[SOLVED] Need advice on external drive

Since buying this desktop, I've relied on a 160GB WD drive (model WDME1600TE) that was bought to backup my laptops with. But now, I'm being squeezed for space on it. I have 2 Win 2K, 2 XP Pro and 2 Windows 7 backups on it. Needless to say, I need a drive solely for my desktop. WD's are popular due to price, Seagate is a little higher in cost, but is backed by a 5 year warranty. My desktop drive is 320GB, but only 200GB of it is used for Windows, 212GB if you count the recovery partition. Would a 320GB drive be fine, and if so, does anyone know if the Seagate is a better option? I don't mind spending an extra $20 or so, this is a small drive here. Then, I could use the other for what I bought it for, my remaining laptop. I'm planning on buying one at Wal-Mart tomorrow, these are my choices there.

If you're going to get a new hard drive might as well get as much bang for the buck and get at least a 500GB to a 750GB. They're not that much higher than a 320GB drive, maybe $10-20 more from I could tell at Newegg.com.

You may want to consider a Samsung F1 Spinpoint or a Western Digital Black Caviar drive. Both those brands, depending on model, usually get 5 eggs out of 5 ratings.

Get as much capacity as you can afford, at least a 500GB. You won't regret it.

One other point to consider.

• Western Digital
• Seagate
• Maxtor

They have a free version of Acronis for a backup solution. If the free version doesn't come with the drive you can download it no problem.

Edit:
When it comes to Computers, Walmart is expensive. Do as Nibiru suggest and order through Newegg or Tigerdirect. There are other places but those are my two favorites

My WD drive came with this software, and something else called "sync", where they claim you can take your PC with you to use on another computer, w/o leaving a trace on the other computer. That Seagate looks good for the price, WD has a one year warranty, while Seagate has five years. Nibiru has a point, too. I'll compare prices, if a 500GB doesn't cost much more, I'll go with it. I'll also check with one of those above suggested sites on the price. If there's a significant savings, I'll go with one of them.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache

$55.99 @ Newegg Free Shipping


Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache

$74.99 @ Newegg Free Shipping

That is precisely why I would not even consider buying a drive less than 500GB

Which is also the dilemma I am facing with the SSD drives. A 32GB SSD drive is just over $100. I'm holding off for them to drop below $80. I'm starting to think they will see the end of manufacturing before that happens. Anyway by the time the price drops for the 32GB drive, the 64GB drive will not be much higher in price for twice the space. After its all said and finished, the 32GB drive is all I'm wanting but I'll probably end up with a 64GB drive.

I checked at Tiger Direct and Newegg, and Tiger has the best prices by far. Plus, I'm sort of leaning toward Seagate, with the five year warranty. The one I'm looking at is $79.99. I may look some more, but I think I've found what I want. Thanks to both of you.

Nibiru, these are INTERNAL drives, not backup ones!

I found and bought one on eBay, it's a new one. A Seagate Free Agent XTreme 500GB for $90. That includes everything, a 5 year warranty, USB and Firewire 400 cables (whatever that is). The dude has over 3,000 transactions with a 100% rating, that's good for me. There was another new one, the same thing, but 640GB. But the dude had only 4 transactions. I don't buy from newbies on the scene. I actually was going to buy one from Tiger, it was $79.99. But with shipping and taxes, it was over $104, and it didn't look as good either. Then I went to Seagate direct, they were even higher there. So I went to where I knew I would get the deal, eBay. I know that there's those who doesn't care for them, but if you're a smart shopper, and stay away from used or refurbs, you can save big. I looked it up on Seagate's site, that model is pushed as one of their better ones. Well, I'll find out sometime next week. That shiny black finish matches my desktop, too.

Cat wrote

Thats a very good price Cat well done