Need an External Hard Drive

[73GMCSprint]

What can go wrong with their cases? It says the WD has a durable metal case, so what can go wring with it?

It's more with the board inside than the case itself. I've just seen reports of WD and Seagate built external drives not playing nice with the computer. Stuff like not responding after being on for a while or freezing mid-transfer. Most people probably never have a problem with them but there were enough reviews like that that I went a different route the last time I got an external drive.

 

[db2450]

Was that on a 3.5" drive that plugs into the wall, or a portable 2.5" like the Maxtor?

Well mine is a 3.5" drive, but I've got a friend who plays HD content of a 2.5" portable drive perfectly fine. It can also matter on the drive, my drive and my friends drives are plug 'n' play, but I am pretty sure all modern external drives will work fine for HD content and many for playing games. (Just make sure it is USB 2.0 shouldn't be a problem though. :lol: )

 

[cl191]

You shouldn't have problem to play back any HD content on a 2.5" drive even with 1080p content, but bear in mind USB2.0 is painfully slow if you plan to copy large files to it (say for example for backup purpose). If you want the speed, go with a firewire or esata drive (the only drawback for esata is that you will need to use an external power source). That being said, USB 2.0 drives are usually cheaper and easier to find.

 

[GraemeH]

I don't really trust this brand

I've used a whole heap of Maxtors over the years, at the moment i have 4 Maxtor internals and two Maxtor externals, the oldest one still 'in service' must be 8 or 9 years old now, and i've never lost a byte of data. They've been flawless for me.