> I'm looking for opinions on the reliability of brands of external > hard drives, the moderate-sized multi-MB stationary ones that are > designed for storage and backups. > > Specifically, I have a 320 MB La Cie Firewire/USB2 drive (one of the > cute little ones designed by Porsche) and a Crossfire brand drive of > similar capacity that weighs twice as much but, according to the > literature in the package, is pretty much equivalent, functionally > speaking. > > I have two computers that need backing up; I want to use the better, > more reliable drive on the more important computer. > > Any opinions on the reliability of either or both drives? > > Or is it just a total crapshoot when you buy external hard drives, on > what works and for how long?
I've come to the conclusion that it's a crapshoot with any hard drive. I prefer Western Digital, but I've had those fail on me, once, while sitting at the computer. I look at the owner reviews on Newegg about the Seagate drives and there is a definite trend towards those drives failing early, but that's hardly definitive. Maxtor has a rep as being the low-end of hard drives, but those have been fairly reliable IME. Just assume that *any* mechanism will fail at some point. That said, an external RAID device can provide a measure of protection against drive failure. You may want to consider online backups services, which have much more redundancy built in and can be automated. ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
