Hey guys!

Was wondering what models you folks recommend for external drives as both my mom and dad are wanting to get them.

I've heard a lot of problems with them concerning over heating and so on, and I have never looked into them for myself so am a bit out of the loop...

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Actually I could use some advice too...I can recommend the WD external drives, I've had my 500GB forever and it's pretty much invincible.

BUT I'm looking for a drive that's only powered by USB...no external needed.

WD and Lacie drives are top notch.

Buy the drive and case seperately and put them together. Save yourself a few bucks, and know the drive you buy has a 5 year warranty, then pick one that outputs less heat based on reviews from Tom's Hardware hard drive benchmark charts.

www.tomshardware.com

I have had 2-3 external hard drives around constantly for years, and took a 1tb drive to Edmonton for my training then to Afghanistan (only used indoors while air conditioned while overseas). Still works fine. Have always had good results with Vantec Nexstar enclosures. Passively cooled with an entirely aluminum casing.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=021590&cid=HDE.700

The WD drives are prettier, but tend to cost more for nothing.

Personally, I love Seagate drives. They're free agent externals kickass and look pretty cool to boot.

any of these that are USB-powered only?

You can get Seagate FreeAgentGO drives that are USB powered. 320Gb FreeAgent Go

Grab a case and a notebook drive (500Gig) from TomCom... Bang, bitches.

That's the best idea for portablility, can't beat it.

If its for backup storage just grab any sata drive and a case, should be fine.

I have an E-SATA port on my laptop, should I just use that?

If you have one but I don't think it will have power running through it.

Here you go deathwish.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=024641&cid=HDD.342.263

how about this

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=028394&cid=HDD.342.263