Help buying an external hard drive?

[Jedi5]

After many many many many years I've finally decided to buy an external hard drive.
Only I have no idea what I'm looking for or more importantly should be looking for.

I'm only going to use the external HD to store my pictures and videos.
Guessing that a 1TB HD will do the job.

Looking at Best Buy quickly to see what is out there, I see this EasyStore 1TB for $50.
Is that a good HD that will work for me?
Best Buy also has a Mac specific HD for $60.
Is one better than the other?
Does the HD have to be Mac specific or will any HD do the job?
Any brands I should stay away from?

Thanks!

 

[monokakata]

Any HD will do the job. You just have to format it for Mac.

All brands have their ups and downs.

At those prices, those are probably 5400 rpm drives. Fine for backup, maybe not so fine if you want to actually use them as a working drive.

 

[Jedi5]

At those prices, those are probably 5400 rpm drives. Fine for backup, maybe not so fine if you want to actually use them as a working drive.

And like I said, I know zero about external hard drives.
Didn't know I could use them as a working drive.
Learned something already!

Strictly used for backup and nothing more.

 

[monokakata]

I'd suggest the $50 one. You don't need hardware encryption -- well, I guess that's up to you. But you can set up encryption yourself; you don't need hardware.

 

[tibas92013]

I own two(2) Western Digital My Passport External HD's and both have served me very well for the last three(3) years. One is 500GB and the other 1TB and both had to be re-formatted for my MM(2014) and my other MM(Late 2012).
Last month I decided to purchase the Samsung T-5 500GB SSD to use as a back-up OS boot drive for my new MM(Late 2018).

 

[Jedi5]

I ended up going with this 2TB drive after all.
Cheap and I had $10 coupon at BB.

Thanks again!

Much easier than I thought it would be, LOL.

 

[LorenK]

Just a thought, but you may want to explore New Egg and other online sites at some point. While I am generally a fan of local bricks and mortar, Best Buy tends to make big deals for quantity products, so you won't get the most reliable products, unless you pay a premium. I don't know what your use is, but if it's just back up and, from the size of the hard drive you've selected, you're probably fine with what you bought from Best Buy. If your storage needs change, you will want to explore your online options.

 

[jeyf]

A moot point as the OP already bought the drive.

-for home use and mechanical drives you guys should buy some sort of NAS box. Maybe a 2 bay and a 3 bay could do raid5. Consider manufacturers like Qnap or Synology, maybe Drobo and others for the box. Plug the box into your router and or if you must consider direct connect to things like the usbC. The box manufacturer will have a list of compatible drives but really you can use any drive.
-for portable use a SS self powered situation. Its just 2T is soooo small

 

[LorenK]

Yeah, I caught that, like you, I was just trying to get to think what’s next. I had a NAS, but quickly outgrew, and have gone the Icybox plus raid route. It didn’t sound like the op was storing much, so I didn’t want to get too deep. What he has will probably serve those who use their computers for mail and surfing. If his use expands, then your suggestions will serve him well.

 

[jeyf]

difficult to out grow a NAS box but indeed what is next?

home NAS box;
I keep the same medium sized mechanical drives till one goes bad. Install the next generation drive which is generally 2X the size of the old drive. The NAS box itself re formats it self with the new drive. Now the box has increased capacity.

Best Buy would not be my first, second or third choice.