My dad wants an off the shelf external HDD. Anyone have any opinions on these two?

Western Digital 500gb

Freecom 500gb

Or a third option?

Cheers

Western Digital 500GB about £20 cheaper. I don't know if the free shipping will go to the UK though. If not, I'd be happy to ship it to you.

EDIT: Their FAQ says they don't ship internationally. Bummer.

I wouldn't get the Essential, I'd go with the My Book Premium or Pro edition. I forget which one includes a fan. I got mine before they had 15 different editions and started to strip out the fans from the lower editions.

Neither of those listings really list one important spec, the bridge chip in use. I've been burned on some cheep chips that I finally got sick of it and bought an enclosure with an Oxford 924 chipset. The 924 is probably a bit much for what is needed here (it does does Firewire 800/400, USB2, and eSATA), but something Oxford based would be my vote.

Seems none have a fan - unless I plump for the 'Edition II' models. Why so many models - just to confuse me??

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=5