External HDD Options

[BRUTALiTY]

Am looking to purchase an external hdd soon and have a few things to ponder before I do.

I bought a Maxtor/Seagate 1TB external a while back which bricked on me (it's recognised but can't be accessed...probably salvagable but anyways...). I was curious to know as a result of this, whether I should consider 'better' brands, and what people might reccomend. For instance, should I focus on WD, are they more reliable? What are people's experience (as subjective I guess as they may be...)

Secondly, I'm unsure whether I should opt for a model with e-sata. While sometimes double the price, it would be nice to transfer files at what should theoretically be 10x the speed of usb. It's unlikely I'll be moving it around a lot so the advantage of usb allowing 'hot-swapping' isn't terribly overbearing, but will I ever reach the transfer rates of e-sata that are preached? Is it worth it?

Are there other things I should be considering?

Fairly mundane question I guess, but would appreciate any comments nonetheless

[priorax]

In terms of speed, eSATA will out preform all other forms of external media, both in small files and larger ones.

If you want to see an example of speeds, NCIX Tech Tips did a video on it the other day (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqlqCoQMLsQ) where they tested eSATA, USB3, USB2 and Firewire up against each other to see which was best

Spoiler: eSATA won both tests