Hard Drives > From 450 GB to 650 GB Hard Drives

Advantages: Fast, nice design, prevents data loss and corruption
Disadvantages: slows down the start up time (unknown reason)

General Western Digital specialises in producing external hard drives therefore their products are of good quality. The My Book Essential offers 500 GB which is more than enough for a standard user (Family usage). You can back up your pictures, videos, documents and programs without running out of space. Design The HD has a slick design and the shape of a book; it is small - however not small enough to be a portable hard drive. But ...
...the included set up from Western Digital that allows you to manage sync groups and automate backups or update files on the external drive. Based on my personal experience data stored on the drive is really secure! It happened more than once that my friend unplugged the drive while being used - regardless this fact I was happy enough not to lose data or discover that it was corrupted. USB/memory sticks often break down after being accidentally pulled ... Read review

Advantages: Maximizes the amount of data vs the cost of the product
Disadvantages: heat issues, cord connectivity, and small installation problems.

...but I honestly only order Maxtor for my hard drives. Now the only downside to the Maxtor 500 GB is that it is an external drive that, if not careful, can overheat and cause connectivity problems, transfer speed issues, or just annoyance from when the usb gets knocked out. That being said, if you can get past the downside of have an external I would recommend this product to anyone not using a Mac. The only reason I do not recommend this to Mac owners ... Read review

Advantages: fast, spacious and very quiet
Disadvantages: none really...

...the drive that contains some Freecom software but I haven't used it yet. Within minutes of installing the drive I was transferring over 300GB of data to it and in use I have found the drive to be almost silent, even when transferring gigabytes of data you can only just about hear the drive running and the transfer rates seem excellent for a USB drive (although I haven't actually checked what the rates actually are). The casing does get a little warm ...
...would recommend it without hesitation. I have had several external drives over the years and currently also have a WD MyBook 500Gb external drive but I would easily recommend this drive over the MyBook because I have found the Freecom to be quieter, faster, cooler in use and better looking. ... Read review

Advantages: Easy installation, looks good, ease of use
Disadvantages: None found

I've bought two of these drives now and am very impressed. On opening the box you'll find the following: The drive itself, power supply, USB cable and an instruction leaflet. The drive feels solid and well built, although the aluminium case does have some sharp edges near the front where it joins the plastic bezel. The drive comes formatted to FAT32, but this is easily changed to NTFS. Being a curious sort, I took one apart to find out the manufacturer ...
...a Seagate Barracuda, not the bottom of the range drive I was expecting! Installation under Windows XP/Vista is a doddle, just plug in the power cable, plug in the USB cable, switch it on and it's automatically detected and ready to go. In use, both drives have proved very reliable, and although transfer speeds over USB 2.0 are never going to set the world on fire, it's more than acceptable for storing and replaying your films on as I'm doing. ... Read review

Advantages: everything - space, look, price
Disadvantages: none

This is a very cool and compact metal-cased storage device that works as well as you would expect from Western Digital, which means phenomenal performance at a great price. Design Its presented in a big box, and I was very relieved (and also surprised) to see how small it actually is! At 8cm in width, by 1.5 in height and 13 cm in depth, the passport fails to take up much space on your desk or on top of your pc tower. Its a miniscule 105 gs which ...
...The stainless steel enclosure case is attractive and i hardly notice the sounds it makes when transferring files, thats how quiet this metal box is! Instructions The instructions were straight forward to plug it in, and watch it go. I inserted the USB canle and within a minute of plugging it in I received the software had been recognised and it was well on its way to fulfilling its purpose. Moments later the software was automatically installed, ... Read review