Looking to purchase portable external hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daave
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Daave

I am looking to purchase a small external hard drive. It looks like I
could get one for around $65 to $80.

For $80, there is the WD My Passport Essential Portable 250GB Hard
Drive.

However, I was wondering if it might be better purchasing an internal
drive and an external enclosure. I was looking at the following:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

VANTEC NST-200S2-BK Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure -
Retail

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392019

Thoughts?

I assume an OEM drive is sufficient as I assume I won't need cables,
packaging, etc. The drive is SATA 3.0Gb/s. I assume the enclosure can
handle it. The specs for internal interface simply say "SATA". Or do
they need to say SATA I/II? I'm a little confused! I guess if SATA I/II
is a must, I could choose from these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...odeValue=539:7127&PropertyCodeValue=541:44017

TIA.
 
A pc with a SATA and/or RAID capability can use either SATA 1 or 2..
As far as WDC goes,they are worth it,however Seagate hds are a better
choice in most cases,seagate carries a 5 yr warranty.Maybe WDC finally
has the same warranty but they failed to have it in the rescent past..
 
Daave said:
I am looking to purchase a small external hard drive. It looks like I
could get one for around $65 to $80.

For $80, there is the WD My Passport Essential Portable 250GB Hard
Drive.

However, I was wondering if it might be better purchasing an internal
drive and an external enclosure. I was looking at the following:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

VANTEC NST-200S2-BK Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure -
Retail

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392019

Thoughts?

I assume an OEM drive is sufficient as I assume I won't need cables,
packaging, etc. The drive is SATA 3.0Gb/s. I assume the enclosure can
handle it. The specs for internal interface simply say "SATA". Or do
they need to say SATA I/II? I'm a little confused! I guess if SATA I/II
is a must, I could choose from these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=92&Description=&
Type=&N=2010010092&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PropertyCodeValue=538%3A7124&
PropertyCodeValue=539%3A7127&PropertyCodeValue=541%3A44017

TIA.
Click to expand...

If purchasing an external USB drive in a pre-packaged format, select a
2.5" product for best life. They product less heat. And since pre-packaged
products never seem to include a fan, the odds the drive will last, are
increased by the lower consumption of the 2.5" drive. WD Passport 2.5"
might be a good choice in that case.

If you want maximum economy (dollars per gigabyte), then purchase
an external 3.5" USB enclosure and an internal drive mechanism. I
like to see a fan in the enclosure, and preferably a fan that
can easily be replaced when it wears out. (My current enclosure
uses a standard 40mm fan, and I can replace those using fans from
a local store.)

SATA II drives are backward compatible with SATA I. So a SATA II
drive should work with any SATA enclosure. The protocol is supposed
to allow negotiation of rate. And since USB2 cannot transfer more than
about 30MB/sec, it makes no difference which SATA interface rate
is used (300MB/sec or 150MB/sec).

The only time 3Gbit/sec drives don't work right, is with many
VIA Southbridge interfaces. That is an example of a situation,
where the "Force 150" jumper should be installed on the SATA
drive. The VIA chipsets don't seem to negotiate properly.
A pleasant exception is the VT8237S, the latest SATA chipset,
where they fixed it. I have a VT8237S and have tested it, and
it works right.

Some enclosures have issues with drives of a certain capacity, so
when shopping for your 3.5" fan equipped USB2 enclosure, make
sure that someone has tested it with a big drive first. This
one also comes with ESATA, for occasions when you want to get
more of the max transfer rate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173043

http://www.rosewill.com/Mgnt/Uploads/AttachmentForProduct/usermanual-RX358.pdf

They're not stackable, at least, unless you have a way of
spacing them vertically, so the fan intake continues to work.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-173-043-12.jpg

Paul
 
LOL Good catch, Andy! It seems that the 2.5" drive is $25 more than then
the 3.5" drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136279

Unless I go with this one for $60:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136387

The above two are both 3.0Gb/s. But since I plan on using this as an
external hard drive, perhaps I should just go with a slower SATA since
the real speed determiner is the USB 2.0. Here's one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136123

Five dollars cheaper than the Passport when combined with the Vantec
enclosure.
 
Paul said:
If purchasing an external USB drive in a pre-packaged format, select a
2.5" product for best life. They product less heat. And since pre-packaged
products never seem to include a fan, the odds the drive will last, are
increased by the lower consumption of the 2.5" drive. WD Passport 2.5"
might be a good choice in that case.

If you want maximum economy (dollars per gigabyte), then purchase
an external 3.5" USB enclosure and an internal drive mechanism. I
like to see a fan in the enclosure, and preferably a fan that
can easily be replaced when it wears out. (My current enclosure
uses a standard 40mm fan, and I can replace those using fans from
a local store.)

SATA II drives are backward compatible with SATA I. So a SATA II
drive should work with any SATA enclosure. The protocol is supposed
to allow negotiation of rate. And since USB2 cannot transfer more than
about 30MB/sec, it makes no difference which SATA interface rate
is used (300MB/sec or 150MB/sec).
Click to expand...

I presume you meant 3000 MB/sec or 1500 MB/sec above, since those figures
correspond to 3 GB/sec and 1.5 GB/sec, respectively.

I didn't realize it till now, but SATA II is evidently 100 times faster than
USB 2.0, which is pretty impressive.
 
Bill said:
I presume you meant 3000 MB/sec or 1500 MB/sec above, since those figures
correspond to 3 GB/sec and 1.5 GB/sec, respectively.

I didn't realize it till now, but SATA II is evidently 100 times faster than
USB 2.0, which is pretty impressive.
Click to expand...

SATA cable rates are 1.5Gbit/sec and 3Gbit/sec. USB2 is 480Mbit/sec.
Those rates are what you see traveling down the wire.

SATA data is 8B10B coded. That means 10 bits on the wire, yield
8 bits of user data. The two remaining bits are coding overhead.
There are reasons for using a code, but I won't go into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8B10B

If you take 1.5Gbit/sec * (8/10) * (1 byte/8 bits), you get 150MB/sec
theoretical user data rate.

If you take 3.0Gbit/sec * (8/10) * (1 byte/8 bits), you get 300MB/sec
theoretical user data rate.

USB2 at 480Mbit/sec, gives 60MB/sec theoretical. However, when all
overheads are taken into account, in the real protocol, users see
30MB/sec or a little more. There may also be a slight difference
between reading and writing, which could be due to the protocol.
(The transfer rates won't necessarily be equal.) USB is polled,
so some of the overhead goes into coordinating transfers.

It is hard for me to say right off hand, how much of the SATA
protocol, impacts the performance of SATA. The cable may be
capable of delivering 300MB/sec at the user level, but the
protocol (again, done with packets like in USB), has its
overhead as well. Just picking a number out of the air
(too lazy to search), you might get 230MB/sec if the
storage device itself was not a limitation.

So, extracting some numbers from the above

1) Cable rate comparison

SATA = 3Gbit/sec cable ==> 2.4Gbit/sec user data
USB2 = 480Mbit/sec cable ==> 480Mbit/sec user data (no coding)

Ratio 2400/480 = 5x [ Coding effects removed, for fairer comparison ]

2) After all protocols are taken into consideration (very rough estimate)

Ratio 230MB/sec / 30MB/sec = 7.7x

There will be a SATA3 and a USB3, so the race is not over.

HTH,
Paul
 
Daave said:
I am looking to purchase a small external hard drive. It looks like I could
get one for around $65 to $80.

For $80, there is the WD My Passport Essential Portable 250GB Hard Drive.

However, I was wondering if it might be better purchasing an internal
drive and an external enclosure. I was looking at the following:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

VANTEC NST-200S2-BK Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure -
Retail

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392019

Thoughts?

I assume an OEM drive is sufficient as I assume I won't need cables,
packaging, etc. The drive is SATA 3.0Gb/s. I assume the enclosure can
handle it. The specs for internal interface simply say "SATA". Or do they
need to say SATA I/II? I'm a little confused! I guess if SATA I/II is a
must, I could choose from these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...odeValue=539:7127&PropertyCodeValue=541:44017

TIA.
Click to expand...
I bought one of these a while back

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136172

and am very happy with it. I got mine from Best Buy on sale for $105. I use
it with the Ultimate Boot CD to do images of my desktop and notebook drives.
It's quiet and fast, and seems consistent and stable- I've restored my
notebook from it once with no problems.

SC Tom
 
Paul said:
If purchasing an external USB drive in a pre-packaged format, select a
2.5" product for best life. They product less heat. And since
pre-packaged products never seem to include a fan, the odds the drive
will last, are increased by the lower consumption of the 2.5" drive.
WD Passport 2.5" might be a good choice in that case.

If you want maximum economy (dollars per gigabyte), then purchase
an external 3.5" USB enclosure and an internal drive mechanism. I
like to see a fan in the enclosure, and preferably a fan that
can easily be replaced when it wears out. (My current enclosure
uses a standard 40mm fan, and I can replace those using fans from
a local store.)

SATA II drives are backward compatible with SATA I. So a SATA II
drive should work with any SATA enclosure. The protocol is supposed
to allow negotiation of rate. And since USB2 cannot transfer more than
about 30MB/sec, it makes no difference which SATA interface rate
is used (300MB/sec or 150MB/sec).

The only time 3Gbit/sec drives don't work right, is with many
VIA Southbridge interfaces. That is an example of a situation,
where the "Force 150" jumper should be installed on the SATA
drive. The VIA chipsets don't seem to negotiate properly.
A pleasant exception is the VT8237S, the latest SATA chipset,
where they fixed it. I have a VT8237S and have tested it, and
it works right.

Some enclosures have issues with drives of a certain capacity, so
when shopping for your 3.5" fan equipped USB2 enclosure, make
sure that someone has tested it with a big drive first. This
one also comes with ESATA, for occasions when you want to get
more of the max transfer rate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173043

http://www.rosewill.com/Mgnt/Uploads/AttachmentForProduct/usermanual-RX358.pdf

They're not stackable, at least, unless you have a way of
spacing them vertically, so the fan intake continues to work.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-173-043-12.jpg

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your input, Paul. I apologize for not making myself
clearer. What I mean by portable is something that is usually *not*
connected to a PC; something I can fit in my pocket in the event I need
to transfer lots of files quickly. (I already have a larger extrernal
hard drive that has a fan.) I don't need a fan because it will be turned
off most of the time. I don't even need an AC adapater; using the USB
cable will suffice.

As Andy pointed out, the link above is for the wrong (3.5") hard drive.
This is the one I was considering:

http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136123

Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 250GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA
1.5Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive - OEM

I hope I'm clearer this time around. :-)

Do you still think the Passport is better than the above drive housed in
an enclosure like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392019

VANTEC NST-200S2-BK Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure -
Retail

Or perhaps one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16817193061,N82E16817193062,N82E16817193037

This one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193062

might be worth it as I could also use its eSATA connection with the
right motherboard.
 
Paul said:
SATA cable rates are 1.5Gbit/sec and 3Gbit/sec. USB2 is 480Mbit/sec.
Those rates are what you see traveling down the wire.
Click to expand...

G-bits/sec. OK, I missed that.
SATA data is 8B10B coded. That means 10 bits on the wire, yield
8 bits of user data. The two remaining bits are coding overhead.
There are reasons for using a code, but I won't go into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8B10B

If you take 1.5Gbit/sec * (8/10) * (1 byte/8 bits), you get 150MB/sec
theoretical user data rate.

If you take 3.0Gbit/sec * (8/10) * (1 byte/8 bits), you get 300MB/sec
theoretical user data rate.

USB2 at 480Mbit/sec, gives 60MB/sec theoretical.
Click to expand...

OK. Guess there are no overhead bits here, so 8 bits per byte.
However, when all
overheads are taken into account, in the real protocol, users see
30MB/sec or a little more. There may also be a slight difference
between reading and writing, which could be due to the protocol.
(The transfer rates won't necessarily be equal.) USB is polled,
so some of the overhead goes into coordinating transfers.
Click to expand...

OK. So at this point, SATA II would ideally be 10 times faster than USB
2.0, but I see below after factoring everything else in, that drops to about
8 times.
It is hard for me to say right off hand, how much of the SATA
protocol, impacts the performance of SATA. The cable may be
capable of delivering 300MB/sec at the user level, but the
protocol (again, done with packets like in USB), has its
overhead as well. Just picking a number out of the air
(too lazy to search), you might get 230MB/sec if the
storage device itself was not a limitation.

So, extracting some numbers from the above

1) Cable rate comparison

SATA = 3Gbit/sec cable ==> 2.4Gbit/sec user data
USB2 = 480Mbit/sec cable ==> 480Mbit/sec user data (no coding)

Ratio 2400/480 = 5x [ Coding effects removed, for fairer
comparison ]

2) After all protocols are taken into consideration (very rough estimate)

Ratio 230MB/sec / 30MB/sec = 7.7x

There will be a SATA3 and a USB3, so the race is not over.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks for the further clarifications, Paul.
 
Daave...
You're obviously an experienced user so as a number of responders to your
query have indicated, you're probably better off with purchasing a separate
external enclosure and whatever make/model/size HDD you think preferable.

Let me give you a few thoughts in addition to what you've already rec'd.

1. As a practical matter (based on our experience), there's really no
difference of any consequence re the longevity of a 2 1/2" HDD vs. a 3 1/2"
HDD. I really don't think you need be concerned re heat-related problems
affecting this or that size disk (laptop vs. desktop). Ordinarily we suggest
to the user to purchase a 3 1/2" disk if their primary use is with a desktop
PC or a 2 1/2" disk if primary use involves a laptop/notebook, if only for
the interchangeability aspect should it possibly come to that at some later
date.

Where portability of the external device is an important consideration, then
the 2 1/2" disk would generally be advisable. On the other hand, byte for
byte the 3 1/2" HDD is nearly always less expensive than its smaller
brother.

2. Unquestionably go with an external enclosure that has eSATA capability in
addition to its USB connectivity. As I'm sure you know there are plenty to
choose from. Even if the motherboard of a desktop machine does not contain
an eSATA port more & more cases are coming on the market with an eSATA
connector. Also relatively cheap eSATA adapters that can be easily affixed
to the backplane of the desktop's case are available. So one way or another
it's generally an inexpensive and simple process whereby you can obtain
SATA-to-SATA connectivity between the external device and the desktop
machine. It's a most desirable feature as I'm sure you appreciate.

While the number of laptop/notebook machines do not include an integrated
eSATA port (although more & more of them are coming on the market), you can
utilize an ExpressCard containing one or more eSATA ports to achieve that
SATA-to-SATA connectivity.

3. Take a look at this Vantec "dock"...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392022
We've used this device extensively for about the past six months or so and
it has worked flawlessly. Note it accommodates both 2 1/2" & 3 1/2" drives.
It's major drawback is its bulk but if you can live with that it's a device
to consider. Note its power button/led is on the "front" of the device.
That's an important consideration for us. Most of these external enclosures
have the power button on the rear of the enclosure - which we dislike.

We've also worked with a similar device Thermaltake which also worked well.
See...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066
Anna
 
Daave said:
Thanks so much for your input, Paul. I apologize for not making myself
clearer. What I mean by portable is something that is usually *not*
connected to a PC; something I can fit in my pocket in the event I need
to transfer lots of files quickly. (I already have a larger extrernal
hard drive that has a fan.) I don't need a fan because it will be turned
off most of the time. I don't even need an AC adapater; using the USB
cable will suffice.

As Andy pointed out, the link above is for the wrong (3.5") hard drive.
This is the one I was considering:

http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136123

Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 250GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA
1.5Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive - OEM

I hope I'm clearer this time around. :-)

Do you still think the Passport is better than the above drive housed in
an enclosure like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392019

VANTEC NST-200S2-BK Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure -
Retail

Or perhaps one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16817193061,N82E16817193062,N82E16817193037

This one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193062

might be worth it as I could also use its eSATA connection with the
right motherboard.
Click to expand...

The 2.5" hard drive you've selected is here. While drawing 5V @ 500mA,
that would just fit within the bus power limits of USB. So you
may be able to use that drive, without a separate power adapter,
using nothing but +5V delivered by the USB bus. (The spinup
current value is not noted there. If it was significantly
more, then more power may be needed. Sometimes, a laptop
polices power pretty tightly, and can cause problems to
USB bus powered devices.)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=314

Did you look at the reviews on the Newegg site for the drive ?
A few of those have died within a couple months.

What I'd be doing, is comparing the failure reports for the
raw 250GB drive, versus the failure reports for a competing
Passport product, and see which is better.

Based on a reviewer's comment, apparently the Vantec USB cable
provided, is the "Y type", with two heads on one end. So if you
need additional USB bus power, there is the necessary
cable for that provided. That reduces the necessity of
finding an AC to DC adapter. You plug in the "data" connector
always, and plug in the "power only" connector
if the drive has trouble spinning up. If SMART reports
spinup problems, then I'd be connecting the second
connector as well. (You have to look closely at the picture
of the USB cable, to see the total of three connectors. I
missed that the first time, looking at the picture.)

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-392-019-15.jpg

The Vantec manual is here. Notice the nice installation procedure.
The SATA connector is seated to the drive first, and then the
whole thing slides together. (Compare that to the EagleTech method.)

http://www.vantecusa.com/system/application/media/data_file/nst-200s2_user_manual.pdf

One of the reviews for your Eagle enclosure, mentions a problem
using bus power for USB. It was a Macbook, which apparently
has one USB port with tight settings on bus power limits.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16817193062

From the Eagletechusa site...

http://www.eagletechusa.com/ET-CS2XMESU2-BK.html

"PACKAGE CONTENT

External storage system
Resource CD
Quick installation guide
Certified USB 2.0 and eSATA cables
USB to DC power cable <-------
Key"

That means the Eagletech, uses a slightly different cabling
solution. While the Vantec has the traditional "Y cable",
Eagle splits their solution in two pieces. There is a
standard USB to USB cable for the "data" connection.
A second USB to barrel connector, is the "power only"
option. You plug in the USB to barrel connector, if
you're having trouble getting enough power for the
drive to spin. (500mA comes from the "data" cable,
and another 500mA comes from the "power only" cable.)

The Eagletech appears to be relying on a slide
mechanism to seat the drive. The SATA connector was
designed, with sliding insertion in mind. The only
thing I don't like about slides, is whether there
is a good ejector mechanism to ease the drive out.
If they don't give you anything to grip onto, you'd
be at the mercy of their ejector mechanism. While
2.5" drives have high shock ratings, it is still
nice if the packaging doesn't require you to be
hammering on things, to get it apart. In
that respect, I like the Vantec solution better,
as the whole package slides apart first, and then
you can address the connector issue separately.

When running the Eagletech in ESATA mode, you still
have to solve the power issue. You could use the
USB to barrel connector, to provide 500mA to the
drive. If you want to run ESATA, and need more power
than that, then you'd need a separate AC to DC
adapter. (It all depends on how generous the single
USB port is with power.)

As you can see, there are hours of fun in
analysing these things.

HTH,
Paul
 
Paul said:
The 2.5" hard drive you've selected is here. While drawing 5V @ 500mA,
that would just fit within the bus power limits of USB. So you
may be able to use that drive, without a separate power adapter,
using nothing but +5V delivered by the USB bus. (The spinup
current value is not noted there. If it was significantly
more, then more power may be needed. Sometimes, a laptop
polices power pretty tightly, and can cause problems to
USB bus powered devices.)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=314

Did you look at the reviews on the Newegg site for the drive ?
A few of those have died within a couple months.

What I'd be doing, is comparing the failure reports for the
raw 250GB drive, versus the failure reports for a competing
Passport product, and see which is better.

Based on a reviewer's comment, apparently the Vantec USB cable
provided, is the "Y type", with two heads on one end. So if you
need additional USB bus power, there is the necessary
cable for that provided. That reduces the necessity of
finding an AC to DC adapter. You plug in the "data" connector
always, and plug in the "power only" connector
if the drive has trouble spinning up. If SMART reports
spinup problems, then I'd be connecting the second
connector as well. (You have to look closely at the picture
of the USB cable, to see the total of three connectors. I
missed that the first time, looking at the picture.)

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-392-019-15.jpg

The Vantec manual is here. Notice the nice installation procedure.
The SATA connector is seated to the drive first, and then the
whole thing slides together. (Compare that to the EagleTech method.)

http://www.vantecusa.com/system/application/media/data_file/nst-200s2_user_manual.pdf

One of the reviews for your Eagle enclosure, mentions a problem
using bus power for USB. It was a Macbook, which apparently
has one USB port with tight settings on bus power limits.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16817193062

From the Eagletechusa site...

http://www.eagletechusa.com/ET-CS2XMESU2-BK.html

"PACKAGE CONTENT

External storage system
Resource CD
Quick installation guide
Certified USB 2.0 and eSATA cables
USB to DC power cable <-------
Key"

That means the Eagletech, uses a slightly different cabling
solution. While the Vantec has the traditional "Y cable",
Eagle splits their solution in two pieces. There is a
standard USB to USB cable for the "data" connection.
A second USB to barrel connector, is the "power only"
option. You plug in the USB to barrel connector, if
you're having trouble getting enough power for the
drive to spin. (500mA comes from the "data" cable,
and another 500mA comes from the "power only" cable.)

The Eagletech appears to be relying on a slide
mechanism to seat the drive. The SATA connector was
designed, with sliding insertion in mind. The only
thing I don't like about slides, is whether there
is a good ejector mechanism to ease the drive out.
If they don't give you anything to grip onto, you'd
be at the mercy of their ejector mechanism. While
2.5" drives have high shock ratings, it is still
nice if the packaging doesn't require you to be
hammering on things, to get it apart. In
that respect, I like the Vantec solution better,
as the whole package slides apart first, and then
you can address the connector issue separately.

When running the Eagletech in ESATA mode, you still
have to solve the power issue. You could use the
USB to barrel connector, to provide 500mA to the
drive. If you want to run ESATA, and need more power
than that, then you'd need a separate AC to DC
adapter. (It all depends on how generous the single
USB port is with power.)

As you can see, there are hours of fun in
analysing these things.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I would choose the word "fun" :-)

Andy suggested this combo:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008671

It even comes with the Vantec NST-200S2-BK enclosure. Seveny bucks
(after rebate). And this particular drive got mostly excellent reviews.
So my mind is made up.

I'll take a pass on eSATA this time around; I just want something simple
and portable. My next *stationary* (3.5") external hard drive enclosure
will be eSATA.

Thanks for the in-depth analysis, Paul.
 
Daave said:
I'm not sure I would choose the word "fun" :-)

Andy suggested this combo:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008671

It even comes with the Vantec NST-200S2-BK enclosure. Seveny bucks
(after rebate). And this particular drive got mostly excellent reviews.
So my mind is made up.

I'll take a pass on eSATA this time around; I just want something simple
and portable. My next *stationary* (3.5") external hard drive enclosure
will be eSATA.

Thanks for the in-depth analysis, Paul.
Click to expand...

The spinup current is 1 amp. If your purchase gives you a
problem, connect both USB connectors on the Y cable. Once
up to speed, none of the other power numbers look to be a
problem.

http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_momentus_7200_3.pdf

Paul
 
Daave said:
I am looking to purchase a small external hard drive. It looks like I could
get one for around $65 to $80.

For $80, there is the WD My Passport Essential Portable 250GB Hard Drive.

However, I was wondering if it might be better purchasing an internal
drive and an external enclosure. I was looking at the following:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

VANTEC NST-200S2-BK Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 2.0 External Enclosure -
Retail

Web page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392019

Thoughts?

I assume an OEM drive is sufficient as I assume I won't need cables,
packaging, etc. The drive is SATA 3.0Gb/s. I assume the enclosure can
handle it. The specs for internal interface simply say "SATA". Or do they
need to say SATA I/II? I'm a little confused! I guess if SATA I/II is a
must, I could choose from these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...odeValue=539:7127&PropertyCodeValue=541:44017

TIA.
Click to expand...

When buying an enclosure for a hard drive, it must be suitable by many
requirements. To fully utilize the drive's capacity, the enclosure must
"see" the entire capacity of the hard drive. Such information is not always
listed, be careful when making your selection. The drive's actual speed is
limited by its native connection like SATAII, but also the enclosure's bus
like USB 2.0 for instance. The slowest of these is what limits the hard
drive's actual use speed. The physical internal size of the enclosure is
what determines what physical size hard drive it can accept like 2.5"
enclosure for a 2.5" hard drive.

Personally, I like AC powered 3.5" enclosures with an up front on/off
switch, and with at least one ventilation fan.
 
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