Which external hard drive?

I have a 250GB Lacie external harddrive USB. It uses AC for power.

I want to buy an extra external harddrive which ONLY works through USB, not AC. Everytime I have to plug the hd into ac all the time, sometimes when I'm on the go it is an issue.

Which external harddrive would you prefer? I'd stick to Lacie because I own one and haven't got any problems. Im thinking about buying Freecom, because their prices are the lowest. Are they good choice/brand? Any other suggestions?

Cheers

 

For external drives I normally go WD - The Western Digital Passport is USB powered and I have heard good things about them -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=wd+passport&Submit=ENE&N=0&Ntk=all
The only bad thing about them is that they are 5400 rpm but i dont know if you can find higher than that usb powered or not....
Also Lacie aren't bad either -

 

If its through USB you'll need to get a 2.5" HD and enclosure, which is more expensive though but alot more portable.

 

Ditto on the passport series, and I have had good luck working with the Seagate Pocket series. Also, you can always build your own if there isn't a size you like or a brand you trust.

How much space do you need- the whole 250GB or...?

 

I've bought myself a Toshiba 250 7200RPM hard drive with password encryption. Good looking and very competatively priced.

 

For my new "portable" USB hd I would like an smaller version, 100GB 120GB or 160GB. Preferably 7200RPM.

So basicly the choices are
Lacie
WD
Any experience of Freecom?

 

As coriolis said, you cannot get a 3.5" drive and power it off of USB. It simply cannot supply that kind of power. You'll be looking at 2.5" drives.

The Western Digital external drives usually carry a decent pricetag. They make excellent hard drives and that is what I would go for.

 

Another option is to grab an OEM HD and an enclosure, which is usually cheaper, as well the HD gets the full warranty(in cases like Seagate, 5 years), instead of the 1 or 2 years provided in 'pre-made' hard drive enclosures.

 

Check out the WD Passport, I think you'll like its size and reliability.

 

3.5" often fail to work without AC power. Youll need a 2.5" HDD:

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10868

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=262

The Make does not really matter that much, as long as the specs look promising.

 

I bought meself a 160gb LACIE USB 2.5' hard drive. Thanx for your opinions! I sold my big 250gb 3.5 and are VERY HAPPY with my new smaller version harddrive. It even just works with one cable only, transfers data and power through USB. Amazingly small and lightweight, very happy I made this choice. I have 160GB in my Asus G1, so 160GB ext are more than enough for me!