External Hard Drive

Firecat · August 19th, 2007, 2:12 AM

I was shopping for one today, but didn't know what to get. The ones that looked the most interesting were the WD My Books and Seagate FreeAgents.

I don't want to spend more that 130 bucks. And I guess being USB only isn't an issue. I really mostly need it to store videos.

Ideas?

73GMCSprint · August 19th, 2007, 2:30 AM

I don't know where you live, but in the US you can find some pretty good deals on WD external drives. Either WD or Seagate would work great. LaCie is another pretty good brand. The "no-name" brand drives aren't always a good idea unless you know what brand drives they use (sometimes you can find out with a little google work). You usually get what you pay for. You could always put your own together too if you feel like you know what you're doing. It's pretty easy. Sometimes that route is cheaper but sometimes you can find a sale you just can't beat.

TomCat · August 19th, 2007, 2:51 AM

I've been wanting to build an external harddrive for a while, but never got around to it.

I hear it's very easy to do, and if you search for 'External Enclosures' on Newegg.com, they're very cheap and you can install pretty much any HD into them.

But again, I've never actually done it, so maybe someone else could shed some light.

Hidden_Hunter · August 19th, 2007, 3:25 AM

Personally I'd save a bit more and get a NAS enclosure, much more useful images/smilies/smile.gif

cvrefugee · August 19th, 2007, 3:47 AM

I've seen Seagate FreeAgent 500GB drives for around $130 or so.

Firecat · August 19th, 2007, 4:53 AM

My friend suggested building my own, which I thought of.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cvg

I've seen Seagate FreeAgent 500GB drives for around $130 or so.

Right now that's what I am leaning towards, I saw it at Sams for 145...and I have some gift cards worth 40 bucks...so....

I just read something about the software not working with macs or something. This hard drive will most likely be used only on my mac.

As far as speed goes. Is there really much of a diff. between firewire and usb?

powah · August 19th, 2007, 5:37 AM

I need one too. I'm filling up with TG and FG eps.

BlitzR · August 19th, 2007, 5:39 AM

Firewire 800 is quite faster then USB 2.0, good for video editing but both interfaces are bottlenecked. It's probably best to get an external hard drive with a few interfaces (usb 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, esata)

Dsemaj · August 19th, 2007, 5:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomCat

I hear it's very easy to do, and if you search for 'External Enclosures' on Newegg.com, they're very cheap and you can install pretty much any HD into them.

I got a Gigatech enclosure and a 320GB Segate Barracuda 7200RPM Hard Drive, put it together in about 5-10 minutes.. well, after I figured out how to get the hard drive in the enclosure!

It's very easy, just slide out the tray, mount the hard drive, connect the leads and put it back together!

cvrefugee · August 19th, 2007, 5:54 AM

You don't need any software to use an external HDD for OS X/Windows/Linux. You might want the drive to be formatted in FAT32 for maximum compatibility among various OSes, however.

Firecat · August 19th, 2007, 7:12 AM

Okay. One more question. That seagate freeagent has both USB 2.0 and eSATA. Would it be worth it to buy an eSATA pci card for my mac? How much faster would it actually be?

BlitzR · August 19th, 2007, 7:47 AM

The transfer rate on esata is fast @ 1.5Gb/s or 3Gb/s compared to Firewire 400's 400Mb/s / Firewire 800's 800Mb/s and USB's 300Mb/s. It's up too you if you want to buy it, but it looks like its worth it.
With the esata cards I think PCI will do 1.5Gb/s and PCI-express will do the full 3.0Gb/s

cvrefugee · August 19th, 2007, 8:27 AM

eSATA is obviously much faster, but there are Seagate drives with only USB that are much cheaper, like $30-$50 cheaper. Do you really need that much speed? Just buy another internal HDD if you want pure speed.

MadCow809 · August 19th, 2007, 8:40 AM

newegg is your friend....

the Interceptor · August 19th, 2007, 9:54 AM

The speed thing...

I just bought an external HDD, a 500GB Western Digital with a USB 2.0 interface. The maximum speed it reaches is about 30 Megabytes a second (writing speed that is, not reading!). With eSATA, you'll most likely hit the natural speed limit of the HDD, whish should be somewhere between 60 and 90 MB/s under ideal circumstances. So, an external drive with eSATA should be twice to thrice as fast as an USB 2.0 one. If it's speed you want, go for eSATA, if you can connect it.

Viper007Bond · August 19th, 2007, 9:58 AM

I had a spare drive, so I stuck it in a USB2 enclosure that I got off Newegg. Works great.

LeMans GTR · August 19th, 2007, 11:12 AM

How about this HP one, 160GB and $129, seems like a good deal

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...ABA&catLevel=2

BlitzR · August 19th, 2007, 11:35 AM

Small in size but, not enough capacity for it is needed for. Plus you can get equivalents for less......

Viper007Bond · August 19th, 2007, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeMans GTR

How about this HP one, 160GB and $129, seems like a good deal

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...ABA&catLevel=2

Waaay overpriced.

Firecat · August 19th, 2007, 6:42 PM

I think i'm gonna get that Seagate Freeagent Pro 500GB for $145 at Sams and connect via USB. The 5 year warranty is good too.

August 19th, 2007, 2:12 AM	#1
Firecat Politically Charged Joined: Mar 23rd, 2005 Last Online: 6:42 AM Posts: 4,449 Rep Power: 48	External Hard Drive I was shopping for one today, but didn't know what to get. The ones that looked the most interesting were the WD My Books and Seagate FreeAgents. I don't want to spend more that 130 bucks. And I guess being USB only isn't an issue. I really mostly need it to store videos. Ideas? __________________

August 19th, 2007, 2:51 AM	#3
TomCat Joined: Dec 11th, 2005 Last Online: 7:02 AM Location: Arizona Age: 25 Posts: 4,177 Rep Power: 70	I've been wanting to build an external harddrive for a while, but never got around to it. I hear it's very easy to do, and if you search for 'External Enclosures' on Newegg.com, they're very cheap and you can install pretty much any HD into them. But again, I've never actually done it, so maybe someone else could shed some light. __________________

August 19th, 2007, 3:25 AM	#4
Hidden_Hunter D: Joined: Oct 7th, 2006 Last Online: 10:35 AM Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 21 Posts: 5,782 Car: '08 Honda Accord Euro Rep Power: 76	Personally I'd save a bit more and get a NAS enclosure, much more useful __________________ My car is dark grey not black!

August 19th, 2007, 5:37 AM	#7
powah Previously Known As powerof1000 Joined: Mar 13th, 2007 Last Online: November 1st, 2009 Location: New Zealand Age: 16 Posts: 1,253 Rep Power: 16	I need one too. I'm filling up with TG and FG eps. __________________

August 19th, 2007, 7:12 AM	#11
Firecat Politically Charged Joined: Mar 23rd, 2005 Last Online: 6:42 AM Posts: 4,449 Rep Power: 48	Okay. One more question. That seagate freeagent has both USB 2.0 and eSATA. Would it be worth it to buy an eSATA pci card for my mac? How much faster would it actually be? __________________

August 19th, 2007, 2:30 AM	#2
73GMCSprint Joined: Jun 20th, 2007 Last Online: 5:48 AM Location: Las Vegas Posts: 598 Car: 1973 GMC Sprint, Buick 455, TH400 Rep Power: 25	I don't know where you live, but in the US you can find some pretty good deals on WD external drives. Either WD or Seagate would work great. LaCie is another pretty good brand. The "no-name" brand drives aren't always a good idea unless you know what brand drives they use (sometimes you can find out with a little google work). You usually get what you pay for. You could always put your own together too if you feel like you know what you're doing. It's pretty easy. Sometimes that route is cheaper but sometimes you can find a sale you just can't beat.

August 19th, 2007, 3:47 AM	#5
cvrefugee Joined: Aug 16th, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Corona, CA Age: 29 Posts: 3,761 Car: 2005 Scion xB Rep Power: 86	I've seen Seagate FreeAgent 500GB drives for around $130 or so.

August 19th, 2007, 5:39 AM	#8
BlitzR Joined: May 1st, 2006 Last Online: 11:49 AM Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 21 Posts: 1,598 Rep Power: 30	Firewire 800 is quite faster then USB 2.0, good for video editing but both interfaces are bottlenecked. It's probably best to get an external hard drive with a few interfaces (usb 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, esata)

August 19th, 2007, 5:54 AM	#10
cvrefugee Joined: Aug 16th, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Corona, CA Age: 29 Posts: 3,761 Car: 2005 Scion xB Rep Power: 86	You don't need any software to use an external HDD for OS X/Windows/Linux. You might want the drive to be formatted in FAT32 for maximum compatibility among various OSes, however.

August 19th, 2007, 7:47 AM	#12
BlitzR Joined: May 1st, 2006 Last Online: 11:49 AM Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 21 Posts: 1,598 Rep Power: 30	The transfer rate on esata is fast @ 1.5Gb/s or 3Gb/s compared to Firewire 400's 400Mb/s / Firewire 800's 800Mb/s and USB's 300Mb/s. It's up too you if you want to buy it, but it looks like its worth it. With the esata cards I think PCI will do 1.5Gb/s and PCI-express will do the full 3.0Gb/s Last edited by BlitzR; August 19th, 2007 at 7:53 AM.

August 19th, 2007, 8:27 AM	#13
cvrefugee Joined: Aug 16th, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Corona, CA Age: 29 Posts: 3,761 Car: 2005 Scion xB Rep Power: 86	eSATA is obviously much faster, but there are Seagate drives with only USB that are much cheaper, like $30-$50 cheaper. Do you really need that much speed? Just buy another internal HDD if you want pure speed.

August 19th, 2007, 8:40 AM	#14
MadCow809 Joined: Feb 23rd, 2006 Last Online: 9:04 AM Location: Durban, South Africa & Los Angeles, CA Age: 24 Posts: 5,058 Car: 2007 E87 BMW 130i & 2008 VW MKV GTI 2.0T DSG LFS Status: Rep Power: 70	newegg is your friend.... __________________ Supporting : Kimi Räikkönen \| Jenson Button \| Robert Kubica \| Sebastian Vettel \| Petter Solberg \| Mikko Hirvonen \| Andy Priaulx \| Jason Plato \| Mat Jackson Nokia N95 8Gb Nokia N97 32Gb RM-505 Unlocked v11.0.21 -> v12.0.024 -> v20.0.019 09 VW MKV Golf GTI 2.0T DSG \| APR Stage 1 \| LHD 08 Honda Civic Coupé \| LHD 06 BMW 130i \| RHD ~~05 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS \| RHD~~ 05 Ford Bantam 1.3i \| RHD ~~95 Mercedes Benz E320 Sportline \| RHD~~

August 19th, 2007, 9:54 AM	#15
the Interceptor I LUV MY PRIUS!!! Joined: Feb 22nd, 2005 Last Online: 12:00 PM Location: Germany Posts: 3,521 Car: BMW E36 323i ultraleggera (-143 kg) Rep Power: 108	The speed thing... I just bought an external HDD, a 500GB Western Digital with a USB 2.0 interface. The maximum speed it reaches is about 30 Megabytes a second (writing speed that is, not reading!). With eSATA, you'll most likely hit the natural speed limit of the HDD, whish should be somewhere between 60 and 90 MB/s under ideal circumstances. So, an external drive with eSATA should be twice to thrice as fast as an USB 2.0 one. If it's speed you want, go for eSATA, if you can connect it. __________________ "We have to laugh at the Germans, because they're so riddled with guilt about their history, they can't laugh at themselves." - Jeremy Clarkson Got a question regarding Hi-Fi of any kind? Then check my general audio thread. Last edited by the Interceptor; August 19th, 2007 at 10:16 AM.

August 19th, 2007, 9:58 AM	#16
Viper007Bond Lazy Head Dude Joined: Sep 21st, 2003 Last Online: 7:30 AM Location: Portland, Oregon Age: 25 Posts: 22,275 Car: Dodge Viper (I wish!) Rep Power: 296	I had a spare drive, so I stuck it in a USB2 enclosure that I got off Newegg. Works great. __________________ There is no replacement for displacement. - Wolfgang Bernhard, Chief Operating Officer, Chrysler Group talking about the Dodge Viper SRT-10 ... I ask Herb Helbig, vehicle synthesis manager for SRT and a member of the original Team Viper development group since day one, if they'd ever thought of adding traction control. "It comes with two," he says, pointing at my feet. "Learn to use them." Got it. - Motor Trend on the 2006 Dodge Viper Coupe, November 2005

August 19th, 2007, 11:12 AM	#17
LeMans GTR Previously Known As CSL Joined: Dec 20th, 2006 Last Online: 11:56 AM Location: Hong Kong (On Vacation) Age: 14 Posts: 2,729 Car: Aston Martin DBS (I wish) Rep Power: 38	How about this HP one, 160GB and $129, seems like a good deal http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...ABA&catLevel=2 __________________

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August 19th, 2007, 11:35 AM	#18
BlitzR Joined: May 1st, 2006 Last Online: 11:49 AM Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 21 Posts: 1,598 Rep Power: 30	Small in size but, not enough capacity for it is needed for. Plus you can get equivalents for less...... Last edited by BlitzR; August 19th, 2007 at 11:39 AM.

August 19th, 2007, 6:42 PM	#20
Firecat Politically Charged Joined: Mar 23rd, 2005 Last Online: 6:42 AM Posts: 4,449 Rep Power: 48	I think i'm gonna get that Seagate Freeagent Pro 500GB for $145 at Sams and connect via USB. The 5 year warranty is good too. __________________

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