Need help choosing external HD for LapTop

My Lap Top came with USB 1 only. But I got a USB 2 external adaptor...so it is USB 2...I do not have Firewire

You can get an enclosure like <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681..." target="_new">this one</A> with a good HDD like a seagate to put in and that will probably cost you less than buying the whole thing. I have that case for almost 1 year and some friends has one too and they are great. And it now support HDD up to 300GB which should give you enough headroom for storage. Since you dont need firewire, you dont need to buy an anclosure with firewire support, unless you plan to hook it up on another computer which has it.

This unit is really easy to assemble and the body is in aluminum for better heat dissapation. Stay away from plastic enclosure.. The Bytecc has an on/off swith too, which is usefull to stop it instead of always unplugging it like some other unit.

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

Pat...thanks for your reply...I need to understand one aspect associated to enclosures.

Do enclosures that will be pluged to a USB port will allow me to buy an internal HD to be used on my Lap Top as external? or I have to buy an external HD and on top of that the need to buy the enclosure.

exactly that. Any IDE HDD, excpt SATA ones, can be used with the enclosure. I use a WD 1200jb inside mine and it works good. I suggested Seagate, as they have a 5 years warranty and having them in an enclosure make them more vulnerable to accidental choc or dropping ... They run silent and cool too.

External HDD already come with an enclosure... no need for that. They have an internal HDD and they are assembled by someone else, and you pay for that..

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

I got it...and I think U R right...better buying an internal HD and buy the enclosure separate.

Is the BYTECC enclosure you got pretty good?

Thanks for the help.

That's the one that I linked to you in my previous post and so far, it has been perfect.

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

Is the aseembly of the HD into the enclosure a complicated task that requieres know how or it is a simple one?...

can you describe please in a few words how is done?...thanks

you screw the HDD on the tray, plug power wire and IDE cable, slide the tray into the enclosure, screw the back in and you are set. You are going to figured it easy.

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

Every modern laptop I've worked on had a mini firewire port (IEEE1394). A direct firewire connection would be your best bet.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Hah! I can't follow you around and collect all your messes!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

4 pin IEEE-1394 ports don't provide <b>any</b> power. The missing two pins between the "mini" 4 pin ports and the standard 6-pin ports are the 30v power line (VP in the standard), and the ground pin (VG in the standard). In the 4 pin version, the ground is carried on the plug shell.