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Windows 7 - Looking for reliable 500 GB External HDD |
06-04-2011
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#1 | |
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Looking for reliable 500 GB External HDD
Can someone recommend a well tested External HDD with at least 500 GB? 
I'm having problems with my older Ext. HHD's being recognized by Win 7.
I've heard Western Digital is a good one.
TIA,
Ron | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Ultimate x86
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06-04-2011
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#2 | |
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit |
I'm using a 160gb WD Passport ext drive with no issues. So I would say you got no issues with them. If they make a 500gb version. Samsung also make them and they go to 2tb in size. So long as its a recognized company i.e WD Seagate Samsung, you should be good with any of them. cheers
PS..if your board supports USB 3 i'd be looking for a USB 3 compatable drive.. | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number home built
OS Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
CPU 930 i7 quad O/C 4ghz
Motherboard Asus P6X58D premium
Memory G Skill 3x2gb O/C to 1603mhz 1T timing
Graphics Card EVGA 570
Sound Card creative titanium
Monitor(s) Displays samsung s23a950d..120hz 3D
Screen Resolution 1920x1080
Keyboard Razor arcosa
Mouse Razer Diamondback
PSU Antec Quattro 1000 watt
Case Xigmatek Elysium
Cooling Custom Loop..Kryos block.360rad..BP comp fittings etc
Hard Drives Western Digital 3X150 Velocoraptors in Raid 5
Internet Speed Wireless so w/e I get at the time
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06-04-2011
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#3 | |
Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz) |
You may want to build your own with a name brand HD Mfg drive   Build your own External Hard Drive | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Built them myself, Science Experiments !
OS Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
CPU AMD-64 3000mhz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8G
Motherboard SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), & others
Memory 2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM
Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cards
Sound Card on motherboard
Monitor(s) Displays 19" flat scr, 19" Acer widescr, 22" Emprex Widescr, 23" Acer
Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080
Keyboard Compaq & Dell recycled from GoodWill
Mouse Made in China Optical Wired Mouse
PSU 430w, 550w, 600w, etc
Case All Generic Full Towers
Cooling Open Air & a few fans
Hard Drives 6 pata Ide HD's & 2 Sata HD's
added 80gb external on Ult 7600 computer,
several extra 1tb & 2TB SATA HD's
Internet Speed Fast Cable InterNet
Other Info Linksys Routers, switches, & Hubs
Too Many USB Flash Drives to count, Biggest is 64GB !
Eight computers in my home network.
Twelve computers at my business network.
Linked via TeamViewer !
Lots of old used spare computer parts everywhere!
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06-04-2011
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#4 | |
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I know some will disagree but I have had very good experience with Lacie rugged. Problem is they are in France. but that is my portable. For all else I roll my own eSATA or USB3 so I can use the disk drive of my choice. See docs thread for that.
I have tried per-packaged externals but find them usually not well thought out - they usually don't have adequate cooling and run too hot, and use lower-end disk drives. | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Home built (GeneO industries)/Model 2
OS Windows 7 64 bit SP1
CPU i5 2500k @ 4.5 GHz, 1.256V 120 GFlop (with AVX)
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Memory 16GB (4GBx4) 1600MHz G.skill Ripjaws X 8-8-8-24
Graphics Card Asus Nvidia ENGTS450, 1GB 4030 MHz DDR5 clock, 915 Mhz GPU
Sound Card Onboard Realtek HD
Monitor(s) Displays NEC Spectraview 2490WUXi-SV
Screen Resolution 1920 x 1200
Keyboard HP Wireless
Mouse HP wireless
PSU Antec TruePower New 650W
Case Fractal Design "Define R3"
Cooling CM Hyper 212+ push/pull, 5 120mm, 1 140mm case fans
Hard Drives Crucial 128GB M4 (system), 2x WD Caviar 1TB Black internal (data), 1x Seagate 750G Barracuda Internal (backups), 1x WD Blue 6Gb/s 320GB Internal, 1x Corsair F40 SSD for cache, 1x 2TB eSata WD20EARS Green, 2x 500GB Seagate external USB, 1x 350GB exte
Internet Speed 25.7 Mb/s down, 4.5 Mb/s up
Other Info USB 3.0 x4 , SATA III x4, eSATA x3, SATA II x4, USB 2.0 x8. 2 Samsung DVD R/W drives.
WEI: CPU 7.7, Memory 7.9, Graphics 7.4, Disk 7.9
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06-04-2011
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#5 | |
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My 3 year old Dell XPS only supports USB 2.
Using a 4-5 year old SimpleTech SimpleDrive 96300 and it usually works with the Dell but my new Win 7 system won't recognize it and SimpleTech offers no Win 7 drivers.
From scanning these forums it seems Western is favorable.
This one looks like it might work well: Amazon.com: Western Digital WD Elements 500 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive: Electronics
Anyone using it?
Thanks all,
Ron 
Quote: Originally Posted by simmo  I'm using a 160gb WD Passport ext drive with no issues. So I would say you got no issues with them. If they make a 500gb version. Samsung also make them and they go to 2tb in size. So long as its a recognized company i.e WD Seagate Samsung, you should be good with any of them. cheers
PS..if your board supports USB 3 i'd be looking for a USB 3 compatable drive.. | | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Ultimate x86
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06-04-2011
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#6 | |
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Quote: Originally Posted by tronfab From scanning these forums it seems Western is favorable. I can only highly not recommend Seagate external drives  | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Home built (GeneO industries)/Model 2
OS Windows 7 64 bit SP1
CPU i5 2500k @ 4.5 GHz, 1.256V 120 GFlop (with AVX)
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Memory 16GB (4GBx4) 1600MHz G.skill Ripjaws X 8-8-8-24
Graphics Card Asus Nvidia ENGTS450, 1GB 4030 MHz DDR5 clock, 915 Mhz GPU
Sound Card Onboard Realtek HD
Monitor(s) Displays NEC Spectraview 2490WUXi-SV
Screen Resolution 1920 x 1200
Keyboard HP Wireless
Mouse HP wireless
PSU Antec TruePower New 650W
Case Fractal Design "Define R3"
Cooling CM Hyper 212+ push/pull, 5 120mm, 1 140mm case fans
Hard Drives Crucial 128GB M4 (system), 2x WD Caviar 1TB Black internal (data), 1x Seagate 750G Barracuda Internal (backups), 1x WD Blue 6Gb/s 320GB Internal, 1x Corsair F40 SSD for cache, 1x 2TB eSata WD20EARS Green, 2x 500GB Seagate external USB, 1x 350GB exte
Internet Speed 25.7 Mb/s down, 4.5 Mb/s up
Other Info USB 3.0 x4 , SATA III x4, eSATA x3, SATA II x4, USB 2.0 x8. 2 Samsung DVD R/W drives.
WEI: CPU 7.7, Memory 7.9, Graphics 7.4, Disk 7.9
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06-04-2011
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#7 | |
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The techie that replaced the mobo on the Dell 6 months ago told me to avoid Seagate, also. Won't go with SimpleTech either.
Quote: Originally Posted by GeneO
Quote: Originally Posted by tronfab From scanning these forums it seems Western is favorable. I can only highly not recommend Seagate external drives | | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Ultimate x86
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06-04-2011
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#8 | |
Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz) |
tronfab,
Could you give us a screen snip of your Disk Management with your external plugged it & turned on ? | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Built them myself, Science Experiments !
OS Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
CPU AMD-64 3000mhz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8G
Motherboard SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), & others
Memory 2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM
Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cards
Sound Card on motherboard
Monitor(s) Displays 19" flat scr, 19" Acer widescr, 22" Emprex Widescr, 23" Acer
Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080
Keyboard Compaq & Dell recycled from GoodWill
Mouse Made in China Optical Wired Mouse
PSU 430w, 550w, 600w, etc
Case All Generic Full Towers
Cooling Open Air & a few fans
Hard Drives 6 pata Ide HD's & 2 Sata HD's
added 80gb external on Ult 7600 computer,
several extra 1tb & 2TB SATA HD's
Internet Speed Fast Cable InterNet
Other Info Linksys Routers, switches, & Hubs
Too Many USB Flash Drives to count, Biggest is 64GB !
Eight computers in my home network.
Twelve computers at my business network.
Linked via TeamViewer !
Lots of old used spare computer parts everywhere!
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06-04-2011
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#9 | |
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After plugging in I get the "USB Device Not Recognized" message, so it won't show in Disk Management. Sorry if I wasn't more specific with the problem. My bad.
Quote: Originally Posted by DocBrown tronfab,
Could you give us a screen snip of your Disk Management with your external plugged it & turned on ? | | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Ultimate x86
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06-04-2011
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#10 | |
Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz) |
What computer was your Ext originally connected to & what OS was on that computer ? | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Built them myself, Science Experiments !
OS Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
CPU AMD-64 3000mhz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8G
Motherboard SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), & others
Memory 2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM
Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cards
Sound Card on motherboard
Monitor(s) Displays 19" flat scr, 19" Acer widescr, 22" Emprex Widescr, 23" Acer
Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080
Keyboard Compaq & Dell recycled from GoodWill
Mouse Made in China Optical Wired Mouse
PSU 430w, 550w, 600w, etc
Case All Generic Full Towers
Cooling Open Air & a few fans
Hard Drives 6 pata Ide HD's & 2 Sata HD's
added 80gb external on Ult 7600 computer,
several extra 1tb & 2TB SATA HD's
Internet Speed Fast Cable InterNet
Other Info Linksys Routers, switches, & Hubs
Too Many USB Flash Drives to count, Biggest is 64GB !
Eight computers in my home network.
Twelve computers at my business network.
Linked via TeamViewer !
Lots of old used spare computer parts everywhere!
Looking for reliable 500 GB External HDD problems? All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:42 AM. |  |
