external hard drive suggestions

I`ve got a couple of Maxtor OneTouch external drives for my laptop used with Liquid, a 200 & 500 gig, connected via USB & they work fine, never experienced any probs with the content & A/V media on the same drive.

I too use maxtor 500gb external usb drives, never had problems with media and project files on the same drive, I use the same setup with all my projects, Folder named as per customer name with sub folders for project media, audio files, stills etc, only ever had problems when saving files to the same drive as editing software.
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Honda VTX1300CX

Any minute now, parcel force should be arriving with the western digital:
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=322613

Has good customer rating, but this doesn't necessary mean they'll be good in 6 months time..like most things.

I chose this as retailer told me it had stronger casing than most and perhaps more reliable.
Previously had lacie, which went flakey and following feedback here that Lacies problems are common I'm avoiding them.

So, any good name, strong case, good price (my WD includes various cables) and choice of firewire/USB. Option to daisy chain a camera would be a bonus.

I'm leaning toward the WD because it has a longer warranty and comes with cables for each of the connection ports.

BTW Luis, make sure it has a Firewire interface (and NOT USB alone).

Thanks everyone. I went with the WD in the end. It has 3 years warranty and comes with cables for all three interfaces. I also think it looks nicer than the Maxtor casing.

..oops bolted horse?

Rec'd WD external HD, 500GB.
Needs reformatting to NTFS, so did it via new XP laptop.
Left to run overnight and 'locked up' laptop in morning.
So hooked up External HD to edit suite and reformatted ..after running for several hours it got to 100% then said:
Formatting local_disk 'windows was unable to complete the format'.

I had ticked the NTFS option.
I didn't tick 'quick format' or 'enable compression'
Computer management says 'healthy' and under file system, where FAT32 or NTFS would be, it is blank.
Any ideas before I contact retailer tomorow with a view to returning?

Did you actually create a partition before formatting?

These drives come 'blank', In 'computer management, first create a partition then format.

Thank you Dave / Foxvideo.
I believe it came FAT format,with instructions to format for NTFS.
Followed instructions - which on checking back, did include 'partition'.
Also, shows in management as dark blue (not black) implying partition is present.

Tried 3rd time, removed partition and re-created it and re-formatted... up to 100% after 2.5 hours and message 'unable to format'.

I must admit I don't understand why a partitiion is required when there is only 1 part, so just followed instructions blindly.
I've advised retailer, 'Komplett' and awaiting a techical services email reply in next 24 hours.

If it's a new drive and refuses to do a full format then I suspect it's faulty. Get an RMA and get Komplett to replace it FOC. Don't let them fob you off and make you return it to the manufacturer for a replacement. Your contract is with Komplett.

I share your view Mark, but I'm fallible so I'll see what they say.
I bought it believing it to be stronger case and more reliable than alternatives.
On a sample of 1 this doesn't seem to be the case.

Think I'll go for an external icy_box case instead:
http://www.powerc.com/ps/code=EUSB2-35&act=gpage/1/629-1191412234-4235//
if the link is same as one I saw in shop, it has 2 firewire connectors and thumb screws for quick access.

Had a reply now, saying to return.
They say:
'6) The return parcel must be sent to our Return Department at your risk and expense. Returning the parcel back to youwill be at Komplett's expense.'

Have you returned to them Paul - did you have to pay postage?

Hi
Needing some quick'n'easy backup storage when working on a client's edit Mac yesterday I popped out to get the cheapest available over-the-counter deal, and got a 500GB Maxtor USB 2 external drive from PC World - £74.99.

Because USB 2 isn't a Mac thing for video editing, I've now opened up the grey plastic case to extract the drive and put it into another firewire case, and found a Seagate 500GB 7200.10 PATA drive (16MB cache). So it seems Seagate, who own Maxtor, are using their own drives in their Maxtor-branded boxes.

And I suppose I can use the Maxtor case/bridgeboard to connect uncased older backup drives for quick access to old files on them.
Obviously I've blown the warranty, but so far I've always found drives I've bought to be totally reliable.