Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

external hard disk

Tags:
  • Hard Drives
  • USB
  • Storage
Last response: in Storage
Share
March 29, 2003 11:59:29 AM

Hi,
I have a toshiba laptop (pentium III, 650 Mhz, 192 MB ram, 11 GB hard disk).
I was thinking of getting an external 40 GB hard disk. It connects to my computer via USB. (note that I only have regular USB. Not the newer USB... isn't it called USB2 or something?) Anyways, my primary use for the hard disk will be storing and playback of DIVX movies, MP3's etc... and probably intalling and running a few games or programs.

My question is: Will the hard disk funtion too slowly to run the movies, music, or games off it, since it is linked via USB? I mean, will the playback of the movies be choppy? Will my programs/games run slower? Exactly, when will I feel that it is slower than my internal hard disk?

note: the hard disk I saw is 720 rpm. Actually it is an internal hard disk (for a desktop ) but the sales person said that he could install it in an external box/case and then I'd be able to connect it via USB to my laptop.

I would appreciate any info.
thank you !!!

More about : external hard disk

March 30, 2003 6:22:23 PM

Regular USB or USB 1.1 can transfer data at the rate of at most 12 Mbps (megabits/sec, which is about 1.5MB/s) which is too slow for your case, especially during loading of programs.
March 31, 2003 1:35:13 AM

like the other guy said, you can connect the drive, but dont expect anything beyond extremly sluggish transfer rates, negating all benefits of having a high performance external drive.

at 1.5Mb per second it will be able to playback mp3's... and most likely divx movies, but games will be a nono

<b>Damn War! I'm too young to watch other people die!</b>
<A HREF="http://members.iinet.net.au/~lhgpoobaa/images" target="_new">My Images!</A>
March 31, 2003 3:15:15 PM

You can however, buy a USB2.0 or Firewire PC Card for your laptop. I have one on my ancient Toshiba P150MHz laptop and it works pretty good. The one I have is made by SIIG and I got it for $20 (39.00 - $20 rebate) at CompUSA about a week ago.
Related resources
!