External Hard Drives

These days it's absolutely vital to keep your important files backed up against the chance of data loss. The continuing threat of malware and viruses alone can cause you to lose vital data.

Add to that the fact that computers are just machines and subject to failure and breakdown like all machines are is reason enough to have a back up of your data. One of the simplest and cheapest ways to back up your files is with an external hard drive.

External Hard Drives

In researching this article many different types of external memory were examined from memory sticks and flash drives to portable and stationary external hard drives. After a lot of comparison the list was narrowed down to three very good bargains for the price and one hard drive that had so many negative consumer reviews that it was deemed necessary to war all my readers against purchasing it.

At around $120 this Bundle package from Dell is a good value for students or anyone who travels with their laptop a lot. It includes Iomega 250GB USB eGo II Portable Hard Drive and a stylish Swiss Gear backpack and the EMC Retrospect HD software license for back-up.

The eGo II portable hard drive offers transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits per second the has Drop Guard. This unit offers 5400 RPM spindle speed and holds up to1 million photos,375 hours of video or over 4625 hours of music.

The Swiss Gear backpack

The backpack offers comfort and a stylish look. Comfort fit padded straps and carrying handle make it easy on your body and handy storage spaces and organizers will hold all you pens, water bottle, cell phone and notepads with ease. The backpack accommodates laptops up to 15.6 inches is made with air-flow back padding to keep you cool.

Here's the ultimate flash drive. USB 2.0 and plug and play, it has a whopping 64GB of storage in it's compact body and is Vista compatible.

With a capacity of 32GB & 64GB, it lets you store more digital files than ever before on one drive. Data Traveler 150 from Kingston helps budget-conscious users break storage barriers, allowing them to easily store and move files in a sturdy 32GB & 64GB device no bigger than a chapstick.

As easy as click and drag, Data Traveler 150 can hold just about any file you can think of — term papers, theses, digital images, spreadsheets or other important documents.

Iomega Prestige 1Tb external drive

The 1Tb external hard drive from Iomega is another good value for the money. Available in a classy brushed steel silver finish this unit is both stylish and durable. It's plug and play so it's very easy to operate and is efficient with an Energy Star power supply.

The transfer rate of 480Mbps is fast enough for all your back up and storage needs and the unit is bargain priced at around $110.

Customers who bought the Iomega model 34275 external hard drive reported it to be "Good value for the money" and

"One of the very nice aspects of this unit is that there is no software installed on the drive - nor is any included in the box. Yea! The drive comes NTFS formatted and, for use with an Apple Macintosh, must be reformatted.
Overall, a very nice value".

Western Digital Elements 1TB

This was one of the most highly reccommended of all the external hard drives researched. More people who had purchased the Western Digital 1TB external hard drive had positive comments about the unit than any other external hard drive we looked into.

The Western Digital Elements external hard drive is a great value at around $120. Providing 1Tb (terabyte) of fast reliable storage. The unit has a sleek compact design with light weight (3lb) and is just what you need to keep your files backed up or to store your photos, video or other large files easily. It's just what your PC needs for external storage.

Features:

# Heavy, solid build, almost bullet-proof enclosure.
# 8"x4"x1" rectangular prism (these are not exact measurements but I'm confident it's close.
# USB port for data transfer, cable included.
# External power supply.
# Silent run - you can't hear it spinning unless you place it close to your ear.
# Cool - after one night of uninterrupted operation it was barely warmer than room temperature.
# back up 50GB in something like 20-30 minutes.
# Formatted as FAT32.

# One year warranty.
# 30-day free tech support during the warranty period where the clock starts running after the first call to WD.

Consumers Comments

Customers who bought this unit reported it to be:
" Solid (and heavy) like a rock :)
This is, by far, the most robust external hard disk I've ever owned. And, when I say solid, I mean almost 3 lbs. solid (I didn't put it on a scale but it feels that way), 100% metal casing, likely to survive a building collapsing on top of it. Given that I bought it for backups, not for travel, I actually like it this way. I like it very much."

I highly recommend this drive as a backup device that does not travel a lot.

Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black/White)Don't Buy this one

At 1lb the Toshiba 500 GB portable is a good value for portable hard drive for your pc. It is shock resistant and durable with a classy looking black and white scratch resistant case. USB 2.0 makes this plug and play storage device easy to use but customers who purchased it reported a lot of driver failure issues with this one.