External Hard Drive Recommendation?

[ricklev]

Any suggestions for an external drive in the 2-3000 baht range.  Speed and security are not really issues.  Can I get a 3 or 4 TB drive in that price range?  Thanks.  I haven't had such good luck with Seagate.   WD seems to have bad reviews....

[OneMoreFarang]

I would get an internal 3.5" HDD, i.e. 2TB for about 2000THB

plus a 3.5" case for a few hundred THB

3.5" is faster and less sensitive than 2.5"

I saw it too often that the electronic of external drive endloseres fails. That's why I recommend to buy the parts separate. 

Any brand name should be ok, just make sure they don't get too hot and don't get physically abused.

[Surelynot]

I would go solid state drive SSD.......and to hell with the expense.

[sometime]

I have four external hard hard drive all Seagate, no problem

[BenDeCosta]

Don't buy online if you're in Thailand.

 

Go to a store and buy what you need. Seagate, Sandisk and WD are all good. I have a 2TB WD that I have used for years, no problems at all.

[kynikoi]

I'm a Seagate fan but they've made some shi+ as well. With laptop I prefer small 2.5 disks as I don't need to deal with power supply. SSD just not big enough.

 

I wouldn't recommend Toshiba. WD issues as well..

 

They're all <deleted> now. Only one year warranty.

 

4tb ssd would be epic

[herfiehandbag]

I use a Seagate 1TB as an expansion drive - I leave it permanently connected through a USB port. I don't have any problems with it.

 

Now, to take the questions to another level, my desktop computer is somewhat ancient - it came with Windows Vista when new! It now runs Windows 7. It has a 95GB disc drive - would it be possible to set it to boot up from the external hard drive, and if I add sufficient RAM, would it be possible to use Windows 10?

[BenDeCosta]

6 minutes ago, kynikoi said:

4tb ssd would be epic

 

And why would you need 4TB?

[lopburi3]

Not sure why you would need external storage of that size these days - with the speed of internet these days most videos/data are only a few minute download so really no reason for the libraries we used to want.  I am down to a 500 SSD internal and 1TB 2.5 inch external on USB2 and do not feel any need for more.  

[KeeTua]

33 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

my desktop computer is somewhat ancient - it came with Windows Vista when new!

Cool! I saw one of those in a museum once. Are you rockin 128 MB of RAM too?

[friendofthai]

Most external drives that I can find are HDD drives actually. So your data could be wiped out after, for instance, falling from your bike. I would recommend to buy a cheap M.2 SATA SSD drive (or M.2 PCIe drive) + M.2 to USB adapter/enclosure from China that you can buy on aliexpress.com .

[bunnydrops]

I have 3, one must be at least ten years old, Seagate I think (Its at home on my old work computer). A 4 year old Toshiba, a 2 year old WD. I haven't had a problem with any of them. There is so much free cloud storage for the less than important stuff, you really don't need that much extra. For storage, I think ssd would be a waste of money

[herfiehandbag]

42 minutes ago, KeeTua said:

Cool! I saw one of those in a museum once. Are you rockin 128 MB of RAM too?

It is a bit like Trigger's broom from "Only Fools and Horses" to be honest. It has had two new hard disks, I have upgraded the RAM to 3.00 GB, it has also recently had a new CPU and a new DVD/CD drive cum writer. The processor, an AMD Athlone dual core processor 2.10 GHz (whatever that means) is the original. The whole set up trundles along perfectly well. Getting the things mended, and having new parts fitted is so cheap here (and of course I am a "Falang Khee Neaw") so I feel no real need to replace it. I would like to upgrade to Windows 10 if I can. if not it is not the end of the world. 

 

The whole box of tricks has outlasted 3 laptops!

Edited June 6, 2021 by herfiehandbag

[tomazbodner]

WD 4TB at 3999 THB and Seagate 4 TB at 4190 THB.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/wd-external-hard-disk-4tb-new-my-passport-4-tb-usb-30-external-hdd-25-wdbpkj0040bbk-wesn-black-synnex-3-i1774590283-s5167964487.html

 

https://www.bnn.in.th/en/p/it-accessories/harddisk-and-solid-state-drive/harddisk-external-hdd/seagate-hdd-ext-4tb-backup-plus-portable-black-sthp4000400-763649132418_r06mnr

 

To get it below 3000 baht range you will need to be very lucky to hit on some sale. It is 6/6 sale now so try Shopee, Lazada, JIB, PowerBuy, OfficeMate... maybe you're lucky. But above are prices with WD one already on sale.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

It is a bit like Trigger's broom from "Only Fools and Horses" to be honest. It has had two new hard disks, I have upgraded the RAM to 3.00 GB, it has also recently had a new CPU and a new DVD/CD drive cum writer. The processor, an AMD Athlone dual core processor 2.10 GHz (whatever that means) is the original. The whole set up trundles along perfectly well. Getting the things mended, and having new parts fitted is so cheap here (and of course I am a "Falang Khee Neaw") so I feel no real need to replace it. I would like to upgrade to Windows 10 if I can. if not it is not the end of the world. 

 

The whole box of tricks has outlasted 3 laptops!

How long do you want to continue upgrading that thing?

New PCs, even good quality new PCs, are a lot cheaper than they were 10 years ago.

And if you can't afford a new one or don't want to spend the money then maybe get a used one. Something with at least 8GB RAM. There should be many of them out there for cheap because nobody wants them anymore.

 

4 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

would it be possible to set it to boot up from the external hard drive

Maybe. But for an old PC that would be USB 2 (or 1?). Which is too slow for a boot drive.

[scammed]

7 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Not sure why you would need external storage of that size these days - with the speed of internet these days most videos/data are only a few minute download so really no reason for the libraries we used to want.  I am down to a 500 SSD internal and 1TB 2.5 inch external on USB2 and do not feel any need for more.  

backup in case your internal hdd crashes,

they are also that cheap that its not an obstacle

[lopburi3]

4 hours ago, scammed said:

backup in case your internal hdd crashes,

they are also that cheap that its not an obstacle

Internal HDD should be what is replaced - SSD so much better.  If your main drive is 500 (which is most now that they use SSD) you do not need that much of a backup drive and also have free or cheap sky available for most things.

[scammed]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

Internal HDD should be what is replaced - SSD so much better.  If your main drive is 500 (which is most now that they use SSD) you do not need that much of a backup drive and also have free or cheap sky available for most things.

i keep a bunch of old games movies etc, i like to keep them no matter how many laptops i go through.

when a hdd breaks, it breaks, recovery is not possible sometimes, so it would then all be lost

 

on a side note i bought 2 TB usb memory recently for a few hundred baht and that can replace the hdd backup

[johng]

Western Digital Mybook   they have various capacities    buy online  cash on delivery from the official J.I.B store on Lazada

have 8 myself  only one has failed and that was  because I very foolishly  stood it up like a book in a shelf

( like they show in the adds)  it got knocked over whilst  reading/writing data  which crashed the heads !!!   always always  lay them down flat.

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, johng said:

Western Digital Mybook   they have various capacities    buy online  cash on delivery from the official J.I.B store on Lazada

have 8 myself  only one has failed and that was  because I very foolishly  stood it up like a book in a shelf

( like they show in the adds)  it got knocked over whilst  reading/writing data  which crashed the heads !!!   always always  lay them down flat.

Never happen with a SSD

[tomazbodner]

4 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Never happen with a SSD

Yes, there you just touch USB cable so it cuts power for a few milliseconds while writing data and drive is toast completely.

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Yes, there you just touch USB cable so it cuts power for a few milliseconds while writing data and drive is toast completely.

WHAT?......have (stupidly) disconnected mine a few times mid transfer........no problems???

[johng]

6 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Never happen with a SSD

 

They have other disadvantages like limited write cycles, being newer technology  we don't  really know how long they last for compared to traditional HDD's  ( I have one that's more than 25 years old still works) 

also  for an 8TB  SSD it's still about 900 dollars compared to about 140 for a spinning disc version.

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, johng said:

 

They have other disadvantages like limited write cycles, being newer technology  we don't  really know how long they last for compared to traditional HDD's  ( I have one that's more than 25 years old still works) 

also  for an 8TB  SSD it's still about 900 dollars compared to about 140 for a spinning disc version.

I guess the big thing for me is we travel around a lot.......my 2TB (I think?) seems almost weightless, about the size of two credit cards and needs no external power supply, cables, plugs etc.

[Cake Monster]

16 hours ago, BenDeCosta said:

Don't buy online if you're in Thailand.

 

Go to a store and buy what you need. Seagate, Sandisk and WD are all good. I have a 2TB WD that I have used for years, no problems at all.

I have 3 WD 2 TB HDD

2 are OK, and one failed after only about 15 Months.

Buy smaller volume drives, but more of them, that way if 1 goes wrong you dont lose a massive amount of stored Data.

[tomazbodner]

1 hour ago, Surelynot said:

WHAT?......have (stupidly) disconnected mine a few times mid transfer........no problems???

You must be amazingly lucky man...

[Roger That]

5 hours ago, scammed said:

i keep a bunch of old games movies etc, i like to keep them no matter how many laptops i go through.

when a hdd breaks, it breaks, recovery is not possible sometimes, so it would then all be lost

 

on a side note i bought 2 TB usb memory recently for a few hundred baht and that can replace the hdd backup

Not for a few hundred baht you didn't. I'm afraid your username has proved to be accurate in this instance!

[BenDeCosta]

Make sure you order from Jib or InvadeIT, not one of the usual shopping sites.

[ricklev]

Well, I ordered this from the Seagate shop on Shoppee.  Even though I well remember the soft pinging that told me my last Seagate had bit the dust. 

 

https://shopee.co.th/product/57641011/2309105008?smtt=0.237194283-1623054494.9

 

[BenDeCosta]

With the fake external drives that seem to be all over the place, when you plug it in and go to properties, it will show as the advertised capacity, actually a little bit below because it's always like that. But then you try writing a large file to it and it will just not work. There are many videos on YouTube, heres one: