What to buy, internal drive or external drive?

[red1980]

Hi! Need some help , no idea what to buy.
I am running out of space so I am buying a new hard drive but I dont know which way to go between internal hardrive and external? are there any disadvantages on the external hardrive? what should i look for? Is an external drive slower than an internal? Can I install software on the external drive and run it from there? Is reading or writing slower on the external drive?
If there is no difference between external and internal, I will go the external way, so far I have found that the best thing for external is firewire 800 / IEEE 1394b, I am looking for a 500GB so the best seems : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136047

I have a pc and at work a macpro and i like the idea of having an external hardrive to carry files, so what should I search for to be able to read and write both in windows and OSX? if I am not wrong it ahs to do with the format, either FTS or NTFS, which way to go?
Thxs loads!!

 

[g-paw]

If it's just for storage, I'd get an internal and for backup an external. Obviously, if you want to be able to take it out and copy off other machines, you'd want an external. As for copying MAC files, really don't know. You could probably partition the drive and make one Partition FTS. Check out Partition Magic and see if it will do this but have know idea if there would be recognition problems. Are you going to be able to read the files in your Windows machine? I'd get a case and hdd and put it together myself. I'd get a case with a SATA 3.0 Internal connection and USB/eSATA/firewire external, guessing the MAC has firewire but if it has USB you won't need firewire. eSATA is the fastest connection and if you get eSATA, make sure it comes with an eSATA card. You really shouldn't need a case with a fan

 

[koolaidkitten]

I like internal
mainly cause they are cheaper
one less thing on my clutterted desktop
and when I go to a LANparty its one less thing I have to pack up or worry about someone stealing.

but of course these may no apply to you.

 

[Eru]

Hi red!
I would also suggest the Firewire 800 as it is the fastest of the connections, but just before you buy it please do make sure your pc at home has a firewire connector (some cheap motherboards come without them).
You might want to format the disk using NTFS as the Mac OS X can read NTFS natively whereas the PC would require third party software for reading MAC formats (unless you use Linux, i think).

http://www.ehow.com/how_6527_format-pc-disk.html
http://www.macosxhints.com /article.php?story=20050521110452194&lsrc=osxh

If in case the NTFS partition is NOT working fine you might want to try FAT32.
All the best!

 

[snipingkid]

Do we need an additional OS for an external drive?

 

[rabidbunny]

No, another os is not necessary. Under windows, all you have to do is install (for internal) the drive into your case and plug it into the mobo. then you format the drive and you should be good to go.

If you are gonna go internal, then you will need to know what kind of hard drive connector you need (either Ide interface or SATA interface).

For external, it is even easier. Either put one together yourself, which isn't hard, or buy an external drive preassembled. All you have to do with that is plug it in through whatever connection and you're set. the only thing you would have to do with a DIY external drive is, again, formatting the hd since it would be the same as another internal drive.

 

[bobbknight]

I just added a pci-e x1 card to my computer and with it a sata external hard drive.
It works just as fast as an internal drive and is transportable between my other computers.
Every motherboard I buy from now on will have a e-sata connector or two.
As to an external enclosure for sata, I like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817362002