external hard drive.

I need to take all of my dad's pics from his computer. An external hard drive seems the best option. Any advice to which Hard drive I should consider. I understand that some are more vulnerable to damage than others....regards Thoramay.

My grandson has been using a Maxtor 160GB for about a year now with no problem and I have an iomega 320GB which is fine but I've only had it a couple of months.

I have a couple of Seagate external drives.

Have a look at the Maplins website - usually some good offers on there.

I have a number of different USB connected Hard Drives. I have not had any problems with any. My favourite is a 1 TB (1000GB) Iomega.

I notice this week that PC World had 1 TB Iomega External Hard Drives for £70 and 1.5 TB another make for £100.

Hard drives are soon filled with photos, especially if you shoot in raw. I would recommend you buy the biggest you can afford.

At the moment, 1TB drives are probably the best value. 1.5TB drives are coming in, but there will be more of them, and they will be better value, in a few months time.

Toshiba and Freecom both make excellent and inexpensive external USB drives without fans - so they are silent. It'a a point worth considering.

G

It was a 1TB Iomega that died on me, loosing 6 months of photos.

But the 500gig one' s still going strong, as well as a 1TB Western Digital item.

As Graham says, go for the biggest you can afford, and look at Staples while your out. They do some good deals from time to time.

Also, take a look at www.aria.co.uk - they often have some really good offers.

Have a look at the Western Digital Mybook range.

Never trust ANY drive !! They all pack up at some time.

Use 2 drives (maybe 1 external) as a backup for your precious files. (or DVDs perhaps)

Don't buy from Maplin, PC World, etc. as they know nothing and are expensive. Try your local PC dealer or eBay, if u know what you're doing.

Backup, backup, backup... how many times have I told people this !?

Both of my Seagate drives came from Maplin and they were the cheapest anywhere in the country at the time.

I did not go there for advice since an external hard drive is a pretty basic piece of kit

As always, buy a reputable brand and shop around for the best price from a shop that you have heard of.

A branch of Maplin is just down the road from my office so if anything goes wrong, returning an item is easy.

I find that hard to believe ! Every time I look in their catalogue or pop in the shop, I'm amazed at what they're charging for basic kit, things I can get for a fraction of the price on ebay or elsewhere online !

But we must say as we find

All the local dealers round me are far more expensive than either Maplins or PC World and I find there is usually someone fairly well trained in both Maplins and PC World. I think you're being a little unkind. Personally I tend to get stuff like this from ebuyer or 7dayshop or indeed play.com as they are consumables which box shifters like these can deal with well.

Then again everyone's experience can vary so whatever works!

Mike

Very good advice.I was caught out a few years ago. I now have all of my photos on two external drives at the same time.
At the moment I have two Lacies,one Maxtor and one Seagate.Two are firewire and two usb.
It is worth keeping a lookout on this site LINK

John

Read somewhere that hard drives have 2 states... about to crash and crashed.

Good advice above always best to have a copy of your photos on another drive.

Don'get me wrong, they're both very handy when I need something in a hurry, but as I'm an electronics engineer who also used to repair and build PCs, as well as a qualified/licenced radio amateur, I have frequent need of components and I have yet to find a bargain in either place !! Maplin's markups are huge ! As for trained, well... it's easy to appear knowledgeable amongst people who know little of the subject.