External Hard Drives for Storage

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roving Mouse
  • Start date Start date
R

Roving Mouse

I'm thinking of getting a large capacity external (USB 2, I'm not "firewire
ready) HD for storing msuic, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions, or
advice?

I do burn CD's, but would like to have a larger library of media files
available - looking at external rather than internal for ease and
portability..
 
Less that two weeks ago I got a 160 GB/8 MB cache Western Digital HD from
Office Max for $80 after rebates. I put it into a Coolmax CD-510B Combo
case (USB and Firewire) from www.newegg.com

I am using Norton Ghost 2003 and the NT backup that came with XP Pro to back
up my computer and my daughter's laptop weekly. I disconnect from the
computer when not in use.

I have read that plastic cases and cases w/o fans can get hot, which would
be bad for the HD. The case I got is metal and has a fan.
 
: I'm thinking of getting a large capacity external (USB 2, I'm not
"firewire
: ready) HD for storing msuic, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions, or
: advice?
:
: I do burn CD's, but would like to have a larger library of media files
: available - looking at external rather than internal for ease and
: portability..

I wanted exactly the same thing for exactly the same purpose. I bought
myself an external casing (USB 2 only, but there are models that have both
firewire and USB) and put in a harddrive myself.

This has several advantages. Firstly it is cheaper. Secondly, it makes you
more flexible. If you want a bigger external drive after a couple of years,
you only have to buy a loose drive. Which makes it cheaper again.

They do tend to run a little hot, so make sure it has a fan.

Furthermore, there is a new type of connector on the market for harddisks
and drives. It is much smaller than the flatcable. It is predicted that it
will become the new standart. Perhaps you should look for an external casing
and drive that uses the new type of connector, if that is available and
affordable.
 
Less that two weeks ago I got a 160 GB/8 MB cache Western Digital HD from
Office Max for $80 after rebates. I put it into a Coolmax CD-510B Combo
case (USB and Firewire) from www.newegg.com

I am using Norton Ghost 2003 and the NT backup that came with XP Pro to back
up my computer and my daughter's laptop weekly. I disconnect from the
computer when not in use.

I have read that plastic cases and cases w/o fans can get hot, which would
be bad for the HD. The case I got is metal and has a fan.
Click to expand...

Some plastic are worse than others, a drive "can" be cool enough
running in a plastic case though it needs as much or more airflow than
the metal. Some are fairly noisey but the same methods of reducing
fan RPM in a system chassis also apply to an external enclosure... a
little bit of airflow from a quiet fan is still much, much better than
none.
 
: I'm thinking of getting a large capacity external (USB 2, I'm not
"firewire
: ready) HD for storing msuic, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions,
: or advice?
:
: I do burn CD's, but would like to have a larger library of media
: files available - looking at external rather than internal for ease
: and portability..

I wanted exactly the same thing for exactly the same purpose. I bought
myself an external casing (USB 2 only, but there are models that have
both firewire and USB) and put in a harddrive myself.

This has several advantages. Firstly it is cheaper. Secondly, it makes
you more flexible. If you want a bigger external drive after a couple
of years, you only have to buy a loose drive. Which makes it cheaper
again.

They do tend to run a little hot, so make sure it has a fan.

Furthermore, there is a new type of connector on the market for
harddisks and drives. It is much smaller than the flatcable. It is
predicted that it will become the new standart. Perhaps you should
look for an external casing and drive that uses the new type of
connector, if that is available and affordable.

Thanks for these thoughts! I am going to a few computer stores today
Click to expand...
(might not buy, but at least for pricing purposes) and I will keep this
info in mind.

RM
 
Roving Mouse said:
I'm thinking of getting a large capacity external (USB 2, I'm not "firewire
ready) HD for storing msuic, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions, or
advice?
Click to expand...


I assume you are using win2k or XP and plan to format the drive as NTFS...
(rather than win98 with Fat32)...
if so, you should be fine as fat32 is very wastful on partitins over 32gigs
 
if so, you should be fine as fat32 is very wastful on partitins over 32gigs

so it would be bad to get a 120gb hd with win98SE?
 
PCportinc said:
32gigs

so it would be bad to get a 120gb hd with win98SE?
Click to expand...


it would not be "bad" but it would be better to divide
the drive up into partions of 32gigs or less.
i don't recall all the facts and figures...but if you used larger partitions
there really will be a *lot* of space wasted...(due to large cluster size)

if you were ever thinking of going to win2k or XP
and using NTFS...now would be the time to do it

OTOH: to simply divide the drive into 4 approx 30 gig partitions
and stick with win98se ...would be perfectly ok
 
it would not be "bad" but it would be better to divide
the drive up into partions of 32gigs or less.
i don't recall all the facts and figures...but if you used larger partitions
there really will be a *lot* of space wasted...(due to large cluster size)

if you were ever thinking of going to win2k or XP
and using NTFS...now would be the time to do it

OTOH: to simply divide the drive into 4 approx 30 gig partitions
and stick with win98se ...would be perfectly ok
Click to expand...


"Lot of space wasted" is relative. Typically to fill a whole 120GB
drive the filesizes would be larger, making cluster size less
wasteful. By the time the drive is full it's pretty likely to have
less than 5% wasted space, only a couple dollars worth at today's
drive prices.
 
"Lot of space wasted" is relative. Typically to fill a whole 120GB
drive the filesizes would be larger, making cluster size less
wasteful. By the time the drive is full it's pretty likely to have
less than 5% wasted space, only a couple dollars worth at today's
drive prices.
Click to expand...


on partitions over 32gigs the cluster size for fat32 would be 32k
so there *could* be considerable wasted space...30% or more...
i guess it would depend on what kind of data are on the drive.
but you are right...with a lot of large files your estimate sounds
reasonable...

at any rate...on any of my machines that are setup as fat32...i keep the
partitions under 32gigs.
 
I assume you are using win2k or XP and plan to format the drive as
NTFS... (rather than win98 with Fat32)...
if so, you should be fine as fat32 is very wastful on partitins over
32gigs

Yes, I'm using XP, and will format as NTFS; thanks for the input!
Click to expand...
 
I starting using the Lacie big disc(400gb) for the same reason(mp3 storage).
Firewire seems to run faster than usb2 but this drive has both.
as for portable? well its a little heavy to lug around day in day out, but
other than that it works perfectly.
 
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