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[Alcibiades]

I want to buy an external harddrive but I'm not sure which to go with, I have 3 options:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3783546

Maxtor 200GB A01A200 7200RPM One Touch Firewire 1394/USB 2.0 External HD
External Firewire/USB Portable Hard Drives:
For your Mac;Windows
Outpost #: 3783546

* Capacity: 200GB
* Seek Time: <9.3ms
* 7200RPM
* 8MB Buffer
* Maxtor OneTouch: the easy way to make backup copies of your files
* 1 Year Warranty

for $169.99

or

Buffalo 160GB HD-HB160U2 DriveStation USB 2.0
$80.00 Rebate
External USB Portable Drives:
Outpost #: 4194083

* Auto Power On
* Auto Backup
* Auto Setup
* 160 GB Capacity
* Supports USB 2.0/1.1
* 7200 rpm
* Preformatted Hard Drive for Out of the Box Operation
* Silent Running with a Fanless Design
* Unique Heat Sink Chassis keeps Internal Parts Cool
* Power Saving Shutdown Scheduling to Preserve Energy

after rebate: $79.99 (from price of $159.99)


or

Buffalo 250GB HD-HB250U2 DriveStation USB 2.0
$80.00 Rebate
External USB Portable Drives:
Outpost #: 4194093

* Auto Power On
* Auto Backup
* Auto Setup
* 250 GB Capacity
* Supports USB 2.0/1.1
* 7200 rpm
* Preformatted Hard Drive for Out of the Box Operation
* Silent Running with a Fanless Design
* Unique Heat Sink Chassis keeps Internal Parts Cool
* Power Saving Shutdown Scheduling to Preserve Energy

for $139.99 after rebate (from price of $219.99).





I was going to go with the Maxtor one until I saw the deal on the Buffalo ones, but the rebate thing is somewhat of an issue, and I'm not really sure how good/bad Buffalo is.

I searched the net for reviews on their hard drives (internal or external) but couldn't find anything...

anybody here have experiences with both of these have an opinion?

 

[AlphaSnake]

All I can tell you is that Maxtor sucks a fat one. And I mean FAT, dude.

 

[aoi tsuki]

i've never had a problem with Maxtor drives. NEVER. Can't comment on Buffalo, but among drive makers like Maxtor and Wester Digital, there's no golden brand. Read up on user experiences if you care to, but otherwise just buy whatever fits your wallet, at least among those two.

 

[Ill Saint]

All I can tell you is that Maxtor sucks a fat one. And I mean FAT, dude.

Yeah, seriously. I am never touching a Maxtor drive again. Ever.

 

[Idle Will Kill]

All I can tell you is that Maxtor sucks a fat one. And I mean FAT, dude.

Anyone who has an HD fail on them will claim this about an HD company. All companies have drives that fail at some time. Some people just get unlucky and see a few of those failure from one company and assume they are totally worthless.

 

[Lhadatt]

Buffalo, to my knowledge, does not manufacture any hard drives. Maxtor's not so bad now as they used to be, perhaps due to asorbing Quantum a year or two ago.

The drive in that unit is either a Western Digital (if Buffalo is smart), Maxtor, Seagate or Hitachi (ex-IBM Deathstar technology).

Go for the 250 GB Buffalo if you're cost-conscious. Here is what Newegg users think of the Maxtor.

 

[Lhadatt]

Buffalo, to my knowledge, does not manufacture any hard drives.

Sorry, a clarification. Buffalo is merely repackaging someone else's hard drive, I think. I'm pretty sure they don't make their own.

 

[Alcibiades]

thanks...

yeah, I really want to go with the Buffalo one ($160 + hopefully $80 rebate), but I'm basically afraid of not getting the rebate...

I guess even if the rebate deal falls through it'll be quite a good amount of space anyway...

 

[Vormund]

Never even heard of Buffalo.

I like Seagate and Samsung.

WD are ok too I guess.

 

[Diablos]

Get the Maxtor.

All drives could possibly fail. Maxtor, WD, Seagate, doesn't matter. I will say those three are all good brands, what you should avoid are IBM and Samsung drives.

 

[goodcow]

Get the new LaCie 1.6TB drive.

http://www.govconnection.com/web/Sh...hLogID={E6E2F009-1889-4BA1-939F-9F04C7ECABF0}

 

[Sander]

IBM's HD division is now Hitachi. And there is no need to avoid those, in fact many sites will tell you the Hitachi drives are the best 8MB 7200 drives available (of course, reliability is not really tested).

The horror stories you read about IBM drives were all about a single type, which simply had a design flaw. I think they used 5 platters instead of the normal 3 and it just didnt work. Guess what, they dumped that idea Like before the infamous 75GXP, IBM/Hitachi now has kickass drives again. I had a 75GXP, and it died on me. Nevertheless I now have a Hitachi, simply because it's a great drive and there is no concern for reliability.

 

[MoxManiac]

As long as it isn't WD, I'd say go for it.

I've read good reviews about Samsung's drives, never tried them myself though.

Sander: So IBM/Hitachi cleaned up their act? I have had a GXP60 (i think) for 3+ years, and it's been awesome, I would love to get that kind of quality again.

 

[Sander]

They learned from their mistake, of course they can make completely new mistakes in the future The Hitachi 7K250 / 7K400 series has been on top of the storagereview leaderboard for a long time now: http://storagereview.com/php/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=LeaderBoard

The 60GXP is a newer model than the 75GXP btw, although the name might indicate otherwise. But maybe you already knew that.

 

[Alcibiades]

yeah, I'm thinking now of going with Maxtor since along with WD and Seagate are the most well-known...