Best external hard drive for the money

[DizneyLizzy]

I am switching jobs and need to turn in my work laptop. I want to transfer all of my photos (thousands), music, and office documents onto an external hard drive, and eventually move some of the files I'll need for my new job onto my new computer. Any suggestions for a good hard drive at a decent price? I'm assuming amazon will have the best deal. Also my current computer is a PC and my future computer will be a Mac. If that makes the transfer impossible, I might just buy my computer from my current employer. I'm a teacher and have 9 years of lesson plans, activities, etc that i want to somehow bring with me. Currently all of my files are backed up on my current school's network, which I obviously won't have access to once I switch.

Any advice on a good external hard drive would be great!

 

[Cowboysrule]

I am switching jobs and need to turn in my work laptop. I want to transfer all of my photos (thousands), music, and office documents onto an external hard drive, and eventually move some of the files I'll need for my new job onto my new computer. Any suggestions for a good hard drive at a decent price? I'm assuming amazon will have the best deal. Also my current computer is a PC and my future computer will be a Mac. If that makes the transfer impossible, I might just buy my computer from my current employer. I'm a teacher and have 9 years of lesson plans, activities, etc that i want to somehow bring with me. Currently all of my files are backed up on my current school's network, which I obviously won't have access to once I switch.

Any advice on a good external hard drive would be great!

I always put together my own external hard drives. By putting an internal into a case. I prefer the WD hard drives and Vantec cases. I have a number of single cases and one that holds 4 hard drives.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'm a fan of Western Digital--I've had other brands fail on me over the years, but never a WD.

 

[dawnhaze]

OP - You can use the same drive on Windows/Mac. Since you're moving stuff from a Windows computer to a Mac, the drive will be Windows-formatted, and Macs can read that format. Once you're re-established on the new Mac, you could then reformat the drive to be formatted for Mac if you wanted to use it for Time Machine backups.

I'm a fan of Western Digital--I've had other brands fail on me over the years, but never a WD.

Personally, I've had the exact opposite experience. All my external failures have been WD except for one.

I like G-Drive and Seagate, but I acknowledge that brand loyalty on this particular item is pretty much a crapshoot.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

OP - You can use the same drive on Windows/Mac. Since you're moving stuff from a Windows computer to a Mac, the drive will be Windows-formatted, and Macs can read that format. Once you're re-established on the new Mac, you could then reformat the drive to be formatted for Mac if you wanted to use it for Time Machine backups. Personally, I've had the exact opposite experience. All my external failures have been WD except for one. I like G-Drive and Seagate, but I acknowledge that brand loyalty on this particular item is pretty much a crapshoot.

Thank you! The PC Mac thing was my biggest concern. Good to know about the brand crapshoot. How much should i expect to pay?

 

[timmac]

Thank you! The PC Mac thing was my biggest concern. Good to know about the brand crapshoot. How much should i expect to pay?

Depends on the size. For just a basic external drive, probably in the $100-200 range. I think I paid $179 for my 3TB WD external drive.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Personally, I've had the exact opposite experience. All my external failures have been WD except for one.

I like G-Drive and Seagate, but I acknowledge that brand loyalty on this particular item is pretty much a crapshoot.

Yep, I think drives are largely a commodity at this point. It often comes down to one's personal experience.

 

[timmac]

Yep, I think drives are largely a commodity at this point. It often comes down to one's personal experience.

Largely agree with this too. One minor point I'd offer--slightly off topic though-- is that this is different for SSDs. For those, quality can vary widely by manufacturer and even by model. On the average, SSD failure rate is pretty abysmal, so it's worth taking the time to make a good selection.

 

[Lewisc]

Check a site like techbargains, fatwallet. Check online vendors like Newegg and Amazon. Decide what size drive you need, what interface (USB 3 for example) then shop by price.

 

[supersnoop]

I am switching jobs and need to turn in my work laptop. I want to transfer all of my photos (thousands), music, and office documents onto an external hard drive, and eventually move some of the files I'll need for my new job onto my new computer. Any suggestions for a good hard drive at a decent price? I'm assuming amazon will have the best deal. Also my current computer is a PC and my future computer will be a Mac. If that makes the transfer impossible, I might just buy my computer from my current employer. I'm a teacher and have 9 years of lesson plans, activities, etc that i want to somehow bring with me. Currently all of my files are backed up on my current school's network, which I obviously won't have access to once I switch.

Any advice on a good external hard drive would be great!

One quick piece of advice; there are two types of "external" hard drives. They're usually referred to as "Desktop" or "Portable" on the packaging. A "Desktop" drive will be larger (physically) and will have more storage for a lower price. It will also have a power adapter that plugs into a wall outlet. A "Portable" drive will be smaller (physically) and will cost more, especially as you get to the larger storage sizes. However, a "Portable" drive will not require a power adapter; it will be powered by the cable connecting it to you computer.

Since "Portable" drives are based on laptop hard drives, I would assume that a 1TB drive would be more than enough to back up your files.