Any recommendations for external hard drive?

G

Googs

Hello all

I'm looking for some recommendations of external hard drives. I need
to occasionally carry around a lot of data (about 120gb and slowly
growing). I want a good quality external hard drive which has a fast
data transfer and about 180gb of storage space, but as small and light
as possible.

Any suggestions of what models i should be looking at? Is usb 2.0 the
fastest connection to an external hard drive?

Thanks
 
A

Arno Wagner

Previously Googs said:
Hello all
I'm looking for some recommendations of external hard drives. I need
to occasionally carry around a lot of data (about 120gb and slowly
growing). I want a good quality external hard drive which has a fast
data transfer and about 180gb of storage space, but as small and light
as possible.
Any suggestions of what models i should be looking at? Is usb 2.0 the
fastest connection to an external hard drive?

If money is not an issue, get a 2.5" drive. Cooler and more shock
resistant. Otherwise make sure you get a case with good cooling.

And while USB 2.0 is definitely not the fastest interface
by a fair margin (eSATA is), it is typically available on most
computers.

Arno
 
G

Googs

If money is not an issue, get a 2.5" drive. Cooler and more shock
resistant. Otherwise make sure you get a case with good cooling.

And while USB 2.0 is definitely not the fastest interface
by a fair margin (eSATA is), it is typically available on most
computers.

Arno

Cheers for the info Arno.

Should i be looking for (or staying away from) any particular brands
or models in your opinion?

What connection do i need to have on my laptop in order for eSATA to
work? As far as i can tell i've only got usb and firewire.
 
G

Googs

Cheers for the info Arno.

Should i be looking for (or staying away from) any particular brands
or models in your opinion?

What connection do i need to have on my laptop in order for eSATA to
work? As far as i can tell i've only got usb and firewire.

After looking around a bit, i'm leaning towards the Seagate Freeagent
Go 160gb, it's got some really good reviews.
 
A

Arno Wagner

Cheers for the info Arno.

You are welcome.
Should i be looking for (or staying away from) any particular brands
or models in your opinion?

Well, don't get Maxtor. Theri drives die when hot and their enclosures
are badly cooled. Personally I don't trust WD. LaChie is design
over reliability. For 3.5" disks and USB, I use Agrosy enclosures
with Samsung disks (self assembled, not hard). This combination
stays reasonably cool even under load. But don't put Maxtor or
other high-power disks in there, they may heat up to the point of
catastrophic failure. Link: http://www.argosy.nl/product/hd360u.htm

Sorry for the complex answer, but the market is a mess, with many
products that will desert you, form over function, lies, "high
reliability" devices that are anything but and the like.
What connection do i need to have on my laptop in order for eSATA to
work? As far as i can tell i've only got usb and firewire.

Hmm. You would need to get an eSATA interface card. Probably not worth
the effort. Use the USB, it will still give you something like
20MB/sec. You can also get the Argosy enclosures with USB+FireWire,
if you want to try that.

Arno
 
A

Arno Wagner

After looking around a bit, i'm leaning towards the Seagate Freeagent
Go 160gb, it's got some really good reviews.

Looks good to me. Just remember to get more than one.

Arno
 
R

Rod Speed

Googs said:
I'm looking for some recommendations of external hard drives. I need
to occasionally carry around a lot of data (about 120gb and slowly
growing). I want a good quality external hard drive which has a fast
data transfer and about 180gb of storage space, but as small and light
as possible.

If you dont care about the price, that means using a laptop drive.
Any suggestions of what models i should be looking at?
Is usb 2.0 the fastest connection to an external hard drive?

Nope, esata is much faster.
 
R

Rod Speed

Should i be looking for (or staying away from) any particular brands
or models in your opinion?

I prefer to assemble it myself from the components.

That way you retain the full 3-5 year warranty on the drive.

Otherwise you are stuck with the universal 1 year warranty on assembled externals.
What connection do i need to have on my laptop in order for eSATA to work?

esata, which means a card for the laptop.
As far as i can tell i've only got usb and firewire.

Yes, that is typical. You likely dont really need the fastest, firewire should be fine.
 
Z

Zoltan

You are welcome.


Well, don't get Maxtor. Theri drives die when hot and their enclosures
are badly cooled. Personally I don't trust WD. LaChie is design
over reliability. For 3.5" disks and USB, I use Agrosy enclosures
with Samsung disks (self assembled, not hard). This combination
stays reasonably cool even under load. But don't put Maxtor or
other high-power disks in there, they may heat up to the point of
catastrophic failure. Link:http://www.argosy.nl/product/hd360u.htm

Sorry for the complex answer, but the market is a mess, with many
products that will desert you, form over function, lies, "high
reliability" devices that are anything but and the like.


Hmm. You would need to get an eSATA interface card. Probably not worth
the effort. Use the USB, it will still give you something like
20MB/sec. You can also get the Argosy enclosures with USB+FireWire,
if you want to try that.

Arno


I've got about a dozen Maxtors of various vintages.
They do tend to run a bit hot, but none has ever quit on me.

I also have about a dozen WD portables (no brick required, they're
powered by USB).
The latest (160 GB Passport) are about the size of a pack of
cigarettes (but thinner), and easily fit into a shirt pocket.
CostCo is selling them for $109 at the moment.

USB (2.0) isn't superfast, but it serves my needs.
I have one USB 1.1 computer, and the only time I notice the slowdown
is when I'm copying gigabytes of data.
 
A

Arno Wagner

Previously Zoltan said:
I've got about a dozen Maxtors of various vintages.
They do tend to run a bit hot, but none has ever quit on me.

I have had around 50 run in servers for 3 years in a climatized
server room. No fatalities. I have had one heat up enough for
catastrophic failuer in an external enclosure. There arae also
frequent postings here ofrom people that have lost Maxtors.
I also have about a dozen WD portables (no brick required, they're
powered by USB).
The latest (160 GB Passport) are about the size of a pack of
cigarettes (but thinner), and easily fit into a shirt pocket.
CostCo is selling them for $109 at the moment.

Oh, my primary problem with WD is that they are lying to
their cistomers. Because of this it is impossible to
say whether they have some larger problem or not. So my
advice is to stay away from WD.

Arno
 
T

Timothy Daniels

OP asked:
SIIG makes a 2-port eSATA Express Card adapter for laptops:
http://siig.com/product.asp?catid=10&pid=1099
Kingwin makes an external eSATA enclosure with a power brick:
http://kingwin.com/jt35eubk.asp
You can buy various eSATA cables here:
http://www.firewire-1394.com/sata-cables-shielded.htm
and here:
http://svc.com/esata-cable.html

eSATA would give you speed, cheap desktop hard drives, and
the ability to boot from external storage. Downside - you'd be
carrying around a lot of stuff.

*TimDaniels*
 

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