I went to Comex, also known as the IT Fair or PC Show to some people. Comex is from this thursday to sunday, and I went down on the very first day to take a look at the offers over there. I went with Belinda, Leonie, Liyun, Jonathan. The rest didn’t go because they were not free or working.

I planned to buy a portable hard disk over at comex to backup and store my files, because of the lesson learnt from the Mac Drive saga. I went over on thursday not to buy but just taking a look at the offers and the hard disk that are offered.

After a few rounds around Comex and collecting a bunch of brochures, we went for dinner and walked around. I carried my cough and sore throat around and so it kind of dampened the mood a little, my mood.

After dinner, Belinda and Liyun headed home, and Leonie and Jonathan already left before that. I went home to take a look at the brochures, and I’m actually stuck at quite a few choices that were equally well matched in pricing and features. It was all down to which I had the better liking.

I did my research on friday, looking through reviews and forums, and looking at people’s experiences with the different series of disks. Here are the 3 I have narrowed down. All of them are 250GB in size.

1) Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini – $129

 

 

2) Seagate Freeagent Go – $129

 

 

3) Western Digital Passport Elite – $139

 

 

So I was pondering over which of these to get, and actually I have decided on the Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini on thursday and doing more research on it, and it was then I decided to do more research on the rest of the 2 disk.

In the end, I have decided to get the Western Digital Passport Elite @ 139 SGD, mainly because:

1) I like how the flap at the bottom closes to cover and protect the USB plug area

2) I like the design

3) The color fits my Mac =s

4) It has a very good user experience base and recommanded by many people for its reliability as compared to Seagate and Maxtor.

5) It has a free carrying case, which totally is excluded from the rest of the hard disk vendors. I really wonder why. Compared to Maxtor’s free 8r photo paper, I think I would pay 10 dollars more for the disk and get the carrying case.

I remembered how Seagate and Maxtor were very recommanded brands in the past by people, against even the former well known disk giant, Hitachi. But now it seems that Western Digital has earned its right to pit itself against the other choices on the market.

So in the end, I went over to Comex again today with Hongwei, and headed straight for Western Digital’s booth. I then realized it was Challanger’s Western Digital booth and I felt quite satisfied purchasing from them. There wasn’t as many people crowded around the booth as compared to noon and night. The crowd is a horrific sight.

1 thing I didn’t like though, was the limited knowledge of the promoter. Yes yes, I’m not complaining but I think it is their responsibilities to learn about the products that they are to promote. Let me see, I went over to the booth and asked:

Warning: Contents below might be a little technical, avoid ramblings if you think it is too deep.

1) What is the difference between WD(Western Digital) Passport Elite and Passport Studio? He explained properly, about the extra Firewire port. Ok~

2) I asked about the file system. What file system was it running? He kept telling me its Mac Compatible. Yes yes, I know, I can read the brochure, I can see the box. After a few minutes of rambling, “It is mac Compatible,” he still didn’t get the part about, what file system was it. It was actually in FAT32, to be able to be used by both Windows and Mac Systems.

3) I asked him the whether the Passport Studio comes formatted for the Mac specially, because on their website, it says that it is in the Mac File System, HFS+. He keeps telling me again, it is compatible for mac. Argh =E.

4) Lastly, I asked him about the TRANSFER RATE, and he open his mouth and say, “The disk spindle is at 5400RPM.” He is telling me that the disk spins at 5400 rounds per minute. Yes I know, but that doesn’t answer my question of the TRANSFER RATE. Argh again =E.

Notice: End of jargon terms content

 

 

I decided to stop my questions and instead get the Titanium Color of Passport Elite of Western Digital. They packed my small carry case for the disk and my product in a bag and there I am, a happy owner of the Passport Elite .

We went around and Hongwei’s sister went to the show to buy an Epson Printer too. I went with HW to look for her sister and her friend, and after a straightforward purchase of the printer, they went off, while HW and I went around looking at laptop prices for his friend.

After all of the squeezing, its time to head home! I went home straight, getting myself some food on the way for my stomach and strepsils for my throat.

 

It was then the unboxing of my new drive! Look at the light indicators! It shows the capacity of the drive using 4 lights, 1 light for 25% full. It moves left right when you are transferring a file or reading the drive. So fun.

 

That’s all for today! I’m off to go backup my important files now!