External Hard Drives

[cambodianricer]

320GB acomdata

i use it for EVERYTHING!

its perfect

[Izzy]

I just run 3 internals on my desktop for 940GB of space. I'm about halfway through.

I do have an external, a cheapie I bought from Fry's. I basically bought it for my PS2's hard drive, when I back up my saved games.

[0720Steve]

tell me about the internal drives being put in a case

[sgtpruitt]

Originally Posted by 0720Steve

tell me about the internal drives being put in a case

insert the drive into the eide or sata interface, plug in a cable, and screw some screws. It's simple. The cases come with instructions and usually the drives only fit one way.

You buy the hard drive. 3.5" or 2.5" and you buy a case that fits that drive. The interfaces avalable are the ones I listed above. 2.5" drives are laptop drives but dont come in sizes like 1TB.

[Izzy]

Example:
CoolMax 3.5" USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure HD-389-U2 at TigerDirect.com

It's simply an enclosure that either plugs to your SATA (eSATA) or USB that fits a regular 3.5" HDD. Plug and Play at its best.

[0720Steve]

sounds good to me...just wondering which one i should go with. lots of mixed reviews out there.

having a dell doesn't change anything i assume...

[Izzy]

Not really. I don't know your computer specifically, so do you have a model number or specs of your rig? eSATA will be MUCh faster than USB, so if you have the capability, go for that instead.


I generally don't use my External (it's plugged in but not on, unless I need it to be) so I have no problems working mine. Mine's a 19.99 unit from Fry's a very long time ago, and goes through USB.

[sgtpruitt]

do you transfer file frequently and do you transfer large files?
If so then get sata.

or is it more like every now and then you put a movie or some pictures on your hard drive? Go cheap with big space.

[0720Steve]

i think it will be for me to nearly completely transfer the 150gb of stuff on my computer now over for safe keeping....or at least copy the the important stuff over to. don't need it on all the time nor will i be constantly transferring stuff. i just want to unload off my desktop and then be able to come back to it later. i just want free space on my computer. mostly pictures.

[Izzy]

Is this a desktop or a laptop?

[sgtpruitt]

I'd go with a regular eide drive over usb then. Unless you are constantly using it there's no need to get superfast transfer rates. You'll make a one time back up of all you stuff and everynow and then add some things to it. It would be cheaper.

If you can afford it then there's nothing wrong with spending the money to go top of the line. I just find that people buy more then they need when it comes to computers most of the time. Only to have it become second best in 6 months.

[rmfa]

Originally Posted by sgtpruitt

I'd go with a regular eide drive over usb then. Unless you are constantly using it there's no need to get superfast transfer rates. You'll make a one time back up of all you stuff and everynow and then add some things to it. It would be cheaper.

If you can afford it then there's nothing wrong with spending the money to go top of the line. I just find that people buy more then they need when it comes to computers most of the time. Only to have it become second best in 6 months.

He's talking about external drives. They would still be IDE or SATA and using a USB connection to make the SATA or IDE controller work. If he's just looking to backup, these are moot points.

To the OP: Go to the store and get a USB/firewire drive in the size that you can afford. /close_thread

[sh33t_0f_p4p3r]

i have a mybook it rocks

[sgtpruitt]

^^to be honest. I would get one of those myself. You asked about the cases and such though.

Originally Posted by rmfa

He's talking about external drives. They would still be IDE or SATA and using a USB connection to make the SATA or IDE controller work. If he's just looking to backup, these are moot points.

To the OP: Go to the store and get a USB/firewire drive in the size that you can afford. /close_thread

what?

Im talking about the interface on the case guy. Sata drives are more expensive. Blagagagaga.

[airportguy770]

HD's are cheap now. Just buy them seperate. HD and External case. I keep all my movies musics and files backed up on it. Lifesaver when you get that fatal error. Newegg is the best on prices around. I've ordered all my parts from for the last 5 years. Great prices, awesome customer service and there decent on shipping.

[e60.deluxe]

eSATA FTMFW.

oif your computer is relativley recent:
Newegg.com - KINGWIN 15" eSATA PCI Bracket cable Model ESAC-02 - Retail

if its older than this:
Newegg.com - SYBA SD-VIA-1A1E1S PCI SATA / IDE Combo Card RAID 0,1,0+1 JBOD - Retail

buying an internal and putting it in a case is better for one reason and that is warranty. seagate internal drive warranty: 5 years. seagate external drive warranty: 1 year. WTF?
WD is the same way. theres no reason to throw away 4 years of warranty just so that you have a little "backup button" on the drive.

[0720Steve]

sounds good to me....so what is a good internal drive that can go in a case....probably thinking up to 1 TB now, but 500 at least.

[cambodianricer]

firewire > USB

[sgtpruitt]

Originally Posted by e60.deluxe

buying an internal and putting it in a case is better for one reason and that is warranty. seagate internal drive warranty: 5 years. seagate external drive warranty: 1 year. WTF?
WD is the same way. theres no reason to throw away 4 years of warranty just so that you have a little "backup button" on the drive.

That's good info. I never would have thought of that.

[e60.deluxe]

Originally Posted by cambodianricer

firewire > USB

eSATA > Firewire 800 > USB 2.0 > Firewire 400 > USB 1.1