On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 2:43 AM, Chetan Bhargava wrote= : > Don't use WD Passport for reasons on my blog. Use Seagate GoFlex for > obvious reasons. Both Seagate and WD have had quality issues through the years. A few years ago WD was preferred to Seagate, but that may easily have changed. You always have to track the market to not only know which manufacturer has the edge, but what specific drive models to prefer and avoid. My preference has always been to purchase bare drives with a five year warranty. I am not sure it is even possible to purchase drives with a five year warranty any more, and almost certainly not consumer drives. It has been my experience that most drives fail shortly outside of their warranty period, and by the time a drive gets to be five years old, it is worth retiring anyway. Drives that ship in external enclosures almost never have more than one-year warranties, and almost always have the lowest quality drives and usb interface/power supplies. If you want a reliable external drive, you need to pick a quality bare drive and a quality enclosure and assemble it yourself. -p. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .