What Is The Best External Hard Drive To Buy?
USB External Drives From Seagate, Western Digital, and Hitachi
Oct 18, 2009
The growth of companies that make external USB hard drives has grown immensely in the past few years. At the same time the capacity of these external harddrives has grown as their overall size and price have plummeted.
With the holiday season fast approaching many shoppers are faced with the question of what is the best external hard drive out there? With big hitting names like Seagate, Western Digital, and many others, which one of these external hard drives does the best job of marrying performance with price?
External Drive Manufacturers
When looking at the external USB hard drive marketplace two names jump out of almost every advertisement, Seagate and Western Digital. Other companies also market external hard drives (such as Hitachi), but most "store brand" external USB hard drives will be little more than Seagate or Western Digital drives stuffed in a generic USB enclosure. Seagate is strongly promoting their FreeAgent Go and FreeAgent Desk lines of external USB hard drives, and has dropped prices dramatically to the point where it is now possible to get an external 1 terabyte (1TB) drive for as little as $100.
Western Digital also promotes their MyBook Essentials line of hard drives which currently sell at the same basic price point. Hitachi does not do as good a job at marketing through the big retailers like Best Buy or Office Max, but they currently sell their SimpleDrive series through online retailers such as NewEgg for around $89 for a 1TB drive.
So Which Is The Best External Hard Drive To Buy?
The reviews of the big three external hard drive manufacturers are a mixed bag. All three receive high marks for agressive pricing, but pricing along should not be the driving force in such as purchase. Buyers should also consider the points mentioned in this USB Hard Drive Buyers Guide, but when making the final decision it comes down to three main issues:
- Convenience and UtilitiesIn this category all three brands are pretty even. All three offer backup software included with the drive, and some even offer a few gigs of free online storage as well for storing important files. For drives that will be transported a lot look for drives that have docking stations like the Seagate FreeAgent Go series.
- Durability, Speed, and Customer SupportMost USB based external drive speeds top out at around 480MB/second. Some however, such as the Western Digital My Book World Edition connect via Ethernet and top out at 1000MB/sec. If moving a lot of files or playing with digital video go for the highest speed available. In terms of durability hard drives are a often a crap shoot. If the drive is treated gently it will likely last a very long time. If it is moved around a lot, stored in a laptop bag, or occasionally dropped its overall life may be diminished. If purchasing a drive for these more rugged applications consider a ruggedized drive like the Hitachi SimpleDrive series.
- PriceHitachi wins this one hands down if the buyer is willing to buy one online. If buying in a brick and mortar store look for it to be a pretty even pricing battle, with all three manufacturers dialing in around the $109/TB price point.
And The Bottom Line On Which External Hard Drive To Buy Is:
If price is the guiding factor, go with the Hitachi SimpleDrive series and buy online for around $89/TB. If portability is the most important factor go with the Seagate FreeAgent Go series for their small footprint and convenient docking stations. As with any purchase always shop around and keep the receipt taped to the box until after the warranty period expires.
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