Hugh's comment is probably correct in that various brands have had their ups
and downs. My current favorite is Western Digital, which has had good
reviews and my own experience has also been good. Although my Seagate and
Maxtors have not had any trouble, the WD drives seem to run cooler and
quieter.

For backup, the fastest is to use a second internal drive, which I do. But
external storage is also important. For external I have switched to the
smaller 2.5 inch drives that have a USB as well as an e-SATA interface. The
2.5 USB is self powered and does not need a power pack. The e-SATA
additional interface allows me to run a faster transfer than USB when I want
it. I purchased two Acomdata 500GB units from NewEgg for around a $100. One
has a WD drive, and the Other a Samsung. Apparently the manufacturer uses
both brands of drive. No problems with either, although one was defective on
arrival and had to be exchanged.

I am not specifically endorsing the brand or vendor, but here is a link for
your reference to help in your research:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822216051


Peter Shkabara
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-----Original Message-----
First question - what is the pecking order of Hard Drives?  I seem to 
get the impression that Hitachis are best followed by Western Digital, 
Seagate - I have no idea where Samsung's, Fujisto and Maxtor stand.  Or 
at the end of the day, are they all sorta kinda the same?

With the above lead in, my second question is what are your thoughts on 
which is the better alternative - an external desktop drive, a portable 
hard drive or one or more internal drives plugged into a hard drive 
porting device?

Preston

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