Can anyone recommend a good external drive?

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suzannetf · #1 Post by **suzannetf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:18 pm

I'm trying to find a good external drive to store extra files on. I'm having a few problems finding something that matches everything I want. I imagine one or two things will have to be sacrificed... I just don't know which features (I've found a few drives that match most of my criteria, though).

I want an external hard drive that is preferably over 100 GB. I want it to have the speed of 7200 RPM, and a cache/buffer (those seem to be the same thing/interchangable? terms) of 8 MB although preferably 16 MB. I don't want 2 MB. Also, I want one with at least a 3 year warranty for external drives. WD (and many other companies) only give 1 year for their external drives, so getting this might have to involve putting an internal drive (3 year warranty) in an external enclosure. I'd like the enclosure of whatever this external drive ends up being to be powered by the USB (I don't want an adaptor for the wall plug to be required). Finally, I want the enclosure to be well constructed, well vented, and possibly even fanned. Supposedly one-touch back-up and included programs are useful. I don't really care about this feature as I just want to manually move some folders with files (not programs) over like I would with a large flash memory stick. I supposed a known brand by a company with decent support would be good too.

I thought this was close ( http://www.egoodz.com/product.asp?pf_id ... WHTMX500R0 ), but it looks like that enclosure isn't powered by USB. And it doesn't have a fan but I guess it's vented ok.

Oh, and I was just reading that being powered by USB might be harmful. I'll clarify that it'd like an enclosure that comes with a plug for the wall... but it would be nice if it was capable to run on just USB too in case I needed to use it with just my laptop battery once in a while.

This will be used with an IBM T42 laptop. Thanks!

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:06 pm

suzannetf wrote:This will be used with an IBM T42 laptop. Thanks!

I think you've confused yourself with facts and have wound up mixing laptop and desktop HD enclosure capabilities.

Just get an Hitachi 7K100 HD from your favorite source and stick it any inexpensive external enclosure sold in your local BestBuy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.

The one I use amost daily cost me a whopping $10 and has never given me any problems whatsoever.

Regards,

James

suzannetf · #3 Post by **suzannetf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:11 pm

Now I feel silly. Are you saying that the external hard drives are for desktops and not laptops? I want to buy an external hard drive for my laptop? A laptop can only run another laptop harddrive externally? (I'm sorry if that's a stupid question... I've never really bought anything extra for a computer before).

JHEM · #4 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:36 pm

suzannetf wrote:Now I feel silly. Are you saying that the external hard drives are for desktops and not laptops? I want to buy an external hard drive for my laptop? A laptop can only run another laptop harddrive externally? (I'm sorry if that's a stupid question... I've never really bought anything extra for a computer before).

There are no stupid questions Suzanne. But I give you fair warning, that fact alone won't save you from being teased around here.

There are external drive enclosures for either desktop (3.5") hard drives or laptop (2.5") hard drives, but not usually for both.

All desktop HD enclosures are externally powered as a USB connector doesn't provide sufficient power for a 3.5" HD.

All laptop HD enclosures are USB powered either by single or dual USB connectors or, in some rare instances, by the provision of an auxiliary power cord that attaches to the PS2 port.

Clear?

Regards,

James

suzannetf · #5 Post by **suzannetf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:01 pm

Wouldn't it make sense for external drives (especially portable ones) to transfer between laptop and desktop? Some people have both. Also, what's the point of an external hard drive for a desktop if it isn't designed to be portable (aka be used with laptops too)? I mean, you can usually add more internal hard drives to a desktop, right?

JHEM · #6 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:15 pm

suzannetf wrote:Wouldn't it make sense for external drives (especially portable ones) to transfer between laptop and desktop? Some people have both. Also, what's the point of an external hard drive for a desktop if it isn't designed to be portable (aka be used with laptops too)? I mean, you can usually add more internal hard drives to a desktop, right?

You're missing the point that any USB device can be used with any USB equipped laptop or desktop. Doesn't matter what's inside besides the fact of whether the device requires external power or not. Transferring data between laptop and desktop is easily done with an external HD, but it's not limited to using only one type of external enclosure.

The primary purpose of an external HD on a desktop is for additional storage, not portability. Once most desktops are fully populated internally with a CD burner, DVD burner and two HDs, an easy means of adding additional storage is usually welcome.

Regards,

James

suzannetf · #7 Post by **suzannetf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 10:58 pm

I understand that two a laptop and desktop (or laptop for that matter) could be connected directly with USB cable. My point is that you might have an external drive you wanted to be a backup for several computers. Or, you could have one computer at work that an external drive could be used to transfer files around with. That's not how I would use it, but I was trying to judge how the hard drives would just work with one thing. (Pardon my ignorance if I'm starting to get tedious).

Like, if I bought one of those My Book or Seagate ones it wouldn't work with my laptop?

christopher_wolf · #8 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:32 pm

suzannetf wrote: Like, if I bought one of those My Book or Seagate ones it wouldn't work with my laptop?

Yup; just plug it in as you would any other USB device, storage or not.

suzannetf · #9 Post by **suzannetf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:37 pm

Where did I go wrong in my list of things I wanted for the external USB hard drive then? (Note that this is not the enclosure for my 2.5 laptop drive I'm speaking of now. I'm looking for a home for the files to be rescued from my laptop hard drive). Are they the wrong specifications for what I need? That's where I'm confused. All the ones I've seen look like they work with laptops (obviously because they have USB). Therefore what's wrong with finding one that has the best parts of each? Were you just saying that there was no way a laptop would be able to give enough of a power supply through the USB and the wall plug would be needed in any case?

christopher_wolf · #10 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:43 pm

suzannetf wrote:Where did I go wrong in my list of things I wanted for the external usb harddrive then? (Note that this is not the enclosure for my 2.5 laptop drive I'm speaking of now. I'm looking for a home for the files to be rescued from my laptop harddrive). Are they the wrong specifications for what I need? That's where I'm confused. All the ones I've seen look like they work with laptops (obviously because they have USB). Therefore what's wrong with finding one that has the best parts of each? Where you just saying that there was no way a laptop would be apply to give enough of a power supply through the USB and the wall plug would be needed in any case?

James was pointing out the differences in the power requirements for the HDDs in the enclosures.

All the enclosures which take *desktop HDDs (i.e. 3.5" form factor)* are externally powered since the USB specs say that the USB ports cannot provide enough power for the proper operation of the HDD.

On the other hand, an enclosure which takes a *laptop 2.5" HDD* need not have external power supply and either end up using one USB port, two USB ports, or sucking power off another port on the laptop.

So, to have them both work *without having to power the enclosure when connected to the laptop*, it is recommended to go with the enclosure that takes a 2.5" laptop HDD and requires no external power source.

HTH

suzannetf · #11 Post by **suzannetf** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:52 pm

OH! Now I understand! ::smacks forehead:: Sorry I'm a little dense sometimes! Anways, as I said earlier.. I'll sacrifice something.

I guess I'll probably just let my future external harddrive live on my desk. I just misunderstood when I was reading about the power aspect of some of them and didn't understand there was a good reason some did and some didn't power completely through the USB (you know, how some reviewers said they'd never needed to use external power, etc.) I guess I didn't notice the difference that some of them contained 3.5 hard drives while some were 2.5 hard drives. That information is sometimes left off actually it seems like. Of course I'll try to follow your advice to and look for an additional 2.5 enclosure and laptop hard drive that might work too (and see if that's a better option). Thanks for your patience with me.

#12 Post by **archer6** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:41 am

suzannetf wrote:I'll try to follow your advice to and look for an additional 2.5 enclosure and laptop hard drive that might work too (and see if that's a better option). Thanks for your patience with me.

Greetings and Welcome to the Forum...

Here is a link to the external HD I use. Enclosed in it's own case this is one terrific product. It's 120GB @ 5400 rpm. No external power supply needed. Just one simple usb cord. This is a world class product. Very high quality, very shock resistant, runs super quiet and cool. Does everything it's advertised to do. Please note: I do not work for them, just like the product. It's very compact, light, easily portable. I would also suggest the carry case they offer. It holds the drive and the cable in a nicely protected case.

Because I travel every week with my laptop, I wanted something that was as thin and light as possible. I use this drive every day to backup files and to transfer between a desktop and laptop or between my various ThinkPads.

Here it is: http://www.westerndigital.com/en/produc ... riveID=199

Cheers...

christopher_wolf · #13 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:51 am

Hmmm, MSRP @ $200; bit pricey isn't it?

That is for pretty serious road warriors.

You could always get a bare 2.5" HDD then slip it into an inexpensive 2.5" form factor enclosure. Easy solution.

dsvochak · #14 Post by **dsvochak** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 7:41 am

The original post says, in part:

This will be used with an IBM T42 laptop

If the "external" drive is only going to be used with the T42, you might want to consider an Ultrabay hard drive adapter. Plug it in and you don't have to worry about USB, power supplies, etc.

christopher_wolf · #15 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:58 pm

*If* is it only going to be used in a T4X System, then you can use the Ultrabay HDD adapter. I have one and it is absolutely great.

If, however, you want to connect it to something else...then I would go with a simple 2.5" external enclosure for the HDD. No reason to take up the Ultrabay slot with the HDD adapter only to swap it out and put the bare HDD in another enclosure only to have it connect up to another system or desktop. Just put the 2.5" HDD in the enclosure and use it like that for all systems you come across, just like a *huge* capacity USB memory stick.

suzannetf · #16 Post by **suzannetf** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 1:07 pm

Yes, although for in the future it would be for my T42, at the moment I would need to be able to put it into a Dell Inspiron for operation save my trapped files on my T42 with the registry failure.

Can anyone recommend a good external drive?

Can anyone recommend a good external drive?

Re: Can anyone recommend a good external drive?

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