ok so i got the hp simplesave 500 gig for 50 bucks at staples on black friday, turns out the simplesave software is impossible to get off (i even killdisked it and it appeared to be off but my computer wouldn't recognize it) so i just returned it and im gona be buying a new type of drive off of amazon because of there easy return service if something goes wrong again. so my question is what external hard drives out there either have no software on them (so they work like a giant flash drive) or ones with superb software that isn't faulty and misses things. preferably i'd rather have an external that works like a giant flash drive so i can store movies and music on it with ease and not slow down my computer. any help would be great......ive been looking at the Seagate Expansion [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-External-ST902504EXA101-RK/dp/tech-data/B001SJVU24/ref=de_a_smtd]Amazon.com: Seagate Expansion 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST902504EXA101-RK: Electronics[/ame] it seems solid but i would like some feedback, thanks
Well, I sell this kind of stuff, and from experience, I know transcend is excellent. I have a Transcend StoreJet 25D2 500GB which cost me R650 wholesale price (~ USD 90), but comes with drop protection (I've already dropped it once from at least a meter accidentally) and is USB powered (no wall plugs, but needs 2 USB ports). The software can easily just be deleted, that's what I did(I haven't even tested the software, and you don't need to format either). So if you can, try get Transcend, I know they're a good brand. Although their external HDD's have a 3 year warranty, their flash drives have a lifetime warranty (just some extra knowledge in case). Good luck choosing though, just giving my opinion .
I worked at office depot for awhile and I found the Seagate to be the cheapest and best. The best deal i saw was a 2 TB for $199.99. But you could go with a 1TB and they were from $99.99-$139.99. Here is the google lookup on it. Seagate 1 TB External hard drive - 480 Mbps - 5400 rpm
External hard drives are just big flash drives. All of them. There are some that have "virtual CD drives" that have software on them, but that's just crap that can be ignored. In other words, there was no reason to format it, nor return it. Just buy another external drive. Any one. Hell, why not just build your own, would probably be cheaper anyway, and you can guarantee you won't get any "junk software". But again... you can (and should have) just ignored the software.
I've used an HP SimpleSave. There's no way to remove the software (it's one of those hard drives with the virtual CD drives). But you DON'T have to use it. You don't even have to look at it. If you're really OCD you can remove its drive letter through Disk Management (or go through Device Manager and "disable" the virtual CD drive device), and just use the hard drive. But any software a hard drive comes with is purely optional. You either choose to run it, or you ignore it and just use the hard drive. Same with the SimpleSave. You can just dump crap on the hard drive.
Geez, keep an eye on the Sunday papers (or online sites). You can usually find a 2TB Seagate for around $119.
i got a 1.5tb WD external for like, 90 or 100 a few months ago. WD is an awesome brand and from what i hear on a regular basis are far more reliable than seagate. just sayin.