Thinking of buying an external hard drive

[Messerschmitt]

For some time now I noticed I need a device to store data and transfer it. Because I will potentialy start traveling, I want to have the data with me.

I thought at first of a flash memory of 2 gb's, that would be about 99$. Then I have seen another interesting thing. An external hard drive, having 200gb's for just double the price. Small enought to carry it into a small bag such as a camera type bag, and very interesting.

I do not know if this will also run out the need of a DVD-RW device to burn movies, music or installers (kit's) on DVD's since I can just backup everything I need on this one piece and carry it around than to complicate myself with CD's.

Now what I have seen is a Maxtor external hard drive. I know them and Western Digital are one of the best brands for HDD's, the difference for a normal HDD being that the Maxtor are noisy. I do not know the difference of this noise sound between the 2 brands for external hard drives tho. Also from what I have observed the Western Digitals are more expensive? Besides also I see that Maxtor got their 1 touch function for backup, tho I have no idea how it would work (maybe the same as other backup image programs such as Norton Ghost?)

Now I have also looked at the Maxtor website and some shops, and what I have seen quite intriguies me... Why would at Maxtor it would cost more than on a different shop that sells the same units?

Difference: shop vs Maxtor

Other question would be, I see these have only 1 year warranty, is it because they are not reliable? I mean would they break at some point if for example they are shaken? Like carrying them into a suitcase that would be thrown into the cargo of a plane?

Please throw me some advices or comments, as I would pretty much look forward to aquire these.

Thanks

[03GrandAmGT]

Hello

Why not make an external drive yourself. All you need is an external case and a HD. Below I listed a couple of references for parts. I did this myself about a year ago, and have had no problems. I listed the Seagate as they have a 5 year warranty. I used to be a hard core Maxtor fanatic until about 2 years ago my drives were failing just after the 3 year warranty was up. Seriously a couple of days or weeks after there was no support.

External Case with USB and IEEE 1394/Firewire

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....&SubCategory=92

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822148036

jd

[kyuuzo]

If you are going to carry it around then I would recommend not getting any of the 3.5" versions. They always require an external power supply which is a bit of a pain. 2.5" and smaller drives can be powered by USB or firewire. Also reliability is a bit of an issue. I've had more problems with external drives than internal.

[janus zeal]

i would get a laptop hard drive and this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817145329

worked great for me.

Edited June 6, 2006 by janus zeal

[Zxian]

I'd agree with janus zeal on this one - I've got a 80GB drive in an enclosure like that and it's just fantastic. If ever you're at a friends' house and you need to back up their critical files - just plug it in and go.

[codeblue]

Hi Messerschmitt

I recently bought an enclosure and WD drive separately and have had no problems . After posting here i went for the NEXSTAR 3 and WD WD2000JB 200gb. Link to the Nexstar.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1769

Link to my post

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=64485&hl=

But as kyuuzo said, go for the 2.5" verson if portability is your main factor

[Messerschmitt]

Hey guys. How can I see who are 3.5" or who are 2.5"? I mean for the external hard drive there is no details... And even the 3.5 internal, can they have power cords? Never seen an internal with one

Also, you are sugesting I should take a normal internal drive and assemble it into an external case. What would be the advantage of this? lower price?

I have also known that the internal drives are very... fragile... Meaning if you shake them they might loose data or break. This is just a rumor I heard a couple of years ago. I have no idea tho if there is any difference between the normal internal or external HDD when it comes to shock and vibration.

I am saying this since as I said, If I will start traveling in planes, I might place it into the lougage that would be thrown into the bay of the airplane (and you all know that those guys just throw the bagages around).

I never had Maxtor, but currently running a Western Digital 80 GB for over 3.5 years and its going perfect nice. Heck, I even have a Nikimi (never heard of them) of 40 GB for 4.5 yeras, tho it have been used as storage when I bought the WD.

[LLXX]

Also, you are sugesting I should take a normal internal drive and assemble it into an external case. What would be the advantage of this? lower price?

Yes, and in addition, you get to choose the brand and capacity you want.

I have also known that the internal drives are very... fragile... Meaning if you shake them they might loose data or break. This is just a rumor I heard a couple of years ago. I have no idea tho if there is any difference between the normal internal or external HDD when it comes to shock and vibration.

I am saying this since as I said, If I will start traveling in planes, I might place it into the lougage that would be thrown into the bay of the airplane (and you all know that those guys just throw the bagages around).

All hard drives should not be subject to excessive vibration, although they have gotten more sturdier over the years with technology such as analog actuators and embedded servo etc.

An external drive is just a normal internal drive placed in a case, there is really no difference. I certainly would not want my hard drives thrown around like you have described.

[codeblue]

You could always try Flash memory. Check out the new 64gb card about to be launched:

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals...rive-178717.php

[Messerschmitt]

And that would cost what? 4 times more than a 500GB HDD?

Anyway LLXX, I was just giving a worst case scenario, I moved twice now and everytime I dezasambled my computer and placed it into a hand bagage and kept it in plane

But that is what I wanted to know. If they are no longer in any danger from non-violent shock and I could nicely put them in my hand bagage is good.

Now 2 more things that I am still uncertain.

Are you saying that this type of HDD requires an additional power source (adaptor) to operate?

Would a internal HDD placed in a external case would operate with only the power the computer provides through USB or Fireware no matter it's size in GB? (well, I supose so since you don't plug an aditional power cord inside your computer to power it but I just want to be 100% sure)

Thank you all

[Zxian]

A hard drive that is turned off should be able to handle being in a hand bag or something of the sort. I've got my 80GB drive in my backpack right now, and it doesn't have any problems what so ever.

If you look at the datasheets, the maximum acceleration that these drives can sustain when they're off is on the order of a few hundred G's, which corresponds to a drop from a couple of meters onto a hard floor. When they're running, you don't want to be dropping them at all, but moving it along your desk won't do any damage.

AFAIK, all 3.5" drives (the "one touch" type drives included) will require a separate power supply. Your USB port can only supply 2.5W of power at 5V, while all 3.5" drives require 12V - meaning a separate power supply is required.

If you're looking for 80 or 100 GB of space that you can easily carry around with you, then buy a 80GB notebook hard drive (2.5") and an enclosure for it. This setup will only require a single USB cable (for data and power) and you can carry it in your hand luggage without any troubles or worry of hard hits or damage. Also, if you buy the hard drive on your own, you get 3 or 5 years warranty, depending on the brand, while a pre-made solution would probably only get 1 year.

[kyuuzo]

Are you saying that this type of HDD requires an additional power source (adaptor) to operate?

Yes. 500 GB is most definitely a 3.5" HD.

Would a internal HDD placed in a external case would operate with only the power the computer provides through USB or Fireware no matter it's size in GB? (well, I supose so since you don't plug an aditional power cord inside your computer to power it but I just want to be 100% sure)

Thank you all

The deal is that 3.5" hard drives can not draw enough power from USB so they always need an external AC power adapter. Inside your computer they plug into your power supply. Smaller 2.5" hard drives (such as those commonly used in laptops) don't require as much power and can therefore be powered by USB/firewire alone (sometimes they need to be simultaneously plugged into 2 USB ports.)

[Messerschmitt]

Doh, i'm stupid, totaly forgot about the power you plug in your HDD from your power source.

Now, for a portable HDD which I will use to carry data wherever I go, do I need it to be a high RPM? or it's irelevant for transfering data? how about the seek time and Buffer?. I will defenetly not use it to play games from it, but maybe watching a movie? the laptop HDD's don't have more than 5400 RPM anyway.

I don't know, I realy didn't worked on the technical terms

[LLXX]

5400RPM should be enough for light use...

[Zxian]

Even an older 40GB 4200RPM drive with 2MB cache works fine for me to transfer files and watch movies. The typical transfer rate of such a drive is about 25MB/s, which is far higher than any movie that you would watch off of it.

The higher the speed of the drive (RPM), the faster the bulk transfer rate will be. The larger the cache, the better the continuous file access will be. If it's simply an external storage drive, I'd just suggest getting a slightly higher speed, since it'll make transfers to and from the drive faster. The cache might help a bit, but not much.

You can get 7200RPM drives for laptops, but it's really not worth it to lay out the money on that for a storage drive. 5400RPM will do you just fine.