external hard drive with fan

[Modestvolta]

I'm looking to replay some old computer games (Baldur's Gate), but I don't have enough room on my internal hard drive to install them (limited space, plus I don't want to uninstall the programs that are taking up the majority of my space). So I'm going to install them on an external hard drive to play from there - I'm obviously looking at Firewire 800 hook-up, but do I need to find a hard drive with an internal fan? As the thing will be on for hours (assuming I find the time... here's hoping!), I tend to think a fan will be a good safeguard.

Does anyone know of a good external hard drive with a fan? or am I wrong to think I need a fan?

 

[Paperdoc]

Read actual lab performance reviews of recent external drives. It's quite impressive how fast many are and how little power they consume, which equates to how much heat they generate.Look particularly for comments on unit temperature under sustained use. You probably can find an external HDD with really good performance that works just fine with no fan inside. However, if you are going for ultimate speed and a unit that contains a high-rpm Raptor or some such HDD, you may need that fan. When you buy, consider buying a replacement fan, too. If you use it for long periods, that fan may well wear out before any other component. And just try to find an exact match for it three years from now!

I agree the Firewire 800 (aka IEEE 1394b) interface is the fastest of the common ones available, but you'll probably have to buy a PCIe card to install that interface in your PC. You should be aware that an eSATA interface to an enclosure that contains a SATA II drive inside will probably work just as fast as the SATA II internal drive system. So if your machine has an eSATA port already, consider that. If not, consider adding one via a PCIe slot (NOT plain PCI) - PCIe x1 may be fast enough - as an alternative to Firewire 800. I still agree, though, that if you are adding a PCIe card and port anyway, Firewire 800 is faster than eSATA. Not sure about relative costs.

 

[Modestvolta]

I'm running on a MacBook Pro, so I've got the one FW port just hanging out by itself, which is also why I have limited space - didn't allow too much space for Windows to use. I'll probably end up building one. Just not enough options that I've been able to find out there. thanks!

 

[Paperdoc]

Lucky you! I understand that many Mac's have a Firewire 800 port included.

 

[Modestvolta]

Best answer selected by modestvolta.