External Hard Drives, Any Specific Brand Recommendations?

[Rutabaga]

Okay, tech people, this question is MUCH simpler than my last one :D.

Today I finally got around to using my Maxtor external hard drive to attempt to back up the new laptop. When it said it had backed up 500MB of data, I knew something was wrong. So I updated the software and tried again. It still stopped after something like 500MB, and while I have a folder on the external hard drive identifying this backup, the folder is empty.

The external hard drive is probably about 3 years old and worked flawlessly on my previous 2 computers (even the hunk o' junk Dell I just got rid of), so I figure it just doesn't like the new laptop, or Windows 7, or something. And since it was so damn cheap and will be equally as cheap to replace, I might as well just get a new one.

So...does anyone have any recommendations of one brand over another? A brand I should avoid at all costs? Stuff like that? Or does anyone recommend using an online service instead? Don't know if that would work for me since my iTunes library alone is something like 17GB. :)

[Morgan Evanar]

WD, Hitachi, Samsung or Seagate are fine. They make the drives, no reason to really go with anyone else.

[Lykaios]

I've been pretty happy with Seagate.

[Rutabaga]

Just for the record, I bought a little WD My Passport Essential, just 320GB because I don't need any more than that. The one thing I've noticed right away is that creating the backup is VERY slow, but I'm presuming that's because this is the initial backup. I would imagine that future backups will go much faster, since it will only backup things that have changed.

[Morgan Evanar]

If you're doing incremental backups the first one will always go slowly, since it's imaging most of your hard drive right now.

After that it should only take 2-10 minutes.

[Rutabaga]

I really do feel cursed. You know?

Backup went slowly but surely. Until after something like 6 hours, it crashed, and the software said the disc was full. Which, of course, it wasn't. Unplugged and replugged the USB cable a couple of times, then I was finally able to restart the backup.

With about 1.5GB left, it did the same thing again. Stopped and said the disc was full. Checked it out and realized there was both a firmware and a software update. Updated both. It's still not working right.

I also just got a warning that the drive is too hot and that I needed to unplug the USB cable. Not surprised, it's been on for a lot of hours.

It's late. I'm gonna shut it all down and try again tomorrow.

I'm sorry the Maxtor quit working properly when hooked up to the new laptop. It let me personalize my backup, plus it was lickety-split. Its initial backup took no more than something like 30 minutes. It really is aggravating to have let the computer and the drive run for so long to do this backup and then it didn't work properly. :shakefist

[Rutabaga]

I decided the WD My Passport Essential was a POS that wasn't worth struggling with. So I've exchanged it for a Seagate Free Agent Go. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

EDIT: Huzzah! This is the one I should have bought in the first place. I know Seagate had bought out Maxtor, so the software with the Seagate Free Agent is exactly what the Maxtor drive had. So I'm familiar and comfortable with it, plus it does allow for personalization and scheduling of backups. But the really nice thing is the inital backup time. Yesterday, the WD drive took 8 hours to attempt to back up 22GB of info. Right now the Seagate has been running for about an hour and should be nearly done, and it's backed up nearly 30GB of info so far. So I'm very satified right now. Finally :).

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Finally! I was beginning to think you were cursed, too. ^_^;