Help for buying an External HDD

utkarsh73

utkarsh73

Journeyman
I am looking to buy a 1TB USB 3.0 external Hard Disk but I don't know anything about hard disks. I went to a local shop and he showed me Seagate Expansion Portable 1TB Hard disk for Rs. 6300. On the package was written "USB 3.0 upgradeable". Now what does this mean??
I mean, "upgradeable to USB 3.0" means we have to upgrade the hardware of the HDD and how am I supposed to do that?? Is there a kit or something for upgrading?? I asked the shopkeeper and he had no idea about it. He said there is a software available in the harddisk to upgrade(ofcourse I don't believe him).
The model he showed me was most probably this....
Seagate Expansion Portable 1 TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive

Also what are the other factors to consider while buying external HDD?? Any other suggestion??
 
aroraanant

aroraanant

Explorer
Upgradable means that there is separate cable which one needs to buy(correct me if I am wrong) and that costs a lot.So there is no fun a buying that disk.
And the link which you have has a USB 3.0. There is no need to upgrade.The one which you saw must be having the same look.
One must go for USB 3.0 disks as their data transfer rate at USB 2.0 is more than the normal one.
And prefer to buy a Western Digital(WD) HDD.
And I hope you know that a 3.5" HDD requires a external power source, its the same HDD which coputers have.And 2.5" HDD are the ones which are there in the laptops and they don't require a external power source.So go for a 2.5" HDD only
 
W

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
you probably saw this:
ST910004EXA101-RK Seagate Expansion Portable 1TB Hard Drive | Seagate
if a hard disk packet mention "USB 3.0 upgradeable" then it is not usb 3.0.seagate go flex portable hard disks can be upgraded to usb 3 using this:
Seagate GoFlex Upg. Cable : USB 3.0 - www.deltapage.com
make sure packet mention usb 3 or better note model no.(e.g in above link Model ST910004EXA101-RK)& use google to confirm.
 
OP
utkarsh73

utkarsh73

Journeyman
Thanks for the info........
And its ridiculous to buy a 2000 Rs. cable when we can buy a new 3.0 HDD for the same price online.

aroraanant said:
Upgradable means that there is separate cable which one needs to buy(correct me if I am wrong) and that costs a lot.So there is no fun a buying that disk.
And the link which you have has a USB 3.0. There is no need to upgrade.The one which you saw must be having the same look.
One must go for USB 3.0 disks as their data transfer rate at USB 2.0 is more than the normal one.
And prefer to buy a Western Digital(WD) HDD.
And I hope you know that a 3.5" HDD requires a external power source, its the same HDD which coputers have.And 2.5" HDD are the ones which are there in the laptops and they don't require a external power source.So go for a 2.5" HDD only
Click to expand...
Thanks and Yes, I knew about the 3.5 inch HDDs.
Something wrong with Seagate HDDs?? Because WD HDDs are rare in the local market and I will have to look for it online.

WD Elements SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive (Black)
And how is this HDD?? And why is it costly than WD My Passport SE 1TB?? I don't find much difference. Dimensions and weight are almost similar and the only difference is 3 years instead of 2years warranty.
 
W

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
i prefer seagate portable hard disks.reason is WD portable hard disks have the usb port soldered to the hard disk itself which means that if your connector gets damaged you can't simply open the case to take out the drive & connect it to other system as internal or use another casing to save your data even if your hard disk itself is fine.in other words in case of WD portable hdd,health of usb connector=health of hard disk.
 
topgear

topgear

Super Moderator
Staff member
acc to WD website My Passport Essential SE and WD Elements SE both have 3 yrs. warranty ;-)
 
aroraanant

aroraanant

Explorer
utkarsh73 said:
Something wrong with Seagate HDDs?? Because WD HDDs are rare in the local market and I will have to look for it online.
Click to expand...
WD HDD hard to find, I think you are the first person saying that.
And I suggested WD HDD because they give onsite warranty and in case of seagate you have to take them at the service center(correct me if I m wrong)

WD Elements SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive (Black)
And how is this HDD?? And why is it costly than WD My Passport SE 1TB?? I don't find much difference. Dimensions and weight are almost similar and the only difference is 3 years instead of 2years warranty.
Click to expand...
It is not costlier than My passport SE,check and compare the prices again.

whitestar_999 said:
i prefer seagate portable hard disks.reason is WD portable hard disks have the usb port soldered to the hard disk itself which means that if your connector gets damaged you can't simply open the case to take out the drive & connect it to other system as internal or use another casing to save your data even if your hard disk itself is fine.in other words in case of WD portable hdd,health of usb connector=health of hard disk.
Click to expand...

Really!!!
Thanks for the info BTW.
 
OP
utkarsh73

utkarsh73

Journeyman
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Finally I bought a WD My Passport SE 1 TB USB 3.0 HDD for Rs. 6500 from Reliance Digital, Ahmedabad.
And indeed, WD HDD are very difficult to find here. I went to total 4 shops and 3 of them did not had WD hard disk. Only one of them had but that was 500 GB. Then I went to croma store and those fools were selling 1TB version for Rs. 7500 and 500GB for 5500. Finally I got a good price for it in Reliance Digital. Even Flipkart is selling it for something Rs.6922.
*dl.dropbox.com/u/62898354/cover.JPG

*dl.dropbox.com/u/62898354/WD%20HDD.JPG
 
dashing.sujay

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
^I own it, its good and beautiful in design.

And yeah, Seagate penetration in Indian market is much higher than WD.
 
coderunknown

coderunknown

Retired Forum Mod
congrats. nice choice of colour but this one gets scratched really easily. i own a black one and its full of scratch.
 
OP
utkarsh73

utkarsh73

Journeyman
Sam said:
congrats. nice choice of colour but this one gets scratched really easily. i own a black one and its full of scratch.
Click to expand...
Well, the choice was between black and this silver so I chose this.
And when I touch it does not feels like it can be so easily scratched. Will see after few days.

dashing.sujay said:
Its slow, mine used to give upto 27MB/s. But normal should be at least near about 24MB/s.
Click to expand...
It might be slow because the no. of files was very large. 12295 files for 30 GB.
 
topgear

topgear

Super Moderator
Staff member
@ utkarsh73 - congrats ;-)

BTW, if possible use HDtune to run a benchmark and post the results here.
 
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