need recommendations on external USB HD

timewaster · 07-08-09, 12:47 PM

i am looking to buy a external USB HD. either 320 or 500 gigs.
what should i look for?
so far i have - usb 2.0, 7200 rpm. what else?

any recommendations or any good deals?

X · 07-08-09, 01:37 PM

I would pay a little more and get Firewire. It's much faster if you're moving a lot of data.

4KRG · 07-08-09, 01:41 PM

Firewire?

I went to ESata and will never use firewire or usb 2 again unless forced to

but then again, we have no idea what he is plugging it into

Does he want a 2.5" or 3.5" form factor?

The seagate external drives are good if you want to buy one pre-made

I still like to buy bare drives and install them in enclosures myself.

Dr Mabuse · 07-08-09, 01:47 PM

Yeah yeah X, we get it, you're a firewire fan.

Spend a little more, X, and get SCSI. It's much faster if you move a lot of data.

ESata... PFFFT!

On the OP's Question.

This one rules the roost right now as to speed and etc. 5 year warranty and you can expect longer life from a micro drive like this. I won't buy a full sized external. In testing this drive set some records for transfer. I have several of these now.

The dock works well but takes 2 USB slots to use. I have plenty of USB ports so I use a couple of docks.

Dr Mabuse · 07-08-09, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4KRG

The seagate external drives are good if you want to buy one pre-made

I still like to buy bare drives and install them in enclosures myself.

Yep and yep.

If I'm installing full sized external drives it's in a proper enclosure with a cooling fan and SCSI bus.

Chrisedge · 07-08-09, 02:02 PM

I use the one linked about, and it doesn't require two USB connections...

X · 07-08-09, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4KRG

Firewire?

I went to ESata and will never use firewire or usb 2 again unless forced to

but then again, we have no idea what he is plugging it into

Exactly. However not that many people have e-SATA, not to mention having it configured so that it is usable (I'm reinstalling an OS right now due to that) and the dearth of enclosures handling it.

I'm backing up the old OS using Firewire right now. No way I'd spend the extra time using USB.

I've always been a big SCSI fan, but there's no way I'd bother with the expense and trouble using SCSI for a portable drive anymore.

fumanstan · 07-08-09, 02:17 PM

To be fair, I don't think that many people have Firewire either. Obviously more then eSATA, but it's not exactly standard on most PC's too. For ease of use, USB is probably the most practical, especially if the drive is moved between other computers.

Dr Mabuse · 07-08-09, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisedge

I use the one linked about, and it doesn't require two USB connections...

The dock does.

They sell a station dock for that drive, with a little carry thing/case. I have a couple, they use 2 USB ports.

4KRG · 07-08-09, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X

Exactly. However not that many people have e-SATA,

Not that many PC users have Firewire, out of the 6 machines in my house, only ONE has it

As for E-sata, many external enclosures come with the cable and bracket to add it to a desktop PC (connecting to one of the sata ports already on most motherboards). If they don't come with it, you can buy it for $3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812226006

I would say the majority of PCs these days have an extra sata port on the mobo.

Quote:

not to mention having it configured so that it is usable (I'm reinstalling an OS right now due to that) and the dearth of enclosures handling it.

again

I have never had an issue.

Quote:

I've always been a big SCSI fan, but there's no way I'd bother with the expense and trouble using SCSI for a portable drive anymore.

I agree, SCSI is not for the majority of users. I gave up on it around XP SP2 and just went with SATA (cheaper/quieter/less heat and yes a little slower)

4KRG · 07-08-09, 02:41 PM

Seagates next 'outlet sale' is 7/16/09

http://shop.seagate.com/store/sgateu...age.OnSalePage

kuroiinu · 07-08-09, 02:55 PM

I like these portable hard drives like the Seagate Free Agent Go or WD My Passport. They are small and lightweight.

When I travel for work, I carry only the work laptop and put stuff from my personal laptop on the portable HD so I have everything I need with me.

X · 07-08-09, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4KRG

Not that many PC users have Firewire, out of the 6 machines in my house, only ONE has it

As for E-sata, many external enclosures come with the cable and bracket to add it to a desktop PC (connecting to one of the sata ports already on most motherboards). If they don't come with it, you can buy it for $3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812226006

I would say the majority of PCs these days have an extra sata port on the mobo.

again

I have never had an issue.

First, your PCs may have e-SATA, but not that many enclosures do. It really limits your selection. Other than a notebook, it's hard for me to imagine a modern maching not having Firewire. But I've just added a card on old machines that didn't.

As for the e-SATA port on the PC, if they don't have their own BIOS they may not be be able to be use with "hot-swappable" removeable media. So you have to boot up with the external drive attached and running and you can't remove it until you shut down. You may have to enable AHCI mode in the BIOS (instead of IDE mode) before installing the OS in order to get that hot-swappable ability. I'm dealing with this issue right now with a Gigabyte motherboard.

fumanstan · 07-08-09, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X

Other than a notebook, it's hard for me to imagine a modern maching not having Firewire. But I've just added a card on old machines that didn't.

Unfortunately that's not the case at all, as most PC's don't include Firewire. You can probably walk down an aisle at Best Buy or Fry's, or even glance through the options on Dell or HP's web page and the machines with Firewire are probably very limited.

Firewire always seemed very Mac oriented. Not many Windows PC's included it, favoring USB instead.

X · 07-08-09, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fumanstan

Unfortunately that's not the case at all, as most PC's don't include Firewire. You can probably walk down an aisle at Best Buy or Fry's, or even glance through the options on Dell or HP's web page and the machines with Firewire are probably very limited.

Firewire always seemed very Mac oriented. Not many Windows PC's included it, favoring USB instead.

I guess I just don't look at those machines!

I've always added a cheap card if the computer didn't have it, but haven't had to do that in a long time. I build my own computers, but I never see a motherboard anymore that doesn't have it. Must just be what I look at. I'd still add a card rather than having to use USB for transferring anything over a couple of GBs. And that's not even taking into account the flakiness of USB.

Nifty03 · 07-08-09, 03:47 PM

Can you power an external HD over Firewire or eSATA? I guess that is one thing I like about USB.

zuffy · 07-08-09, 04:04 PM

I have a WD 500GB connected via firewire. I have a Maxtor 500GB connected via USB in the same machine. The same backup took the same amount of time. I don't see how firewire is faster unless we're talking about firewire 800 that the drive can utilize.

X · 07-08-09, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zuffy

I have a WD 500GB connected via firewire. I have a Maxtor 500GB connected via USB in the same machine. The same backup took the same amount of time. I don't see how firewire is faster unless we're talking about firewire 800 that the drive can utilize.

I find that extremely hard to believe unless the USB or Firewire interface isn't the limiting factor. Whatever is doing the backup must be slower than USB's transfer rate.

Dr Mabuse · 07-08-09, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zuffy

I have a WD 500GB connected via firewire. I have a Maxtor 500GB connected via USB in the same machine. The same backup took the same amount of time. I don't see how firewire is faster unless we're talking about firewire 800 that the drive can utilize.

If you can't tell, it's been a while since X actually used USB and compared.

I copy gigs all the time to my new(ish) Seagate Freeagent Go drives and they transfer fine. In fact the transfer between the two internal 'Raptor SATA drives(on separate buses) in one of my systems is not hugely faster than a transfer from one of the 'Raptors to one of my Seagate USB drives. I just moved a few gigs around to see.

SCSI smokes it of course, but there are many reasons for that. SCSI is way out front on performance and reliability.

X · 07-08-09, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Mabuse

If you can't tell, it's been a while since X actually used USB and compared.

If it'll make you happy, I'll do a test soon. Maybe around 10 GBs or so.

zuffy · 07-08-09, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X

I find that extremely hard to believe unless the USB or Firewire interface isn't the limiting factor. Whatever is doing the backup must be slower than USB's transfer rate.

Off the top of my head, Acronis backup 45GB of data in VelociRaptor drive to a Hitachi 1TB drive in about 8-10 minutes. I don't remember the figure for the same backup to the WD or Maxtor but I know they took the same amount of time.

Dr Mabuse · 07-08-09, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X

If it'll make you happy, I'll do a test soon. Maybe around 10 GBs or so.

I'll be sooooo happy.

Get a Seagate Freeagent Go drive, on a modern motherboard, test it out.

Chrisedge · 07-08-09, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Mabuse

The dock does.

They sell a station dock for that drive, with a little carry thing/case. I have a couple, they use 2 USB ports.

I have the dock, the case, the cord (which has two connectors on it, one which says "Power" and it's thinner and the other connector says "Data+Power" which is a little thicker)...The dock is hooked up using another cord (Which I had) that is a heavier duty cord, not unlike the side that says "Data+Power"...

I haven't had an issues using the heavier single cord, or the thicker end (Data+Power) side of the supplied cord on it's own, any time I've used the drive.

timewaster · 07-09-09, 12:19 PM

I'm looking for USB only since i will also be using it to connect to a blue-ray player in the future.

I guess the seagate freeagent go is the one to get?

also, why would the form factor matter if it is external?

kuroiinu · 07-09-09, 12:37 PM

There are several brands, but for a hard drive, I would stick with a reputable brand like Seagate or Western Digital.

The Seagate desk model is "Freeagent Desk" and portable model is "Freeagent Go". Western Digital has "My Book" for desk and "My Passport" for portable.

The portable model is thin and small (about the size of your hand) and is... well, portable. It makes it very easy to copy stuff from your computer and take it with you. The desk model is bigger (thicker) but gives you about 2x the capacity for the same price.

07-08-09, 12:47 PM	#1
timewaster DVD Talk Special Edition Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: New York, N.Y. Posts: 1,288	need recommendations on external USB HD i am looking to buy a external USB HD. either 320 or 500 gigs. what should i look for? so far i have - usb 2.0, 7200 rpm. what else? any recommendations or any good deals?

07-08-09, 01:37 PM	#2
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Posts: 5,402	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD I would pay a little more and get Firewire. It's much faster if you're moving a lot of data.

07-08-09, 01:41 PM	#3
4KRG DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 13,934	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD Firewire? I went to ESata and will never use firewire or usb 2 again unless forced to but then again, we have no idea what he is plugging it into Does he want a 2.5" or 3.5" form factor? The seagate external drives are good if you want to buy one pre-made I still like to buy bare drives and install them in enclosures myself.

07-08-09, 01:47 PM	#4
Dr Mabuse DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: 75 clicks above the Do Lung bridge... Posts: 8,583	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD Yeah yeah X, we get it, you're a firewire fan. Spend a little more, X, and get SCSI. It's much faster if you move a lot of data. ESata... PFFFT! On the OP's Question. This one rules the roost right now as to speed and etc. 5 year warranty and you can expect longer life from a micro drive like this. I won't buy a full sized external. In testing this drive set some records for transfer. I have several of these now. The dock works well but takes 2 USB slots to use. I have plenty of USB ports so I use a couple of docks. __________________ "Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it." - Samuel Johnson

07-08-09, 02:02 PM	#6
Chrisedge DVD Talk Ultimate Edition Join Date: Jun 1999 Location: Part of the Left-Wing Conspiracy Posts: 4,488	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD I use the one linked about, and it doesn't require two USB connections... __________________ DVDTalk Member #1758 since: 06-09-99 I Hate Blockbuster chrisedge.com My first post I can find here My Countdown Counting down to: My Last 360° Show for 2010! BUMMER...Until Next Summer!

07-08-09, 02:17 PM	#8
fumanstan DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Irvine, CA Posts: 22,069	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD To be fair, I don't think that many people have Firewire either. Obviously more then eSATA, but it's not exactly standard on most PC's too. For ease of use, USB is probably the most practical, especially if the drive is moved between other computers. __________________ XBox Live: Fu Man Stan "I've never derived "joy" from either comicbooks or torture porn, so you can imagine how I feel about the mainstream marriage of the two in The Dark Knight" - baracine

07-08-09, 02:41 PM	#11
4KRG DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 13,934	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD Seagates next 'outlet sale' is 7/16/09 http://shop.seagate.com/store/sgateu...age.OnSalePage

07-08-09, 02:55 PM	#12
kuroiinu DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: California Blue Posts: 3,376	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD I like these portable hard drives like the Seagate Free Agent Go or WD My Passport. They are small and lightweight. When I travel for work, I carry only the work laptop and put stuff from my personal laptop on the portable HD so I have everything I need with me.

07-08-09, 03:47 PM	#16
Nifty03 DVD Talk Special Edition Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Waiting for the Zombiepocalypse Posts: 1,956	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD Can you power an external HD over Firewire or eSATA? I guess that is one thing I like about USB. __________________ Not another funny Signature. Steam Community: Nifty03

07-08-09, 04:04 PM	#17
zuffy DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Region 1 Posts: 15,389	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD I have a WD 500GB connected via firewire. I have a Maxtor 500GB connected via USB in the same machine. The same backup took the same amount of time. I don't see how firewire is faster unless we're talking about firewire 800 that the drive can utilize. __________________ My Photo Gallery

07-09-09, 12:19 PM	#24
timewaster DVD Talk Special Edition Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: New York, N.Y. Posts: 1,288	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD I'm looking for USB only since i will also be using it to connect to a blue-ray player in the future. I guess the seagate freeagent go is the one to get? also, why would the form factor matter if it is external? Last edited by timewaster; 07-09-09 at 12:23 PM.

07-09-09, 12:37 PM	#25
kuroiinu DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: California Blue Posts: 3,376	Re: need recommendations on external USB HD There are several brands, but for a hard drive, I would stick with a reputable brand like Seagate or Western Digital. The Seagate desk model is "Freeagent Desk" and portable model is "Freeagent Go". Western Digital has "My Book" for desk and "My Passport" for portable. The portable model is thin and small (about the size of your hand) and is... well, portable. It makes it very easy to copy stuff from your computer and take it with you. The desk model is bigger (thicker) but gives you about 2x the capacity for the same price.