Toshiba External Hard Drives -- Are they reliable? Why are they so cheap?

[Cyanide2x4]

Looking for 2.5" external drives, I came across a Toshiba model which was unbelievably cheap.

Toshiba Canvio Basics 3TB costs only €110, while 2TB Western and Seagate drives cost about €105.

Why is there such a tremendous price gap in there? Are Toshiba drives reliable? Is there a reason why the 3TB model from Toshiba is only €5-10 more expensive than the 2TB Western/Seagate models?

 

[boosted1g]

Toshiba externals are usually on the same par of qualtiy as WD and Seagate external drives.
Now when I say that I mean that WD and Seagate external drives are not that high of quality either.

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Have you compared rest of the specs other than storage space? WD and Seagate are bigger names than Toshiba in storage currently, it's possible the Toshiba drive isn't as fast, may be refurbished, etc. In regards to WD and SG, their latest external drives come with backup software that require your agreement to their EULA for use (privacy policy says your info can be used in any way the companies deem appropriate), thus basically making what's supposed to be your external drive theirs, by regularly sending any info you put on those drives back to WD and SG. Unsure if Toshiba does the same thing. Just figured that's worth mentioning.

Aside from that: No reason to assume Toshiba's drives are inferior just because the one(s) you're looking at cost less. If you're looking for an external drive for backup, there are other drives worth looking into as well. Fantom drives, & others offer quality external drives that are reasonably priced. And if using for backup, you'd be the one that chooses what method or software to use, rather than vice versa.

 

[Cyanide2x4]

Toshiba externals are usually on the same par of qualtiy as WD and Seagate external drives.
Now when I say that I mean that WD and Seagate external drives are not that high of quality either.

What would be some reliable and high-quality brands to look at?

 

[Cyanide2x4]

Have you compared rest of the specs other than storage space? WD and Seagate are bigger names than Toshiba in storage currently, it's possible the Toshiba drive isn't as fast, may be refurbished, etc. In regards to WD and SG, their latest external drives come with backup software that require your agreement to their EULA for use (privacy policy says your info can be used in any way the companies deem appropriate), thus basically making what's supposed to be your external drive theirs, by regularly sending any info you put on those drives back to WD and SG. Unsure if Toshiba does the same thing. Just figured that's worth mentioning.

Aside from that: No reason to assume Toshiba's drives are inferior just because the one(s) you're looking at cost less. If you're looking for an external drive for backup, there are other drives worth looking into as well. Fantom drives, & others offer quality external drives that are reasonably priced. And if using for backup, you'd be the one that chooses what method or software to use, rather than vice versa.

The models are:

Toshiba Canvio Basics 3TB USB3.0 2.5 HDTB330EK3CA
Western Digital My Passport USB3.0 2TB 2.5 WDBYFT0020BBK-WESN
Seagate Backup Plus Slim USB3.0 - 2TB 2.5 STDR2000201

In terms of specs, Toshiba seems to be a smaller and also a lighter drive (100 grams lighter) compared to the €105 Western and €100 Seagate. Everything else is identical and the speed is reliable:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage/disk-drives-hdd-ssd/toshiba-3tb-canvio-external-hard-drive-1296244/review

I will use the drive mostly for storing photos, films, music, etc. Therefore, it will be accessed on a regular basis but it won't be moving around much, perhaps once or twice a year to a trip.

I have been looking at HGST Touro drives as well. They seem to be high-quality drives (at least based on the reviews I have read online) and they are in the same price-range as WD/Seagate.

Any recommendations for high-quality brands to look at except for the aforementioned Fantom?

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Have you compared rest of the specs other than storage space? WD and Seagate are bigger names than Toshiba in storage currently, it's possible the Toshiba drive isn't as fast, may be refurbished, etc. In regards to WD and SG, their latest external drives come with backup software that require your agreement to their EULA for use (privacy policy says your info can be used in any way the companies deem appropriate), thus basically making what's supposed to be your external drive theirs, by regularly sending any info you put on those drives back to WD and SG. Unsure if Toshiba does the same thing. Just figured that's worth mentioning.

Aside from that: No reason to assume Toshiba's drives are inferior just because the one(s) you're looking at cost less. If you're looking for an external drive for backup, there are other drives worth looking into as well. Fantom drives, & others offer quality external drives that are reasonably priced. And if using for backup, you'd be the one that chooses what method or software to use, rather than vice versa.

The models are:

Toshiba Canvio Basics 3TB USB3.0 2.5 HDTB330EK3CA
Western Digital My Passport USB3.0 2TB 2.5 WDBYFT0020BBK-WESN
Seagate Backup Plus Slim USB3.0 - 2TB 2.5 STDR2000201

In terms of specs, Toshiba seems to be a smaller and also a lighter drive (100 grams lighter) compared to the €105 Western and €100 Seagate. Everything else is identical and the speed is reliable:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage/disk-drives-hdd-ssd/toshiba-3tb-canvio-external-hard-drive-1296244/review

I will use the drive mostly for storing photos, films, music, etc. Therefore, it will be accessed on a regular basis but it won't be moving around much, perhaps once or twice a year to a trip.

I have been looking at HGST Touro drives as well. They seem to be high-quality drives (at least based on the reviews I have read online) and they are in the same price-range as WD/Seagate.

Any recommendations for high-quality brands to look at except for the aforementioned Fantom?

Nothing wrong with Fantom, still a reliable company far as I know, offering decent usb3 aluminum enclosed external drives at competitive prices. LaCie, Buffalo, g-technology, Transcend, Samsung, Apricorn, OWC, Akitio, etc, also worth looking into. The nicer ones have aluminum enclosures, & for portable are shockproof as well.

Note: HGST(Hitachi Global Storage) was bought by WD some time ago, I'm not sure what kind of changes, if any, were made. HGST supposedly had among the lowest failure rates for their HDDs. If true, would hope that's still so, don't know though.

 

[Cyanide2x4]

Have you compared rest of the specs other than storage space? WD and Seagate are bigger names than Toshiba in storage currently, it's possible the Toshiba drive isn't as fast, may be refurbished, etc. In regards to WD and SG, their latest external drives come with backup software that require your agreement to their EULA for use (privacy policy says your info can be used in any way the companies deem appropriate), thus basically making what's supposed to be your external drive theirs, by regularly sending any info you put on those drives back to WD and SG. Unsure if Toshiba does the same thing. Just figured that's worth mentioning.

Aside from that: No reason to assume Toshiba's drives are inferior just because the one(s) you're looking at cost less. If you're looking for an external drive for backup, there are other drives worth looking into as well. Fantom drives, & others offer quality external drives that are reasonably priced. And if using for backup, you'd be the one that chooses what method or software to use, rather than vice versa.

The models are:

Toshiba Canvio Basics 3TB USB3.0 2.5 HDTB330EK3CA
Western Digital My Passport USB3.0 2TB 2.5 WDBYFT0020BBK-WESN
Seagate Backup Plus Slim USB3.0 - 2TB 2.5 STDR2000201

In terms of specs, Toshiba seems to be a smaller and also a lighter drive (100 grams lighter) compared to the €105 Western and €100 Seagate. Everything else is identical and the speed is reliable:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage/disk-drives-hdd-ssd/toshiba-3tb-canvio-external-hard-drive-1296244/review

I will use the drive mostly for storing photos, films, music, etc. Therefore, it will be accessed on a regular basis but it won't be moving around much, perhaps once or twice a year to a trip.

I have been looking at HGST Touro drives as well. They seem to be high-quality drives (at least based on the reviews I have read online) and they are in the same price-range as WD/Seagate.

Any recommendations for high-quality brands to look at except for the aforementioned Fantom?

Nothing wrong with Fantom, still a reliable company far as I know, offering decent usb3 aluminum enclosed external drives at competitive prices. LaCie, Buffalo, g-technology, Transcend, Samsung, Apricorn, OWC, Akitio, etc, also worth looking into. The nicer ones have aluminum enclosures, & for portable are shockproof as well.

Note: HGST(Hitachi Global Storage) was bought by WD some time ago, I'm not sure what kind of changes, if any, were made. HGST supposedly had among the lowest failure rates for their HDDs. If true, would hope that's still so, don't know though.

I didn't assume there is anything wrong with Fantom, I merely asked for another suggestions since their drives are not available in my area.

However, I am afraid most of the other brands you are referring to are practically non-existent, that is to say, they exist only in theory.

Buffalo does not even produce its own drives and mostly acquires the drives from other companies.

LaCie does not produce their own drives either and all of their drives come from Seagate (LaCie was acquired by Seagate almost half a decade ago).

It is the same case with Samsung, they receive their drives from Seagate (Seagate also acquired Samsung years ago).

G-Technology is owned by HGST (which itself is a subsidiary brand of Western Digital).

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

And yet, regardless of the aquisitions mentioned, or whether they build the HDDs used in their drives or not, the desktop/& some portable external drives from some of the companies mentioned above have decent warrantees & are built noticeably better than the latest offerings by WD or SG, with the possible exception of some of their portable drives, where WD/SG build quality seems to be nicer on some models. By exist in theory, I'm guessing you mean they aren't available in your area? They're definitely available in NA on Amazon & some on Newegg as well.

But getting back to your original concern, those 3 portable models you list seem to be more or less on par. Externally, the seagate uses aluminum on the top, and plastic on the bottom it'd seem. Considering the price difference between the other two and the Toshiba, the Toshiba is likely worth giving a try.

 

[wanneslier]

Have been using Toshiba external drive 500GB for some years now and they work perfectly.
Just bought a Toshina 3TB USB 3.0 external drive.

 

[fzabkar]

I regularly watch the professional data recovery forums. The current, prevailing opinion appears to be that Toshiba makes the most reliable 2.5" models and Hitachi (HGST) makes the most reliable 3.5" models.