Looking for External HDD

[Mike]

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that meets
the described critera?

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but several
users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of thousands
rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Mike

 

[Jan Alter]

I've been using one of those Maxtor One Touch 160 gb drives for almost two
years now on a firewire connection and have had no trouble. We got my father
in law a WD external USB 120 gb drive a couple of years ago and that's also
going strong. I do recommend the usb.fw combination. One other thing you
could consider is simply buying your own enclosure and adding a hdd. It'll
be cheaper in the long run and you can choose the kind of back up software
to use rather than have it packaged for you with something like Retrospect,
which is not the most user friendly in comparison to some other programs
from what I've read in Magazines such as Smart Computing.

 

[Mike]

Building one seems to be the prevailing idea.
I'm going to look into it.

Mike

I've been using one of those Maxtor One Touch 160 gb drives for almost two
years now on a firewire connection and have had no trouble. We got my
father in law a WD external USB 120 gb drive a couple of years ago and
that's also going strong. I do recommend the usb.fw combination. One other
thing you could consider is simply buying your own enclosure and adding a
hdd. It'll be cheaper in the long run and you can choose the kind of back
up software to use rather than have it packaged for you with something
like Retrospect, which is not the most user friendly in comparison to some
other programs from what I've read in Magazines such as Smart Computing.

--
Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)
or
(e-mail address removed)12.pa.us

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that
meets
the described critera?

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of thousands
rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Mike

 

[John Weiss]

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

True. In practice it is a bit faster.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that meets
the described critera?

Buy a Firewire/USB2 enclosure and put in your choice of HD. SATA enclosures
are available, so you could even get a WD Raptor 150. With IDE, your choice
of HDs per your favorite reviews. I just got a Seagate 300 7200.9 for mine.

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but several
users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of thousands
rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Bundled drives may not be the best performers, though they may have useful
backup software if that is your intent.

 

[Mike]

SATA w/ FireWire how close is SATA speed to FireWire speed?

Mike

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

True. In practice it is a bit faster.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that
meets
the described critera?

Buy a Firewire/USB2 enclosure and put in your choice of HD. SATA
enclosures are available, so you could even get a WD Raptor 150. With
IDE, your choice of HDs per your favorite reviews. I just got a Seagate
300 7200.9 for mine.

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of thousands
rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Bundled drives may not be the best performers, though they may have useful
backup software if that is your intent.

 

[John Weiss]

Firewire 400 Mbps. SATA 150 MBps; EIDE 100-133 MBps.

Firewire just about accommodates the burst speed of a single fast SATA or
EIDE HD (35-50 MBps).

 

[ian lincoln]

I have yet to see a drive that can deliver even half of 400mbs so i doubt
that either usb2 or firewire will make a difference apart from personal
preference.

SATA w/ FireWire how close is SATA speed to FireWire speed?

Mike

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

True. In practice it is a bit faster.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that
meets
the described critera?

Buy a Firewire/USB2 enclosure and put in your choice of HD. SATA
enclosures are available, so you could even get a WD Raptor 150. With
IDE, your choice of HDs per your favorite reviews. I just got a Seagate
300 7200.9 for mine.

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of
thousands rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Bundled drives may not be the best performers, though they may have
useful backup software if that is your intent.

 

[Jonny]

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that meets
the described critera?

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but several
users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of thousands
rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Mike

Get a dedicated enclosure and the HDD separately. At least you'll know you
have a good HDD inside.
Enclosure example:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA35430

http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDe...tails=features&subcategory=combo&category=3.5


Get tech details here, but shop elsewhere, its cheaper that way.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=117&Language=en

 

[Mike]

Since I'm starting fresh with this do you think it's worthwhile to seek
out a case that'll take
SATA drives? How much faster is SATA interface than the current flavor of
ATA interface?
I spent a good bit of time on the ADS technologies website browsing their
products.
Their Dual Link case w/ fan appears to be excelllent except they take use
SATA drives.

Mike

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the links. The drive enclosures seem to be similar the ADS
enclosure. How would you rate the noise level caused by the fan?

Mike

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that
meets
the described critera?

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of thousands
rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Mike

Get a dedicated enclosure and the HDD separately. At least you'll know
you have a good HDD inside.
Enclosure example:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA35430

http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDe...tails=features&subcategory=combo&category=3.5


Get tech details here, but shop elsewhere, its cheaper that way.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=117&Language=en

 

[Mike]

SATA II looks really impressive:

at: http://www.peripheralstorage.com/raid/sata_disk_drives.htm
I read SATA HDDs have a transfer rate of 150MB/s compared to
Ultra ATA of 100MB/s at http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/12/.

Will my D 8200 recognize an external SATA HDD? What is the current flavor of
ATA? Is there anything beyond Ultra ATA that uses the current IDE
Interface?
************************************************

SATA 3Gb/s Hard Drives (Serial ATA II) from Hitachi
Hitachi is the first hard drive manufacturer to deliver all of the major
design enhancements identified in the SATA II specification, including a
3Gb/s data transfer rate!

The new transfer rate represents a doubling of the previous SATA 1.0 rate
and rivals that of enterprise-class SCSI drives. The performance
breakthrough is of great benefit for users that require fast data access for
bandwidth-intensive applications, such as digital video editing and PC
gaming.

Mike

I have yet to see a drive that can deliver even half of 400mbs so i doubt
that either usb2 or firewire will make a difference apart from personal
preference.

SATA w/ FireWire how close is SATA speed to FireWire speed?

Mike

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

True. In practice it is a bit faster.


Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that
meets
the described critera?

Buy a Firewire/USB2 enclosure and put in your choice of HD. SATA
enclosures are available, so you could even get a WD Raptor 150. With
IDE, your choice of HDs per your favorite reviews. I just got a Seagate
300 7200.9 for mine.


PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of
thousands rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Bundled drives may not be the best performers, though they may have
useful backup software if that is your intent.

 

[Jonny]

Am oblivious to noise from PCs or peripherals. My case has 6 fans, none
meant for noise reduction.
--
Jonny

Thanks for the links. The drive enclosures seem to be similar the ADS
enclosure. How would you rate the noise level caused by the fan?

Mike

Hi, I'm looking for an external HDD that's quiet, ,fast & dependable.
I just ordered a combo usb2 & firewire card, now I 'm looking for an
external hdd.
Previously I had read FireWire is marginally superior to USB2.

Any recommendations for an appx 160g (or greater) external HDD that
meets
the described critera?

PC Mag reviews like the Maxtor OneTouch II External USB Drive, but
several users
report problems with this drive. otoh, maybe it's just a few of
thousands rep[orting problems
as I'm sure most happily using the drive won't report this.

Mike

Get a dedicated enclosure and the HDD separately. At least you'll know
you have a good HDD inside.
Enclosure example:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA35430

http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDe...tails=features&subcategory=combo&category=3.5


Get tech details here, but shop elsewhere, its cheaper that way.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=117&Language=en

 

[Mike]

I'm the opposite i.e., very sensitive to PC noise.

Mike
'

 

[Mike]

Firewire 400 Mbps. SATA 150 MBps; EIDE 100-133 MBps.

Firewire just about accommodates the burst speed of a single fast SATA or
EIDE HD (35-50 MBps).

So it really doesn't matter if I use a SATA I or EIDE 100 - 133 HDD?

Mike

 

[Mike]

Think I've got a handle on this now. Desired interface for external HDD and
USB2/Firewire card is one
that supports FireWire 1394b. What do you think? Anybody using a HDD
enclosure that supports 1394b
or a PCI card that has 1394b connections on it?

Mike

***********************************************************************************************
". . . A very fast external bus standard that supports data transfer rates
of up to 400Mbps (in 1394a) and 800Mbps (in 1394b). Products supporting the
1394 standard go under different names, depending on the company. Apple,
which originally developed the technology, uses the trademarked name
FireWire. Other companies use other names, such as i.link and Lynx, to
describe their 1394 products. . . "
************************************************************************************************.

 

[John Weiss]

So it really doesn't matter if I use a SATA I or EIDE 100 - 133 HDD?

Probably not. I doubt you could detect the difference without benchmark
software.

Just buy the case and HD that suits your price/performance target.

 

[John Weiss]

Think I've got a handle on this now. Desired interface for external HDD
and USB2/Firewire card is one that supports FireWire 1394b. What do you
think?

Not quite.

If your computer's Firewire interface doesn't support 1394b and your OS
doesn't support 1394b, there's little reason to spend any extra $$ on it.
If you already have internal 1394 support, buying an add-in PCI card for
1394b will not likely get you any performance boost because of the inherent
limitations of 32-bit PCI (133 MBps TOTAL on the bus).

Besides, I don't think Win XP yet supports 1394b at full speed.

 

[Mike]

That's what I needed to know. I didn't know XP Pro had to support 1394b.
In a PC then the best I can do is 133Mbs?

Mike

 

[Mike]

That's discouraging.

Probably not. I doubt you could detect the difference without benchmark
software.

Just buy the case and HD that suits your price/performance target.

 

[Mike]

Why do the vendors market and sell 1394b equipment if Windows can't take
atvange of it?

Mie