External hard drive

[emmie]

need to buy an external hard drive for the laptop, to back up data, photos, all the gubbins. Can anyone recommend one, not too expensive.
500gb would be preferable i believe. Something that plugs in, so portable type, sorry but i don't know much about this stuff. I need to buy one sooner than later. Have looked on internet, but i honestly don't know what i should get.

[murraymints]

I bought IOMEGA from Argos..just plug and play sort of thing...no probs not expensive..use it to store photos and any important back ups !

[boxtops]

We've got a plug-in Buffalo hard drive (don't ask me too much about it, OH is the technical one) - I think it was about £84 - seems to do its stuff.

[ChuckFickens]

If you've got a local large Tesco look in there, they do some pretty good deals on EHDs

http://www.tesco.com/...d=530-9984&pageLevel=

It can be worth checking in store for better deals though, but, hard drives are still expensive at the moment after flooding in Thailand ruined about half the hard drive factories in the world last year.

[ChuckFickens]

Oh and brand isn't hugely important for external hard drives as long as you don't go for really cheap ones from china found on ebay, any from a reputable seller will do the job...

Just be very careful of them when they are plugged in and running, treat them like they are made of glass! (if they are unplugged they are pretty tough and can stand a few knocks, but not when they are working)

[beso]

The main difference now is whether they support USB2 or USB3. If your computer has a USB3 port or you are considering upgrading soon you definitely want USB3 because it is up to ten times faster.

Definitely get one that is powered by the USB port. Some require another power supply but these are pretty much obsolete now.

Some are "ruggedised" and will take more physical abuse.

[emmie]

oh dear no idea about the usb number? - how do i find out. Why are these things not simple.

[emmie]

it's a dell inspiron, 15inch screen.

[ChuckFickens]

USB 3.0 ports are Blue, usb 2.0 ports are black.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about USB3.0 is it's only for backups, the extra speed isn't really needed unless you've got a really serious amount of data to backup.

[ChuckFickens]

Dell have made various different inspirons with 15inch screens for about 15-20 years now, so that doesn't really help much.

[ChuckFickens]

OH and also, unless you spend a serious amount of money on a usb3.0 hard drive with a really fast drive in it (or a solid state drive) all you're doing is moving the bottle neck from the interface to the drive and you wouldn't see hardly any performance improvement anyhow.

[emmie]

i know you are being helpful, but sometimes i wish technical people, and that goes for the bods in the shops, realise that we aren't all au fait with the terms, and indeed what is needed.
the port is black, perhaps i should take it to a shop and they can tell me. Trying to get this done, because it needs to go back to the tech people as there is a problem with the screen. And if i give them it, and they lose all my data won't be a happy bunny.

[emmie]

cheapest can find, even if it is the right one would be 50 quid.

[ChuckFickens]

if it's a black port it's USB2

£50 sounds about right for a 500GB. and as I said if it's just for a backup that would be fine.

[Old_Geezer]

I suspect you pretty much aren't going to go wrong whatever you get as long as you buy from a reputable source. The box will say USB if that is where you are supposed to plug it in.

I think you're getting too concerned about it all. You could probably see pictures of USB doing a web search or checking wikipedia if that worried about it.

Not sure what your screen has to do with it, to be honest.

[emmie]

OG, the screen has a problem that needs looking at, i have spoken with a techie and he has said that it has a bleed at the back, behind the screen because there are black splodges behind the screen, not on it. And it's getting worse, hence the need for me to urgently back up all files, data.

[emmie]

so 50 quid about right, ok will look around. I already have seen one, but didn't know if that would be the right one for kit.

[ChuckFickens]

If it's a physical screen problem they shouldn't even need to touch the data on the hard drive, but it is best to back up just in case.

Yes, £50 is about correct, just get whichever one you want, it's really not going to make a difference for the reasons you want it for.