snowbender 3 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Anyone got any particular recommendations for external HDDs. Looking for maybe 250-400GB. Want something reliable, fast and works with Vista. Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I have 5 400 GB Buffalos and had no problems so far. I am using them on XP, but most probably their newest model should suport Vista. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I have a Buffalo one and it has been going well for a while - they seem to be leaders in all things drives for pcs here. I remember thinking how massive it was when I got it (80GB). Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Geeeezus, youve got a shiteload of porn, porn boy! Ive got a 250 by buffalo and dont have any probs. Will get one more to use here at school. Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I know you are jealous of me CB. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 You must have quite the selection, you a connoisseur Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Seriously now, I use them to back up data in the lab. Actually I have 5 of 400 Gs 6 of 300 Gs and 2 T data still in the server that need to be backed up.... I ve used them both on windows and unix based OS with no major problems other than file-system compatibility issues between the different OS’s. I hardly download anything from the internet other than PC games from time to time. Link to post Share on other sites
XilR8 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Hard drives don't have OS compatibility issues. They are a blank space waiting to be written on, so once you format them, they are fine with whatever OS you used to do the task. Don't worry about compatibility, look at size, reliability, speed and price. Link to post Share on other sites
Ezorisu 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Not sure what's available on the JDM, but Seagate/Maxtor reliable, but Western Digital not very reliable anymore. Link to post Share on other sites
fjef 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Buffalo does not make Hard Drives - they buy hard drives and cases and assemble them under the Buffalo brand name. You may find a Western Digital or Maxtor or another brand inside - whatever they find cheap in bulk. While reliability of most hard drive brands is OK - (but some models or manufactured batches may have more trouble than others), one thing is 100% sure - all hard drives will fail at some point in the future. Back up what ever you buy! Link to post Share on other sites
the snowboarding vicar 1 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I would never know that. Can I find out who made a Buffolo branded drive then? And if I am not keen on, say Maxtor, then I might get one - or not - if I go with Buffalo. Do we need to backup the backup of the backup of our original backups? Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Should be able to find out the maker of the parts on the box or in the manual. Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Originally Posted By: XilR8 Hard drives don't have OS compatibility issues. They are a blank space waiting to be written on, so once you format them, they are fine with whatever OS you used to do the task. The OS it self is not causing the problems but the file system you have formatted your HD sometimes does. For example windows support only the NTFS and FAT file systems wile unix OSs have a bunch more. If you format a usb HD with the ext3 file system under unix, windows will not recognize it. The other way around usually works, ie format a Disc with FAT file system under windows and connect it to a unix machine, if you are careful at the mounting process and set the disk file system as FAT. Still I had a usb disk formatted with ntfs that some unix OSs would not mount it whatever I tried. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Vicar, Get s screwdriver and take the casing off. The drive lies inside complete with manufacturer labels Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Do Buffalo actually make anything then? I thought they were this huge "making computer stuff" company... Link to post Share on other sites
fjef 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I may be wrong in some product areas but I don't think Buffalo manufactures anything from scratch - they buy cheap parts in bulk and brand them as many other companies do - but they do honour warranties better than some manufacturers. They used to sell really crappy stuff but the quality seems better in the last couple of years. I would still not buy their routers but HDs and optical drives seem to be OK for the price now. Link to post Share on other sites
snowbender 3 Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 OK went and got one - a Buffalo 400GB. Seems to work fine. One thing I'm not sure on. I won't be using it all the time so I don't want it powered on all the time. So I will just turn it on and off as I need to. Can I just safetly turn on the ON / OFF power button on the drive or should I be clicking on that Remove Hardware Safetly icon in Windows before doing that? Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Click on the icon first or turn the power off after you shutdown. Link to post Share on other sites
fjef 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Originally Posted By: snowbender OK went and got one - a Buffalo 400GB. Seems to work fine. They all work fine - until they don't... Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Is your point just all doom and gloom or that we need to take multiple backups? (Or perhaps something else?) Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Even if your HDD fails, you can still recover using some low level utilities. But getting it done will cost you lots. Link to post Share on other sites
fjef 0 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 The point is to realise that all hard drives will fail - and if you don't have a back up, your data is gone. (you may be able to retrieve data from a dead disk but it is very expensive.) Its not a very nice feeling to lose your data. Its only doom and gloom when your data is gone! Actually most people that call with hard drive failures are very upset and angry - not gloomy... Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 yeah, they are really desperate. That's when you can hit them with the big bills. Link to post Share on other sites
TheOrange 0 Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 How badly damaged does a HDD need to be before it is not recoverable? I presume most drives it is the mechanical parts that break so the data itself is still on there - is it actually fairly easy to recover for the people who do that? Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 how much does that stuff cost to get it restored? A few hundered dollars? A grand? Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts