WD 250GB My Book $59

[TheGreatSatan]

Western Digital 250GB My Book (http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=3351767&source=EWB101108EML&cm_mmc=Exact%20Target-_-Hotsheet-_-Bargain%20Countdown%20101108-_-Western%20Digital%20250GB%20My%20Book%20USB%202.0/Firewire%20400%20External%20Hard%20Drive%20(%20WDG 1C2500N%20)&cm_em=me@pcmodhouse.com) $59

[Zephik]

I own one. ^_^

They are pretty decent, fairly well built and so far its been reliable (no weird errors or crashing or data loss, etc).

I also own a Passport, which I love more than any external HDD I've ever owned before. If you can get one, get one. They are well worth the price! They also come in a few different colors of the rainbow unlike the Book. You can even get them up to 500GB capacities! As for build quality and the such, they are top notch in my opinion. I don't think this baby is going to fail or break on me ANYTIME soon. (Have owned it for over a year, no problems at all so far)

Another good find TGS! I believe I paid something like $189.99 when I got mine. Damn you Best Buy, your so not "Best" buy! ><

[TheGreatSatan]

I've had the exact opposite view of WD for awhile now. Just in the past 6 months I've had to tear apart 2 My Books to retrieve the data inside. Also, I reviewed a crappy WD Passport that just stopped working after two weeks. I no longer buy anything from them.

[Zephik]

I've had the exact opposite view of WD for awhile now. Just in the past 6 months I've had to tear apart 2 My Books to retrieve the data inside. Also, I reviewed a crappy WD Passport that just stopped working after two weeks. I no longer buy anything from them.

I've actually heard a few ugly stories about the My Books, so I'm starting to think its a hit and miss deal with them?

Very weird about the passport. Maybe it was just a flawed product from the beginning? I've never heard anything bad about them and they seem to have near perfect reviews where ever you look. But meh, who knows. Sometimes products go bad for no apparent reason, it happens to every company. But I'll tell you this much, when you get one that isn't defected or anything, you'll love it like a fat kid loves cake. :)

Just on a side note: I've always heard about Seagate being such a good brand, but I've had more bad experiences with their products than good experiences. Kind of similar to your experiences with WD it seems. Although since I've switched over to WD from Seagate I've had excellent experiences. So maybe you should switch over to Seagate?? :think: :D

[FuzzyPlushroom]

I don't think any particular HDD manufacturer is bad anymore (aside from Hitachi, who are consistently slower but not necessarily less reliable). There's no more JTS or Conner, the 75 GB Deathstar is a thing of the past... That said, I've had excellent luck with Western Digital (I've had one from post-1998 die on me, my old 20GB which lived in a hot case with a cheap PSU) but Seagate hasn't been so good (80GB failed after six months, well-ventilated, and 20GB went down with zero warning)... Maxtors treated me well until about the 30-40GB mark; as soon as they introduced the "slim" drives everything went to hell in a handbasket, and one of my 60GBs is the only drive I've ever encountered that actually failed SMART... which is intentionally rigged to report the drive as being good!

That was a bit of a teal-deer post, so I'll summarize it: no particular manufacturer is inherently bad anymore.

[TheGreatSatan]

I have good luck with seagate and maxtor

[noopypoop]

I have a Seagate Free Agent GO. Works pretty well, I dont really need past the 160 gb that i have. Cool light but uses 2 usb ports(The second one is for power but it works finewith only the data one in)

[phen0m]

For what its worth, the iomega external HD is only $85 and its 500GB.
Thats the best deal I've seen on any HD.

[TheGreatSatan]

$76 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822334008) External HD