Newbie Question - External Hard Drives

[nezza]

Hi,

I've been looking round for the best way add additional storage for my notebook. I was looking at:
A - an external drive, but they seem costly for the capacity
B - replacing the hdd in the notebook, but again this seemed costly for the overall capacity.

A friend of mine recommended buying an internal IDE hdd along with a portable USB external enclosure, there by giving me more Gb's for my buck all be it with a reduced access speed.

Just wondered what you guys thought to this third option and if you had any tips about the best way to go.

Thanks in advance

Neil

 

[psnathan]

I've been looking around for an external hardisk too. Maxtor has a couple of good external drives(although all are 3.5" drives), in USB2.0 and in firewire. Seen a few drives by Iomega but was told they had some unresolved issues(if they work properly they are good I think, because they use notebook drives). I read that external drives using notebook drives are far more durable than the ones using desktop(i.e. 3.5" drives). By durable I mean the drive will be able to take a lot more punishment(measured in terms of Gs) before it gives up. So, if you get a 3.5" drive make sure to take extra caution and refrain yourself from moving it around too much. Also, 3.5" drives need external power. Apart from this, the 3.5" is great. Cheaper, bigger capacity, faster, and lastly cheaper to replace/upgrade.

Anyways, back to your question. I think it is a good idea. Definitely cheaper. Get an IDE to USB2.0 case if possible. In my opinion it will be the "all around" device as it will work on any old PC with USB. Only thing USB2.0 will not hold is for video editing. For this, firewire is best("guaranteed uninterupted data stream"....quoting from somewhere). But then again, not every pc has firewire.

I think for about $130 to $150, you can get the case and a reasonable 3.5" drive.

Happy shopping. If possible, post you results as a follow up.

p.s. Seagate Barracuda IV, Maxtor 740DX, and even recent Western Digital drives(forgot the model) are good drives.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

internal IDE with external box... a nice idea... but what about connection? as far as i know all internal drives use the ata standard, not usb.

then there is mobility. i really wouldnt want to lug around an external drive all the time.

i personally think the best idea is a greater sized internal drive... unless your lappy isnt very mobile, then get an external one

<b>My CPU cooler is so Massive it bends Space and Time! </b>

 

[psnathan]

LHGPooBaa, Actually there are two types of external storage device, one using the normal desktop 3.5" hardisk and nother other type using the notebook 2.5" hardisk. Toshiba even makes 1.8" hardisks I think, but way too expensive. The notebook hardisks are expensive because they can withstand more G-forces and they are very light in terms of weight.

All external hardisks be it USB or Firewire devices, actually use either normal desktop or notebook IDE drives inside.

And to respond to LHGPooBaa suggestion that the external drives will be bulky and cumbersome to carry around is true. The external drives using the 3.5" aka desktop hardisks are actually not meant to be carried around that often. Furthermore, they require external power source. But the external storage with the notebook hardisk is actually quite light and easy to bring around. I personally have seen and handled a 10GB USB Hardisk. It does not require external power, just connect to the USB port and you are done.