Where would be the best place to buy an USB powered external drive? Price isn't as important to me as quality. I'm looking for something over 500GB. Back home I would typically go to Best Buy or Future Shop, is there a similar large electronic retailer in Bangkok?

Pantip Plaza would be the place to go I would think.

Just buy the qual of drive you like and pay an extra 300 to 800 baht for the empty usb box to put it in. Nothing that special about ext drive. I alway get one that matchs my laptops drive then I can swap them if need be.

If you are looking for quality more than price. Then I would recommend looking at LaCie's products. A list of their retailers in Thailand can be seen here

Just buy the qual of drive you like and pay an extra 300 to 800 baht for the empty usb box to put it in. Nothing that special about ext drive. I alway get one that matchs my laptops drive then I can swap them if need be.

Whilst this is a cheaper alternative I have found the "generic" cheapo boxes tend to die, seems the controllers are of a poor quality.

After having many caddys die on me over the years I now only use Wetern digital My books (1tb), have not had one single issue with the 5 Ive purchased in the last 3 years, 2 of which are connected 24/7 for streaming my Movie and music collections.

I use to buy ext drive boxes, then add the drive myself, but as Spoonman suggests, these tend to fail quickly. I know a lot of friends who use LaCie's products, but although these are premium kit, I find these too expensive.

My suggestion is anything from the Western Digital range would be a good choice.

I bought some My Book Essential 1TB External Hard Drive back home in Oz just before Christmas for $139 each. Nice price, and they just work. What you pay here in BKK I don't know.

My suggestion is anything from the Western Digital range would be a good choice.

I bought some My Book Essential 1TB External Hard Drive back home in Oz just before Christmas for $139 each. Nice price, and they just work. What you pay here in BKK I don't know.

A bit under 4,000 baht.

Might just be due to the fact that there are so many more WD drives out there, but we get WD external drives almost every day that has failed and needs data recovery. Most just buy another cheap WD, and then we can only say: "see you soon"

I have a Seagate 500Gb drive complete with case. P/N 9SD2A4.

It is a 2.5" drive and fits in my pocket easily.

No problems powering it off the usb socket.

I have a Seagate 500Gb drive complete with case. P/N 9SD2A4.

It is a 2.5" drive and fits in my pocket easily.

No problems powering it off the usb socket.

I've been looking at a seagate external today at banana IT here in samui.

FreeAgent/Go Portable Hard drive

320gb 2,490

500gb 3,390

1tb 3,490

1.5 tb 4,990

Are these prices reasonable and on par with what I could find in Pantip?

Thanks

Yep looks about right those prices.

The 320 and 500GB are 2.5" and the 1 and 1.5TB are 3.5" I guess.

I have a Seagate 500Gb drive complete with case. P/N 9SD2A4.

It is a 2.5" drive and fits in my pocket easily.

No problems powering it off the usb socket.

good for you astral.

Something like the My Book is what I'm looking for. Is it safe to buy from Pantip? I'm always worried about the quality of buying any electronics from there.

Edited January 5, 201016 yr by motoyen

Not sure if the offer still stands, but at IT city I got a 1TB seagate hard drive for around 3500 Baht, the 500gb drive was about 100 baht less!

After having many caddys die on me over the years I now only use Wetern digital My books (1tb), have not had one single issue with the 5 Ive purchased in the last 3 years, 2 of which are connected 24/7 for streaming my Movie and music collections.

Second this. I've been using a 1TB WD My Book Home Edition pretty much 24/7 for the best part of a year (thanks to Wolfie for the initial recommendation) without a single issue *touches something wooden* Currently 5100 baht from IT Fever, 3rd floor Fortune IT Mall (much easier to get to than Pantip - MRT Phra Ram 9). Oh, and the My Book Essential (listed as 1000GB instead of 1TB on this price list for some reason) is 3620 if you're looking for a cheaper option, but I can't vouch for the reliability.