Is this a good hard drive?

[thumper6423]

So I FINALLY get to look through the non-grocery related Sunday ads today. Best Buy has a 1TB MyBook Essential External Hard Drive on sale for $280. That in itself is a good deal. Here's my dilemma. I know NOTHING abotu hard drives as I haven't really researched them yet, so with the brand being Western Digital I had to wonder. Is that some "off" brand? I don't exactly need 1TB right now, but if it's on sale, I want to buy the biggest I can get. This is my rough budget. Since hubby did a lot of extra active duty time this year, I can be a geek for Christmas too. I got him a Wii and the accessories, so I get to have up to the same amount spent on me. I don't have to spend my full budget if there's a less expensive but better hard drive otu there. My main concern is largest amount of memory that's a quality product. No sense having a cheapie that's going to crash on me. Sorry so long.

[Kara]

My cheapie brand EHD just crashed on me. Doh!

Sure wish I'd bought a Western Digital. It's a solid brand.

[camlu]

I have a My Book EHD (smaller though.....I think it's 300GB) and it has been fine. I haven't had it that long or used it that much, though. And it's actually much smaller than I thought it would be based on the box it came in.

One thing to think about regarding the size......hard drives DO go bad (we lost 3 in less than a year) so it might be better to not have everything on a single drive. That's just my 2 cents, though. I'd be tempted by a great deal too.

Good luck making a decision!

[DawnMarch]

I've got two WD Mybooks here (each 500 GB) and I have not had any problems. It is a decent brand, but I agree that ALL EHDs will fail eventually, so have at least one other form of backup!

[Tommys Mommy]

I had a western digital that crashed. I wouldn't call it a crash as in bugs virus crash. It was a major mechanical failure, and when it "broke" it repeatedly gouged/scratched the internal disks. There is no cheap way to recover that info. I got prices from $1700 up to $5 grand to recover my photos and such. So needless to say I have a not loving relationship with WD. My external is a Maxtor and I have had no problems with it.

[scrappopotamus]

My 500GB MyBook crashed yesterday. It was approx. a year old. Not the end of the world. 90% was backed up. All I lost was one month worth of digi kit purchases and I will try to get my download links renewed.
WD are good HDs. It can happen with every HD. Backup is the key!! ;-)

[debsterchen]

I just got back from Circuit City last night exchanging a defective WD 500GB My Book. This is my second WD 500 GB drive (I already have one at home). The first one I bought at Best Buy and with that one, it tipped over and after that, it broke. After about 1 week. I showed it to my IT guys at the office who couldn't do anything with it to save it. So I returned it, exchanged it for another one. That one has been fine for a few months now, no problems. I treat it very carefully. I asked the IT guys at my office & the Geek Squad at Best Buy if I should get a different brand and they said no, the guys at Best Buy said they actually recommend the WD brand and the rarely have anyone complaining about it. My IT guys said they're probably all about the same. Anyway, so then I ordered a second one to use as a backup, the button on it doesn't seem to work so I went to CC to exchange it and now I have my second one.

I researched alot of reviews and everyone complains about every hard drive and plenty of people love every brand. I got this one because it is compatible with both the MAC and my IBM laptop so I can use it interchangeably. I'm not sure all HDs can do that. The customer service people at Best Buy also told me I can bring back the HD if it breaks with in the first year and they will replace it - they will then follow up on the warranty with WD. So that's a bonus, get it at a brick & mortar store so you can go back if you have issues. I think CC would be the same.

I would receommend you think about ordering 2 500GB hard drives instead of one 1TB. That way you can back it up and have a fail safe in case one fails. Chances are both won't fail at the same time. I got my 500GB at circuit city for $129.99 on sale now so you'd be paying somewhat less than the price for one HD with 1TB and get 2 with plenty of memeory. Esp. since you say you may not need the full TB. Good luck with your decision.

-Debbie

[thumper6423]

Thank you all for your responses. Yes, I think 2 smaller HDs would be smarter after hearing your stories. I hadn't thought about the "what ifs." I did some research today when I ddin't have a teething 11month old hanging off me, and came to the conclusion that I'm going to e-mail my friend who's a big time computer geek. He works at Pixar and should be in the know. I try not to bug him if I can get away with it, but I too see that every hard drive has its lovers and haters with no one standing out above the rest. I'll let y'all know what he reccomends IF I can get an answer form teh busy man LOL.

[meems]

would love to know what your friend says.

I agree with not putting everything on one drive. I bought a 750 gb EHD and then returned it b/c I didn't want to lose 750 gb of stuff all at once.

[danger girl]

I agree about not putting all your eggs in one basket. I don't buy the huge media cards for my digital camera, either. I'd rather have 2 smaller ones in case something goes wrong (I've had a couple cards fail over the years).