USB Hard Drives

[Jack Gillis]

The time has come (quoting the walrus) to add a USB Hard Drive for backup.
I've always had good luck with Seagate and Maxtor so I am considering those
and would like to have the opinion of this group on each.

One other question. One of the Seagates, if I read the ads and reviews
correctly, apparently has two USB connectors so that power for the drive can
be drawn from two ports if one can't supply enough power. Does this seem
reasonable and worthwhile. I would really like not to have another AC
adapter around 'cuz I am running out of sockets.

Thank you very much.

 

[old jon]

The time has come (quoting the walrus) to add a USB Hard Drive for backup.
I've always had good luck with Seagate and Maxtor so I am considering
those and would like to have the opinion of this group on each.

One other question. One of the Seagates, if I read the ads and reviews
correctly, apparently has two USB connectors so that power for the drive
can be drawn from two ports if one can't supply enough power. Does this
seem reasonable and worthwhile. I would really like not to have another
AC adapter around 'cuz I am running out of sockets.

Thank you very much.

Get one with its` own power supply. That way you don`t\won`t overload
your USB ports.
If you`re short on sockets, get another surge protector distributor board

 

[Paul]

The time has come (quoting the walrus) to add a USB Hard Drive for backup.
I've always had good luck with Seagate and Maxtor so I am considering those
and would like to have the opinion of this group on each.

One other question. One of the Seagates, if I read the ads and reviews
correctly, apparently has two USB connectors so that power for the drive can
be drawn from two ports if one can't supply enough power. Does this seem
reasonable and worthwhile. I would really like not to have another AC
adapter around 'cuz I am running out of sockets.

Thank you very much.

These solutions allow you to slide a drive into the tray, do a
backup, and remove the drive for safe keeping. A mobile
rack preserves full drive bandwidth.

Mobile IDE drive rack:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16817121109

Mobile SATA drive rack:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817121178

Pictures of SATA drive rack:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...n=KINGWIN KF-812-BK SATA Mobile Rack - Retail

If you want a USB drive enclosure, picking a 5 1/4" model
may give you a build-in power supply for the disk drive.
That allows any reasonable drive to be used, without
worrying about yet another adapter. Still needs an AC line
cord, but is easier to deal with. Even though they look huge,
I still like devices like this.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=159111#

It is half the price here. Read the reviews. It has the standard
issue of "crappy fan". My practice when buying enclosures, is
to immediately go to my local electronics store, and buy a
nice ball bearing fan with connector on the end, and plug it
in place of the fan shipped in the enclosure. I've had original
fans act up in as little as a day, so I don't even bother to
test them any more, and just replace them on receipt of product.
If warranty work is needed, I can always put the original fan
back, assuming it is connectorized and convenient to swap.
Some of the sleeve bearing fans in these enclosures, even leave
a small puddle of oil on the bottom of the enclosure, when you
open it up to install the drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146153

Another issue is ventilation. Some USB/Firewire enclosures do
come with a fan, and then the idiots don't drill any holes for
air intake. A few minutes in the basement, with a hand drill and
a metal drill guide (to prevent slippage), and the enclosure
breathes like a king If you don't want to drill holes
in the nice fascia, you can drill them in the front bottom
area of the enclosure.

HTH,
Paul

 

[kony]

The time has come (quoting the walrus) to add a USB Hard Drive for backup.
I've always had good luck with Seagate and Maxtor so I am considering those
and would like to have the opinion of this group on each.

One other question. One of the Seagates, if I read the ads and reviews
correctly, apparently has two USB connectors so that power for the drive can
be drawn from two ports if one can't supply enough power. Does this seem
reasonable and worthwhile. I would really like not to have another AC
adapter around 'cuz I am running out of sockets.

I don't think anyone really "likes" AC adapters or any other
blobs/cables/etc/so-forth, yet they exist because they are
the best option.

If you got a laptop drive based external then you'd have low
enough power usage that it could run from 2 different USB
port (pairs, not two ports side-by-side) or with a tap into
the PS2 port. This would make it smaller in size but
capacity too. Unless you have a specific need to transport
this alot it would be better to just get a normal full-sized
~ 3.5" and external power supply.

Seagate or Maxtor... sure, either will work and the random
odds of either failing are low but still present. A
specific sample of drive and it's handling will tend to
matter more than which brand. If the data is important,
have multiple backup copies.

 

[Jack Gillis]

Thank you very much. From what I've read here, I will go with an AC adapter
model. Probably the Seagate.

Thanks again.