Cheap External Hard Drive Recommendations

Reader Tom Baskin writes: Can you recommend an inexpensive external USB hard drive that works with Vista?

I'm surprised by how many readers send me questions about USB hard drives. I get a question like Tom's once a week at least. But maybe I shouldn't be shocked: I harp on backups all the time, and a USB hard drive is an easy and expedient way to get your backups done. There's also a lot of confusion in the category: When it comes to computers, Dell, HP, and Apple are household names. But comparably few consumers know anything about Seagate, Western Digital, or IOGear.

When I purchase external storage, here's how I do it: I search online at a reputable retailer for the capacity hard drive I'm looking for. I find the cheapest brand-name drive I can in that capacity, giving a little extra weight to interesting features that may make my life easier. (Maxtor's external drive that is powered by two USB plugs instead of an A/C adapter comes to mind.)

Ah, but what's a "brand name," you ask? I have no problem with any of the following brands: Western Digital, Maxtor, Seagate, and IOGear. A second tier I would buy if the deal was exceptional includes Iomega, SimpleTech, and LaCie. Most other names I probably wouldn't jump for. Most come in cheap cases, lack important components like a power adapter, and have no record of reliability. I also wouldn't worry too much about hard drive benchmarks, but feel free to check out a few reviews before you buy. (The hard drive market changes so rapidly that most reviews are out of date within months.)

As for Tom's other question, every USB hard drive should be compatible with Vista out of the box: Most are driverless and require no special software to work. (Any bundled software is a different story.) When you do buy, remember to purchase the biggest drive you can afford ($ per GB really plummets as capacity increases), and find a place to store the drive where it won't get bumped off the desk: With external drives, you are the biggest culprit when it comes to hard disk crashes.