l am running Windows 7 Professional and wondered if anyone knows which is the best external Hard drive to use with my Desktop-No l do not want a Portable one. At present l am looking at WD My Book Essentials as it is on special at DSE for $84-1Tb which is pretty good value. l am aware the ordinary WD Elements for desktop-1Tb would do the job but the one l am looking at has some extra features and l wondered if anyone has got this and how it fares and are they happy with it. Thanks
I highly recommend Cavalry EHHD's like this one. I got their 500GB of this drive in 2007 and it has served me very well and I simply love the fact that it's housed in aluminum, so it's super quiet as it doesn't require a fan. Haven't had to reformat it or anything (transitioned from XP to Vista to 7 just fine) and it still runs like a champ - though I am encountering some minor hiccups over my USB NAS with .DOC files not wanting to be opened through it over NAS, probably not the drive's fault (router's software I believe is to blame for this).
Dick Smith Electronics have the 1TB Elements at $84 at the moment. I paid about $115 when I bought mine. Good basic drive at a good price.
In Australia watch it & other enclosed 7200rpms for temperature.
CrystalDiskInfo (free) is good for monitoring temperature & SMART data.
I have a little $10 BIGW fan on these when it gets a bit warm!
My Computer
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Own build
OS
Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
CPU
Intel i7 2600k
Motherboard
ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe
Memory
G.Skill Ripjaws (DDR3-1600) 2x4GB
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GeForce GTS 450; Intel HD Graphics 3000(GT2+)
Can't tell from looking at your system specs but if your MB supports USB 3.0 I would suggest you get the WD essential My Book with USB 3.0 support. You will really appreciate the speed over USB 2.0.
There is not best drive. Buy the one that comes from a quality name brand, supports the fastest speeds and connections that your system has, and that fits your budget.
