The best External Hard Drive for the money

[AsafYo]

Hi,I want to buy an External Hard Drive.
1~1.5 TB will be sufficient...
I have this system:

CPU:
‏‏Phenom II x4 Quad Core 955 Socket AM3 3.2Ghz Box‎
CPU Cooler:
Thermaltake Golden Orb II
Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4
Memroy:
TransCend DDR @ 1066 Mhz CL5(TX1066QLJ-2GK 4GB)
Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 7200 RPM 32MB
Video Card:
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 DX11 2xDVI HDMI DP PCI-E
Case:
Enermax Chakra ECAA5001 Full-Tower 25cm Monster Fan(No PSU)
PSU:
HEC 500TD-TF PSU 500W 2x8cm fan 24 pin
Monitor:
Samsung 226BW LCD 22" 2ms DVI

What is the best for that?

 

[Hawkeye22]

Why not just buy an external enclosure and drop whatever drive you want into it? I've had good luck with the vantec nexstar series.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=92&name=External-Enclosures

 

[AsafYo]

Can you explain me more about External Enclosures,I'm not familiar with this device?

 

[Hawkeye22]

I posted a link to some of them. You can get an enclosure that will fit your drive, either 2.5" or 3.5". The internal connection can be either SATA or PATA/IDE. Since most computers now have USB ports, you can get the enclosure with a USB port.

Basically, you just open the enlcosure, put your hard drive in it, then connect the enclosure to your pc. It's the exact same thing as an external hard drive except opening the case/enclosure won't void your warranty and you can put most any size drive in it.

If you were to buy a 500gig external hard drive and in 6 months realize it's not big enough, you would have to buy a new one or void the warranty by opening it up. If you had bought your own enclosure, all you would have to do is take the old drive out of the enclosure and put a bigger drive in.

 

[AsafYo]

Actually,you mean that internal hard drives are faster from external hard drive ?

 

[Hawkeye22]

I never mentioned anything about speed, however a drive will always run at the same speed regardless of it being internal or external. What makes most external drives "slower" is the fact that the USB bus is slower than the SATA controller. If you got an external enclosure that has E-SATA and your computer supports E-SATA, then the drive will run just as fast as having it mounted internally.

 

[AsafYo]

My case has 1 eSATA ,that I never use it.
I don't know if it works or not...Or I need to enable it from somewhere
I prefer 2.5" size,so how about this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vantec-NexStar-TX-NST-210S2-BK-External-2-5-inch-/200690998711?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item2eba1d9db7#ht_4247wt_905

Eventually I think I'll take an external HD...with usb connection
which of this will give me the best R/W rates?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007601%20600030763%20600003490%20600030775&IsNodeId=1&name=1TB

Thanks.

 

[Hawkeye22]

USB is more portable since most computers have USB. E-SATA is faster than USB 2.0

You should be able to enable the esata port on your computer via the bios. They make enclosures that have both USB and ESATA connections though only one of those connections can be used at a time. That means you can get esata speeds on your computer and USB portability if needed.

The enclosure you linked to is fine as long as you trust the vendor.

Also, 2.5" (laptop drives) drives are slower than 3.5" (desktop drives) drives.

 

[AsafYo]

I already have My Book Essential 1 TB , 7200rpm, 16MB, External, USB 2.0 - WDBAAF0010HBK
And I'm not satisfied with the R/W rates.
The supply necessary and the size aren't comfortable...
Therefore,I'm searching for a 2.5"
I don't found 2.5" with eSata port because SATA require power supply so I compromise on 2.5" with usb port..

which of this will give me the best R/W rates?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007601%20600030763%20600003490%20600030775&IsNodeId=1&name=1TB&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3899435&SID=skim1402X558040X71256aadc7f4cdbd24ae84c8ed0c4a88

Thanks.

 

[Hawkeye22]

There's no real way to tell since you don't know what model of drive they have in them. You'd have to look up benchmarks for them online. That's one more advantage to buying seperate enclosures and drives to make your own external drive.