[mypenry]

Well its time for me to buy an External HDD to use for backing up / disk imaging
ive been looking at a Western Digital 250GB My Book 3.5 External Hard Drive USB 2.0 along with some others, but I can’t really make up my mind , I know every one has a personal choice , but normally ‘ one’ type / make some times sticks out
as being a better overall choice , can forum members please let me know their
Personal favourites when it comes to External HDD, due to where I live its more
Simple for me to buy a ready made unit rather than to try and get a unit made up.
I am using Windows XP , 2G Ram, 250GB HDD …

Your views and comments are most welcome for this newbie

Thanks …..

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I would strongly suggest that you reconsider getting a ready made external disk. The main is that if the control board dies, your data is still available on the disk, but if you open it you will void the warranty. If you send it back, you lose your data. It is easy to put a disk in an enclosure.

The actual disks seem to vary in quality over time. What is bad today might be good tomorrow, so the main thing is to make sure you get a good warranty.

[Kemasa]

I would strongly suggest that you reconsider getting a ready made external disk. The main is that if the control board dies, your data is still available on the disk, but if you open it you will void the warranty. If you send it back, you lose your data. It is easy to put a disk in an enclosure.

The actual disks seem to vary in quality over time. What is bad today might be good tomorrow, so the main thing is to make sure you get a good warranty.

[Troy]

I agree with Kemasa, it's very easy to buy a HDD and an enclosure and put it together yourself.

I am using a CoolerMaster X-Craft that connects via USB or eSATA. The package had an eSATA internal cable all ready to go, so I put it in myself and backup times are very quick . The CoolerMaster does not have a fan, so it's pretty quiet. It does have a fancy mesh side that allows for cooling, and my WD disk currently sits on the 35 - 40 degrees Celsius mark.

As for the disk drive, I just put a Western Digital 80GB as that's more than enough space for my needs. You might find that you could grab a 250GB Drive and then you could mirror the whole lot. If you are looking for a good backup program, I recommend Acronis True Image.