrew
On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:40:46 -0500, LouB <Lou@invalid.invalid> wrote: >Andrew wrote: >> >> >> "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer >>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This >>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to >>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>> that >>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>> plan >>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>> >>> >>> >> >> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >> I stay away from Western Digital. >> >Why please. >I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. >I can return it. If you check sites where people leave hard drive reviews, such as Newegg or perhaps Amazon, you can always find people who love one brand and hate another. Within all of that noise, certain models will periodically have higher than normal failure rates so the best you can do is look for reviews on your specific drive and see what people are saying. Even then, you're likely to see a broad mix of 'love it / hate it" reviews. Excessive heat is well known to shorten a drive's life, so avoiding that will help.
"Andrew" <yogig@no.spam.hotmail.com> wrote in message news:hme940$j73$1@news.eternal-september.org... > > > "LouB" <Lou@invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:4B8A806E.10002@invalid.invalid... >> Andrew wrote: >>> >>> >>> "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >>> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 >>>> computer >>>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). >>>> This >>>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan >>>> to >>>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>>> that >>>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>>> plan >>>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >>> I stay away from Western Digital. >>> >> Why please. >> I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. >> I can return it. > > Well this is my experience, others have had good experiences with them I > assume. > I had 3 fail (all 500gb) in a period of about 2 months. > > A couple years ago they had the WD My Book 500GB drives on sale at Costco > for something like $70.00 each. > I bought three. 2 were used as backup drives and 1 of them was used as > media for a media center DVR. > I noticed they all got hot, I mean really hot, but thought nothing of it. > Eventually they all failed. > > Since then I have bought Maxtor USB drives with internal fans. > Now granted, the Media Center DVR was probably not the best choice of use > cases for a cheap HD, but I have had the $99.00 Maxtor doing it for more > than a year. > Like I said, it's personal experience, maybe I got a bad lot, or maybe the > WD My Book was a lousy product. I still don't know, but I don't buy WD > anymore. > > -- > Andrew Now you have ME worried. I have a My Book 500MB that I use for backup images. I don't notice it getting real hot, but it does get quite warm. Maybe I'll mount a small USB fan to pull air through it to help stave off the death by overheating. I like the one I have since it supports eSATA and Firewire. Have you ever tried using another brand drive in the My Book case, or do you think the case is the cause of the heat? -- SC Tom
"SC Tom" <sc@tom.net> wrote in message news:2Jzin.1994$ao7.93@newsfe21.iad... > > > "Andrew" <yogig@no.spam.hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:hme940$j73$1@news.eternal-september.org... >> >> >> "LouB" <Lou@invalid.invalid> wrote in message >> news:4B8A806E.10002@invalid.invalid... >>> Andrew wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >>>> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>>>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 >>>>> computer >>>>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). >>>>> This >>>>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan >>>>> to >>>>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>>>> that >>>>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>>>> plan >>>>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >>>> I stay away from Western Digital. >>>> >>> Why please. I have a WD Passport drive which works very well, though it has an annoying limitation: it will only work with the 6-inch USB cable that they supply, and this cannot be extended by adding a male-female USB extension cable - if you do so, the disk chatters and generates "unknown device" errors in Windows. I contacted WD and they claimed that it was a problem with the disk not receiving enough power when an extension cable was used, but I suspect that it is a timing issue: the drive may be working right at the limit of the USB spec and adding extra cable may produce reflections in the signal which mess up the timing. This is only really a problem if you PC doesn't have front USB sockets and you need to keep pulling out the PC to plug the drive into rear USB sockets.
LouB wrote: > Andrew wrote: >> >> >> "Sam" <scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer >>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This >>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I >>> plan to >>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>> that >>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>> plan >>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>> >>> >>> >> >> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >> I stay away from Western Digital. >> > Why please. > I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. > I can return it. If you look at some of the comments at New Egg and other sites regarding Western Digital, you will find that many people are having problems with drive failures at the present time. As I wrote in an earlier post, these things run in cycles. A few years ago, Maxtor was the drive to stay away from. Right now it seems to be Western Digital. -Al-
Char Jackson wrote: > On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:40:46 -0500, LouB<Lou@invalid.invalid> wrote: > >> Andrew wrote: >>> >>> >>> "Sam"<scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >>> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 computer >>>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). This >>>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I plan to >>>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>>> that >>>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>>> plan >>>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >>> I stay away from Western Digital. >>> >> Why please. >> I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. >> I can return it. > > If you check sites where people leave hard drive reviews, such as > Newegg or perhaps Amazon, you can always find people who love one > brand and hate another. Within all of that noise, certain models will > periodically have higher than normal failure rates so the best you can > do is look for reviews on your specific drive and see what people are > saying. Even then, you're likely to see a broad mix of 'love it / hate > it" reviews. Excessive heat is well known to shorten a drive's life, > so avoiding that will help. > Exactly. Some brands, some models, have a higher failure rate at any given time. When I see higher failures from a manufacturer, I try to stay away from that manufacturer, even if I'm buying a different model of drive. Some years ago I was having failures with Maxtor drives. I warned everyone to stay away from Maxtor. At that time, many buyers hadn't realized that there was a problem with Maxtor, but a year or so later Maxtor almost went out of business due to their bad reputation. Today, Western Digital seems to be having the problems. -Al-
Al Smith wrote: > Char Jackson wrote: >> On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:40:46 -0500, LouB<Lou@invalid.invalid> wrote: >> >>> Andrew wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> "Sam"<scams@Remove This att.net> wrote in message >>>> news:hmc5qq$18m$1@speranza.aioe.org... >>>>> I am in need of an external HD to use with my current Dell 8200 >>>>> computer >>>>> with windows XP Pro (SP3) (my current external HD failed today!!). >>>>> This >>>>> replacement external HD will also be used with the new computer I >>>>> plan to >>>>> purchase in the very near future. I would like to have an external HD >>>>> that >>>>> has an internal fan and without any backup software installed since I >>>>> plan >>>>> to use the Windows 7 image backup program. Thanks for any help, Sam. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> I like Maxtor, but almost anything will do. >>>> I stay away from Western Digital. >>>> >>> Why please. >>> I have an un-opened 1TB drive right now. >>> I can return it. >> >> If you check sites where people leave hard drive reviews, such as >> Newegg or perhaps Amazon, you can always find people who love one >> brand and hate another. Within all of that noise, certain models will >> periodically have higher than normal failure rates so the best you can >> do is look for reviews on your specific drive and see what people are >> saying. Even then, you're likely to see a broad mix of 'love it / hate >> it" reviews. Excessive heat is well known to shorten a drive's life, >> so avoiding that will help. >> > > > Exactly. Some brands, some models, have a higher failure rate at any > given time. When I see higher failures from a manufacturer, I try to > stay away from that manufacturer, even if I'm buying a different model > of drive. Some years ago I was having failures with Maxtor drives. I > warned everyone to stay away from Maxtor. At that time, many buyers > hadn't realized that there was a problem with Maxtor, but a year or so > later Maxtor almost went out of business due to their bad reputation. > Today, Western Digital seems to be having the problems. > > -Al- Thanks to all for comments.
"Andrew" <yogig@no.spam.hotmail.com> wrote in message news:hme940$j73$1@news.eternal-september.org... snip > > Well this is my experience, others have had good experiences with them I > assume. > I had 3 fail (all 500gb) in a period of about 2 months. > > A couple years ago they had the WD My Book 500GB drives on sale at Costco > for something like $70.00 each. > I bought three. 2 were used as backup drives and 1 of them was used as > media for a media center DVR. > I noticed they all got hot, I mean really hot, but thought nothing of it. > Eventually they all failed. > > Since then I have bought Maxtor USB drives with internal fans. > Now granted, the Media Center DVR was probably not the best choice of use > cases for a cheap HD, but I have had the $99.00 Maxtor doing it for more > than a year. > Like I said, it's personal experience, maybe I got a bad lot, or maybe the > WD My Book was a lousy product. I still don't know, but I don't buy WD > anymore. > > -- > Andrew I've got one of those also, paid appx $80, used it for a complete backup when I first got it using Memeo software that came with it. After doing a couple incremental backups and I got a laptop, I tried to do a backup on each but the software was a "Demo" version and wouldn't work anymore. Communications with Memeo got me a pitch to sell me a software for $40 and WD they gave me canned responses. I looked around and there are several other choices of drives with fully functional software at a cost of a lot less than the $120 total I would have invested in the WD. Dave
"Dave" <davidj92@wowway.com> wrote in message newsYudnSqIipJDnRHWnZ2dnUVZ_jidnZ2d@sigecom.net... > > > "Andrew" <yogig@no.spam.hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:hme940$j73$1@news.eternal-september.org... > snip >> >> Well this is my experience, others have had good experiences with them I >> assume. >> I had 3 fail (all 500gb) in a period of about 2 months. >> >> A couple years ago they had the WD My Book 500GB drives on sale at Costco >> for something like $70.00 each. >> I bought three. 2 were used as backup drives and 1 of them was used as >> media for a media center DVR. >> I noticed they all got hot, I mean really hot, but thought nothing of it. >> Eventually they all failed. >> >> Since then I have bought Maxtor USB drives with internal fans. >> Now granted, the Media Center DVR was probably not the best choice of use >> cases for a cheap HD, but I have had the $99.00 Maxtor doing it for more >> than a year. >> Like I said, it's personal experience, maybe I got a bad lot, or maybe >> the WD My Book was a lousy product. I still don't know, but I don't buy >> WD anymore. >> >> -- >> Andrew > > I've got one of those also, paid appx $80, used it for a complete backup > when I first got it using Memeo software that came with it. After doing a > couple incremental backups and I got a laptop, I tried to do a backup on > each but the software was a "Demo" version and wouldn't work anymore. > Communications with Memeo got me a pitch to sell me a software for $40 and > WD they gave me canned responses. I looked around and there are several > other choices of drives with fully functional software at a cost of a lot > less than the $120 total I would have invested in the WD. > Dave There's a WD version of Acronis True Image available for free. You can download it from WD here: http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en It only works with WD drives, whether internal or external. I use it with my WD My Book to make images of my XP desktop with a Seagate and a Maxtor drive, and my Win7 laptop with its Hitachi drive. Works very well, it's fast (from the boot CD), and it's free. I've used the images to restore both machines at one time or another, so I can testify that it works well with XP, Win7, and before that, Vista. -- SC Tom