Best external hard drive

[peomp]

I want to buy a external hard drive 250GB on black Friday, but i don't know which drive is the best.
Western Digital, I/O Magic, Seagate, Maxtor, or SimpleTech
I choose WD, but do u guys think??

[steveryan]

I vote Maxtor, never let me down, touch wood BTW, what is black friday?

[redwudz]

Black Friday = Day after Thanksgiving and a traditional big sales day in the US, only second to Christmas Eve for retail sales volume.

A couple of guesses about the origin of the name from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

I've had good luck with about all of the major brands. I've been getting Seagate's lately. Probably any hard drive with a longer than usual warranty would be a good choice. Maxtor was always very quick in the past for exchanges and returns, but I've heard that has changed somewhat.

[steveryan]

I've just read that wiki page, i'd never heard of Black Friday or Cyber Monday

[JohnnyMalaria]

Maxtor or Seagate.

Used to recommended WD but not for a long time (their quality seems to have gone south).

Black Friday.

Any Friday on which a public disaster has occurred, as: In England, December 6, 1745, when the news of the landing of the Pretender reached London, or May 11, 1866, when a financial panic commenced. In the United States, September 24, 1869, and September 18, 1873, on which financial panics began.

Also the last Friday before Christmas in the UK - when yobs and hooligans get even more drunk than usual and have to be handled by the British Transport Police.

[Scorpion King]

WD, black friday or not ...

[normcar]

Staples has a 400GB External drive for $139.99 with a $40 erebate on Black Friday.

[oldandinthe way]

I/O Magic and Simpletech do not make drives, they buy cases and drives and put them together. What they package in one carton might not be the same as what they package in another carton.

I bought a 40gb I/Omagic external for $20.00 a couple of weeks ago. Unlike some other externals it does not pass back the actual drive maker/model. XP detects it as a generic USB drive.

Seagate, Maxtor and WD all have their proponents, I have used all three with satisfactory results.

A comment on rebates. Staples erebates are handled promptly without error. Their mail in rebates are processed by turkeys who can't seem to get it right - expect 60 days.

OfficeDepot is the worst I have encountered on mail in rebates, expect to wait 90 days, more if you don't bug their processor by email after 30 days.

CompUSA - not as good as Staples, but pretty good unless the rebates mail to the same processor as Office Depot (Young America) or Staples (FL).

BestBuy - about 60 days.

[Super Warrior]

Hey guys, wouldn't it be MUCH cheaper and just as good: to buy a good quality internal comp HDD w/an external adaptor to make it an external HDD?

[yoda313]

Super[/url] Warrior]Hey guys, wouldn't it be MUCH cheaper and just as good: to buy a good quality internal comp HDD w/an external adaptor to make it an external HDD?

Yep I would say so. Though you'd probably want an external adaptor that has a fan for cooling purposes and a firewire/usb dual option for best connectivity.

[normcar]

You cann't beat the $140 with an easy rebate (online rebate) of $40 for 400GB price at Staples on BF. It is a Western Digital External. They also have a 200GB internal Maxtor for $70 with an easy rebate (online rebate) of $50. That $100 for 400GB External, and $20 for 200GB Internal harddrives. You cann't beat that. Also easy rebates can be entered online on the same day, and you receive them quickly.

[drwho]

Unfortunately external HDD have very little ventilation and the larger its capacity the hotter they get
Consider swapping HDDs the smaller outside the larger inside.