Which External HDD?

[BrianS]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a decent external HDD (mainly for a secondary backup) which is/should be reliable but also quiet since it'll be on most of the time and my PC is very quiet. I've got ~£65 and need 500GB+, At the moment I'm looking at one of these:

500GB Western Digital Elements External USB2 HDD 7200rpm 16Mb cache - £57.99
Retail Mybook II Western Digital 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive 16MB Cache - £64.99
500Gb Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 8Mb 7200rpm - £69.99

Any ideas which would be best or a better alternative to those listed? At the moment I've already got a 320GB MyBook which has been going well for about a year and is acceptable noise wise (far from silent) but OK

Thanks!

[peterb]

Personally I buy an external enclosure and put in my choice of drive - I use Samsung as they are quiet, but yiu can use what you like.

The advantages of some of the ready buikt (such as the LaCie or Seagate) is that yuou can get extra features - but for basic functionality, DIY is the most versatile.

[BrianS]

I'm not bothered about the extra features, just I don't know if I'd be able to get a decent 500GB HDD + good enclosure for within my budget that's why I was looking at the 'pre-built' ones. Any idea if these would be better?

500GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ - £45
+
Icybox IB-390St-US-B Black 3.5" SATA HDD with USB +eSATA ext caddy - £20

If not any better alternatives within my price range?

[peterb]

Looks OK to me! I might substitute the Akasa enclosure - about the same price (I have the dual IDE/SATA version) but its a matter of personal taste.