[uristring]

I am looking to purchase an external hard drive to back up some decent sized data files, I am a grad student (translation=broke) I found two on sale this week and was wondering if anyone had any experience with either one. The first is the Maxtor 100GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive Model: U01E100. The second is the SimpleTech 40GB portable drive.
I am leaning towards the Maxtor due to storage and price ($10 cheaper) I am not really concerned with the weight (2.6lbs) but if anyone has had a bad experience with it, or a great experience with the simpletech I would really appreciate hearing about it.

I also can't seem to find out what the housing on either one is made of, I have been told a heavy gauge alluminum is preferable to stamped steal and plastic, anyone know what these are made of?
Thanks

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I like Maxtor. They make my external HD and I love it! Mine has a pplastic covering on the outside, but I din't know if there is a difference between that and metal.

[Facedown98]

I like Maxtor. They make my external HD and I love it! Mine has a pplastic covering on the outside, but I din't know if there is a difference between that and metal.

[Kemasa]

You can buy the disk and the case separately, which is good because it tends to be cheaper and it is often easier to open the case and replace the disk if you want. This means you can start with a smaller disk and then increase it later.

There are many different cases and the main thing to consider is cooling aspects, especially if you go with a larger disk. In part it depends on how much you use it. If you constantly leave it on and access the disk a lot, then you will need a better case.

There are some cases with fans, others do not. I tend to prefer the aluminum cases, but that is a personal preference and I use the disk for backups and then turn it off, so it is not used much.