need recommendations on external USB HD

[dleedlee]

I might be wrong but I think that the 2.5" typically doesn't need it's own power supply and can be powered from the USB port. The 3.5" requires an AC adapter.

[Dr Mabuse]

Originally Posted by dleedlee

I might be wrong but I think that the 2.5" typically doesn't need it's own power supply and can be powered from the USB port. The 3.5" requires an AC adapter.

And the full sized externals have shorter lives due to heat because of this.

[4KRG]

This is a great read, pay attention to section 3.4 Dr. M

http://research.google.com/archive/disk_failures.pdf

Heat becomes more of a factor as the drive ages, I would say keep the temps within the designed operating temp range on the datasheet for the drive and you are fine.

You need to look at the MTBF to determine what the drive was designed to do. It use to be that 2.5" models had a shorter design life, BUT I have not compared them recently, the 2.5"s could have caught up. If you are worried about it though, look at the datasheet per each drive you are considering.

[timewaster]

Originally Posted by dleedlee

I might be wrong but I think that the 2.5" typically doesn't need it's own power supply and can be powered from the USB port. The 3.5" requires an AC adapter.

ah that explains why i am seeing some of these drives with an AC adapter.
so i need to look at the specs to make sure it does not come with an AC adapter if i want it to be powered by the USB cable?

[sniper308]

Originally Posted by timewaster

ah that explains why i am seeing some of these drives with an AC adapter.
so i need to look at the specs to make sure it does not come with an AC adapter if i want it to be powered by the USB cable?

typically as other folks stated. 2.5" drive is USB powered. 3.5" drive is external power. They specs are not always the clearest to read on that.

[Wolf359]

A slight thread jack here...

If I take an older hard drive from an XP computer and use an enclosure to attach it to a Vista computer will I be able to access it and get files off it fairly easily?

[zuffy]

Yes

[timewaster]

I am trying to decide between these 2 drives.
The specs are the same for both 400gb, usb 2.0, 5400 rpm

dell: Western Digital passport for $87 total (shipping & tax)
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...15&lid=1003769

buydig: Toshiba 400GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive for $80 total
http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.a...=TBHDDR400E03X

Is it worth paying an extra 7 bucks for the WD?
Are Toshiba drives reliable?

[dick_grayson]

I have a WD 1tb green hard drive that I'm going to be using with a macbook. The macbook has usb and firewire. Should I get an enclosure with both? Is firewire going to matter since it will just be for extra media storage?

[dick_grayson]

anyone? also, I was going to first connect the hard drive to an xp machine and copy stuff to it before using it on a macbook. will it try to re-format the drive when it is connected to the macbook? also, is there a certain format I should use?

[Kumar J]

I got an Dell Studio 15 and it has esata/usb .was thinking of getting 1 TB but the prices for it seems a bit high.Anyone can recommend me a model

[kuroiinu]

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[Superman07]

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[namja]

Originally Posted by dick_grayson

anyone? also, I was going to first connect the hard drive to an xp machine and copy stuff to it before using it on a macbook. will it try to re-format the drive when it is connected to the macbook? also, is there a certain format I should use?

Get USB & Firewire. After reading this thread, it seems like USB is just as fast as Firewire, but in my experience, Firewire's still been faster. In any case, unless there's a huge price difference, it's always nice to have more options. I have 4 USB devices plugged into my PC, so I wish I had a Firewire for my external storage.

By "format" I'm assuming you mean the file system for formatting the hard drive. If that is the case, you should format it FAT32. I think the Mac only partially supports NTFS (something like read only), but I'm not totally sure.

[Superman07]

I should have asked this sooner - if you don't have the necessary FW port type there are cables you can buy that allow an 800 device to connect to a 400 port?

[dick_grayson]

Originally Posted by namja

Get USB & Firewire. After reading this thread, it seems like USB is just as fast as Firewire, but in my experience, Firewire's still been faster. In any case, unless there's a huge price difference, it's always nice to have more options. I have 4 USB devices plugged into my PC, so I wish I had a Firewire for my external storage.

By "format" I'm assuming you mean the file system for formatting the hard drive. If that is the case, you should format it FAT32. I think the Mac only partially supports NTFS (something like read only), but I'm not totally sure.

thanks a lot

[zuffy]

Originally Posted by Superman07

I should have asked this sooner - if you don't have the necessary FW port type there are cables you can buy that allow an 800 device to connect to a 400 port?

Yes. I have 4 kinds of FW cables at home.

[LorenzoL]

I need someone to school me on external hard drives. I have a Dell XPS Gen 5 desktop with an internal 160 gig of HD and I'm running out of space. I have been looking at an external HD in order to upgrade but don't know what I should be looking for. I read through this thread and don't know what you guys are referring about in regards to "enclosures". Do I need it? Is it a simple matter of plug and go or do I need to set up with my operating system (is an XP) in order for my computer to recognize it?

Yes, I apologize in advance for sounding like a total newbie.

[TheBigDave]

Originally Posted by dleedlee

I might be wrong but I think that the 2.5" typically doesn't need it's own power supply and can be powered from the USB port. The 3.5" requires an AC adapter.

Because of this, the small USB powered drives come with a short 12-inch cord. I've heard others try to replace it with a longer cord, and it wouldn't power their HD. Never tried it myself, so that might not be true. But if that's important to you, it's worth looking into.

I just picked up the WD Passport 400GB. And I can see how the short cord might be a problem for some people.

[TheBigDave]

Originally Posted by LorenzoL

I need someone to school me on external hard drives. I have a Dell XPS Gen 5 desktop with an internal 160 gig of HD and I'm running out of space. I have been looking at an external HD in order to upgrade but don't know what I should be looking for. I read through this thread and don't know what you guys are referring about in regards to "enclosures". Do I need it? Is it a simple matter of plug and go or do I need to set up with my operating system (is an XP) in order for my computer to recognize it?

An "enclosure" is the empty case of an external hard drive. Basically it's everything but the hard drive. Like a do-it-yourself kit. You just put your own hard drive inside.

There are numerous advantages. You can use an old hard drive. Or swap the drive out when they become full. And if you shop around you might be able to save some money over a pre-build external drive.

I don't think you need to do anything with XP. It should automatically recognize the new drive. A new HD will probably come formatted to FAT32, and you might want to reformat it to NTSF. That's easy.

If you're just looking for a simple solution, grab something ready to go like the Western Digital My Book or the Iomega Prestige. Right now the sweet spot seems to be around 1TB ($99-$120). Smaller stuff only saves you a few bucks. I'd check Newegg and Amazon. They both have good prices on external drives.

[GeoffD]

I have a Western Digital "My Book" terabyte USB drive. The price has dropped to around $100.00. It's externally powered and it's not the fastest iron but for backing up my notebook computer, it's just fine.

With the typical way USB drives are used where you're usually pushing large files off to a freshly formatted hard drive, you don't get all that much of a performance boost by going to a more expensive hard drive with higher RPM and faster seek times. A faster serial interface like Firewire also isn't going to buy you much of anything. It's a much bigger deal when you are doing general computing with lots of small files on a fairly fragmented hard drive.

[LorenzoL]

Originally Posted by TheBigDave

An "enclosure" is the empty case of an external hard drive. Basically it's everything but the hard drive. Like a do-it-yourself kit. You just put your own hard drive inside.

There are numerous advantages. You can use an old hard drive. Or swap the drive out when they become full. And if you shop around you might be able to save some money over a pre-build external drive.

I don't think you need to do anything with XP. It should automatically recognize the new drive. A new HD will probably come formatted to FAT32, and you might want to reformat it to NTSF. That's easy.

If you're just looking for a simple solution, grab something ready to go like the Western Digital My Book or the Iomega Prestige. Right now the sweet spot seems to be around 1TB ($99-$120). Smaller stuff only saves you a few bucks. I'd check Newegg and Amazon. They both have good prices on external drives.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I have a Western Digital "My Book" terabyte USB drive. The price has dropped to around $100.00. It's externally powered and it's not the fastest iron but for backing up my notebook computer, it's just fine.

With the typical way USB drives are used where you're usually pushing large files off to a freshly formatted hard drive, you don't get all that much of a performance boost by going to a more expensive hard drive with higher RPM and faster seek times. A faster serial interface like Firewire also isn't going to buy you much of anything. It's a much bigger deal when you are doing general computing with lots of small files on a fairly fragmented hard drive.

Thank you guys!

[timewaster]

Originally Posted by TheBigDave

Because of this, the small USB powered drives come with a short 12-inch cord. I've heard others try to replace it with a longer cord, and it wouldn't power their HD. Never tried it myself, so that might not be true. But if that's important to you, it's worth looking into.

I just picked up the WD Passport 400GB. And I can see how the short cord might be a problem for some people.

yes. you are right.
some people have connected a usb-powered drive to their blueray player. they play a movie and it would work for the first few minutes then freeze up. They switched to a shorter cable and it fixed the problem.

[kuroiinu]

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[Superman07]

So I think I'm going to end up passing on a pre-built external and end up going with an enclosure and a WD Green drive.

Does anybody have any preferences for cases? I'd prefer more options than USB. FW is probably preferable since I now have Mac that supports that format.

I was looking at this which looks good and has good reviews, although some feedback has been negative.

http://www.amazon.com/Macally-G-S350...=2GT430VRJN079