Thinkpads Forum

Guys, I need to remove 10GB++ of MP3s from my T30's hard drive. These files are far too extensive to consider using CDs.

Plan A:

Pickup a USB external hard drive, right? I don't know too much about these devices and the related jargon. I don't need a second hard drive, I just want a place where I can store stuff (MP3s, JPEGs, etc.) and keep it in a closet when not in use.


Plan B:

Transfer all files to our T43 and burn a DVD

Here's what I am working with. The T43 does appear to have a writer. It's called M a t s u s h i t a (Panasonic) UJDA765 DVD/CDRW. The machine has a program called Sonic RECORD NOW!

I'll need to buy some burnable DVDs.

Perhaps I could connect both of the laptops, via ethernet, to our router and transfer the files that way? Or connect the two machines directly via a cross-over cable?

Do I need to fool around with MS Print and File Sharing?

Thanks for any suggestions on an e-z way to handle this transferring/archiving.

There is a lot there to consider.

1. The devices I have used labelled DVD/CDRW are CD Writers, not DVD Writers. Yes, they read DVD, but don't write DVD.

2. Transferring 10Gb between machines needs a wire. You need to be running at least 100Mbits at your router, and both machines need to be running in Ultra DMA. With the best of conditions as described, it takes me 15 minutes plus or minus to copy 5Gb virtual machines. It takes vastly, vastly longer over wireless, or if a drive has slipped in PIO mode. (I am speaking from experience here).

3. Yes, you need File and Print sharing enabled, but it seems to me that has been the default of late. Check it and make certain.

4. Hopefully both machines are XP Pro and assuming such, disable Simple File Sharing. With Home, you must muck about with shared folders.

5. Make sure the firewalls on both machines allow access (usually allow the full range of your subnet).

6. A crossover cable works, but then you have to worry about IP's assigned. A router is just much easier because it assigns the IP's to your computers.

... JD Hurst

Oh, so that may not be a DVD writer?? I don't think anyone has ever tried it. The Sonic software suggested it was able to do DVDs. I'll have to look closer. If not, I guess the only other choice is the external HD.

Yes, both machines are WINXP Pro. I'm not that concerned about the time required to transfer. I can just set up and let it run.

Yeah, I was wondering about the assignment of IP addresses. i'll just connect both machines to the router via cable. That's e-z.

Thanks, JD.

uberT wrote:Oh, so that may not be a DVD writer??

The UJDA765 is definitely not a DVD writer. Look it up on Google.

Go get a nice USB hard drive. It's a great way to back up files. I bought a Western Digital "My Book" drive last November and it's the best USB hard drive I've used. Newegg.com has several different sizes of them, ranging from 80GB to 1TB. Go to newegg.com and type "my book" into the text book at the upper left corner.

I called the VAR where the T43 was purchased. They say it's not a DVD writer.

Plan C:

I can get an OE DVD writer for the T30 for around $100.

uberT wrote:I can get an OE DVD writer for the T30 for around $100.

Or a USB external DVD writer that can be used by both the T43 and the T30! Mine cost me only $60, two years ago.

pianowizard wrote:
The UJDA765 is definitely not a DVD writer. Look it up on Google.

Go get a nice USB hard drive. It's a great way to back up files. I bought a Western Digital "My Book" drive last November and it's the best USB hard drive I've used. Newegg.com has several different sizes of them, ranging from 80GB to 1TB. Go to newegg.com and type "my book" into the text book at the upper left corner.

(we must have been typing at the same time)


Yeah, even if I get an OE writer for the T30, I probably will have to get software to control it. I have NERO 5 but have no idea if it will work. I don't think it does.

will an external DVD writer have software with it? or would that be an additional expense?

Thx.

If your Nero5 can burn DVDs, then it will work with any USB DVD writer. Many DVD burners come with Nero or some other similar software, too.

USB hard drives don't require software.

I bought a LiteOn USB 2.0 external DVD writer about 2 years ago from Office Max for about $130. It came with Nero 6. The prices must have dropped by now.

At this very moment I am using Nero 6 OEM Suite and a UJ-820 DVD burner in my T23 to backup a bunch of files (~4.5GB). I'll let you know how it turns out (currently at 20% at 5 minutes into the process). Both were purchased off of eBay in the last several months. I think Nero was about $8 (bought 4 copies) and the UJ-820 was around $35 or $40 (requires trim of bezel to fit Ultrabay).

Another option, if you want to use a hard drive to backup your files, is to get an Ultrabay hard drive adapter and simply use Windows to copy the files. It should be faster than any external USB (1.1) drive and you could then image your entire disk using Ghost, Acronis, or the like. I've purchased the adapters for around $20. One problem with that is the T30 and T42 requires different Ultrabay adapters.

edit: 15 minutes and 66% done. Burn speed is showing 2.4X. Figure the full 4.5GB will take 23 minutes. This is using a DVD+RW disc.

edit: 23:18 to finish writing the lead-out. Since I also specified to verify the files, it's now doing the data verification pass.

P.S. I should clarify that the 2.4X burn speed is the limitation of the UJ-820 drive. I'm using Memorex 4X DVD+RW media.

P.P.S. Using a UJ-840 (4X) and the same Memorex media, the same files were burned in 15:40 which is about right for the 1.6X increase in speed.

Nero 5 does not have the ability to write DVDs.

I can get the Western Digital external HD 250GB for around $70.

Sony has a writer for around $70 and includes NERO.

Are DVDs re-writable or single use only?

Thx.

Depends . You can get DVD-R or DVD+R which are single use. There's also DVD+RW (what I'm using now) and DVD-RW (both are re-usable). Finally, if your drive supports it, there's DVD-RAM, which is also re-writable.

Since you're probably wondering what's the difference (and I don't rightly know myself), here's some sites that might explain it all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD (check the right sidebar for formats)
http://www.proactionmedia.com/dvd_media_formats.htm
http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

rkawakami wrote:Depends

Ray, thanks, I always appreciate your insight.

I am leaning towards the WD HD. I've read a few reviews and folks really seem to like it. It may be the best config for me and it can certainly interface with many other computers w/o the need for more software which appeals to me.

I assume the data transfer rates would be similar whether DVD writing or sending data to the external HD, right?

Who kwows, if it's easy to use, I might actually start doing my weekly backups as required

uberT wrote:I assume the data transfer rates would be similar whether DVD writing or sending data to the external HD, right?

Probably higher for the hard drive over the DVD. But if you are doing this on the T30 (USB 1.1), then you are going to be limited in that regard. The T43 should be faster since it has USB 2.0, but I understand that some of those systems have issues with obtaining the higher transfer rate.

I purchased a USB 2.0 PCMCIA adapter card a year ago. I had an MP3 player in the car (hard-drive based) and I had to sync it and load it in the house via a cradle. The data transfer rates increased dramatically with the 2.0 PCMCIA card.


I also have NTI Backup Now! It appears to be able to handle DVDs in addition to CDs, which I have been using for a long time. Problem is, it creates a single file that only it can read and now I see they've encrypted it (updated the program last night, we're about to go to whole disc encryption). So, without the NTI software, you're SOL.


I'm likin' the Western Digital drive more and more...

Another option if you have a desktop is to get a 3.5" to 2.5"
hard drive adapter and copy files from laptop hard drive to
desktop drive or burner if you have one on desktop.
(It will involve taking HD out of laptop... openning desktop
and attaching HD to cable ... sata to sata or pata to pata)

A little work but cheap and quick.

thanks for the idea, no desktop units available.

Better yet, pick up a 40-60gb hard drive, and an external hard drive caddy, then you can copy them to that drive and use them on any machine. The external caddies, like the one that I just picked up from gator are pretty cheap. I paid $10.02 shipped for mine.

250GB WD HD "My Book" obtained today....$130 less a $50 rebate and a $13 gift card thrown in for future purchases.

this drive is nice. 10GB moved in 25 mins.

Glad to hear that you got it all moved...now you can keep using the folder for anymore MP3s that you might pick up along the way, and move the hard drive between the two thinkpads.

WOW, this is amazing. My backup routine, which typically cost me several hours (spanning two CDs), has been reduced to minutes...Now we're talkin' !! This thing is great!

(Backup file this week was 958MB)

Next question:

I see that my C drive is NTFS. The WD drive says it's FAT32. Do I care about that?

Thanks.

I wouldn't worry about it. Given your previous posts, I don't think that you would see the effects of switching from Fat32 to NTFS, as you don't seem to be the type of person that has to overclock every cpu, get the fastest drive possible, etc. (no offense ) NTFS can be a little faster, but it is inaccessible to older systems, just in case you are run into systems that are running an older file system, such as Win98.

tfflivemb2 wrote:. Given your previous posts, I don't think that you would see the effects of switching from Fat32 to NTFS, as you don't seem to be the type of person that has to overclock every cpu..

Hey, easy...over-clocking was going to be my next mission j/k

The machine runs so nice with the upgraded RAM, I can hardly contain myself. I think I probably have arrived at a point where I'll run it as-is. I've come to appreciate what solid machines these are.

Thanks again.

Nice to hear that your large file transfer solution is now solved. However, it does present a new problem....

With your multi-gigabyte MP3 collection now residing on a fairly reliable quarter-terabyte storage medium (i.e., a hard disk drive), you have the problem of "all your eggs in one basket". Depending upon how you have collected/generated those MP3 files, you are looking at an expensive and/or time-consuming way of replacing them in case the drive (knock on wood) goes south.

Sorry to bring this up, but I've been caught in a similar quandry before with 24GB DAT tape backups.

I realize that, Ray. I really don't know what else to do apart from buying the DVD writer. Worst case I could re-encode from all my CDs, but that would take many hours. I suspect the WD HD will provide me many years of good service.

Just for laughs, I transferred a couple of folders of digital photos so I could open and access them. Even through the USB interface, this HD brings pictures (and thumbnails) up much faster than when on my C drive.

External USB hard drives are the way to go, fast transfer, reliable storage, plug-and-play, etc... In fact, I use my two external USB hard drives also as data backup...

From experience, it just take a few well placed scratches on your DVD-R to render it unreadable, and trying to recover data from a scratched DVD is MUCH harder than trying to recover data from a hard drive (I've tried this...)

well, like with so many other things in life, it's always a compromise! There really isn't a single, perfect solution.

Thx.