external hard drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter jinxy
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J

jinxy

Hello, I am looking to purchase an external hdd. I would like some
input as to what t look for in the way of quality,
connectivity,capacity and disk sizes (2.5 or 3.5) also rpms. Cost is
not a major issue but reliability is. Anyone who has one of these , I
would like to hear the pros and cons about the hdd. thanks in advance.
-J
 
jinxy said:
Hello, I am looking to purchase an external hdd. I would like some
input as to what t look for in the way of quality,
connectivity,capacity and disk sizes (2.5 or 3.5) also rpms. Cost is
not a major issue but reliability is. Anyone who has one of these , I
would like to hear the pros and cons about the hdd. thanks in advance.
-J
Click to expand...

Don't buy a retail version external hdd at Compusa, Best Buy, etc. The
enclosure is made of plastic and traps heat. I used to have a WD retail
version hdd and it got so hot that I could barely touch it. Of course, it
died.

Instead, buy a NexStar USB 2.0 enclosure made by Vantec and a reliable hdd
such as Seagate or Samsung (check out newegg). Put it in the enclosure and
that's it. The enclosure is made of aluminium and keeps the hdd cool. In
fact, I've been using 2 NexStar enclosures with 2 Seagate 320GB hdd's for 2
years (almost 24/7) and have had zero problem.
 
First you need to decide whether to buy an internal HDD with an
external enclosure, or a dedicated external HDD. I can't speak to the
pros/cons of the former. As to the latter, I recently bought a 350GB
AcomData external HDD for backup which seems very high quality:
machined aluminum case for fanless operation, USB2 or Firewire
connection, on/off switch, pushbutton backup. I'm sure the other
brands would do well also. Look at newegg.com for customer reviews.
--
"Had we to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of
catastrophic success, being so successful so fast that an enemy that
should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight
another day." --President Bush, telling Time magazine that he
underestimated the Iraqi resistance, Aug. 2004
 
jinxy said:
Hello, I am looking to purchase an external hdd. I would like some
input as to what t look for in the way of quality,
connectivity,capacity and disk sizes (2.5 or 3.5) also rpms. Cost is
not a major issue but reliability is. Anyone who has one of these , I
would like to hear the pros and cons about the hdd. thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Buy your choice of 3.5" HD and a separate enclosure.

A 3.5" HD will be faster and cheaper than a 2.5" drive. You can find an
assortment of capacities from WD and Seagate, including the WD Raptor 10K RPM
SATA drive up to 150 GB, and the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 perpendicular
recording technology HD up to 750 GB.

For the enclosure, search your favorite on-line store for combination
USB2/Firewire or eSATA (if your machine has it) enclosures for SATA HDs.
Firewire or eSATA will be faster than USB2 (despite the faster theoretical
bandwidth of USB2). For the Raptor or any drive that will be connected for
long periods of time, get a fan cooled enclosure. For intermittent (backup)
use of a 7200 RPM HD, an aluminum passively cooled enclosure is sufficient.
 
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