Looking for a new External HD

Hey everyone.
My hd Ive had for a few years just died and I just found out its not covered by warranty. I'm looking for a new one and know the community here can give me some good advice on what to look for, brands, etc. I'm looking in the market something around 100 dollars and don't really care how large it is as long as it is 80GB+

 

Do you want a large 3.5" one with A/C or a self powered USB 2.5" external?

As well, do you mind if its a DIY external or a premade one?

 

Well is there a downside to having it power itself? My last one was 3.5 and I didn't mind plugging it in that much.

How easy/complicated is it to build an external? Just buy the casing and HD or what?

 

The size difference mainly.

3.5" Large, bulky, ports include USB/Firewire/eSATA, requires a A/C adapter to function, inexpensive, large size/speed to price ratio
2.5" Smaller, portable, ports include USB/Firewire, requires USB/Firewire to function, a bit expensive, smaller size/speed to price ratio.


And for a DIY, buy HD, buy casing, and put them together. You save money and depending on which brand, the OEM warranty is pretty long for some HDs, I believe Seagate is 5 years.

 

Value for money and quality I would say Seagate's recent line of Freeagents are pretty good both 3.5 and 2.5 version. I have seen and heard good things on the 3.5 ones and I have the 160gb 2.5 version which works well though the included software by Creedo is still a little rough around the edges.

 

if your looking for heavy duty storage (over 200gb) then you'll want a 3.5". If you travel alot and want all your data always available to you, you will want a 2.5" but they don't go over 200gb in size.

Its really easy to put the case and drive together.

 

How do you know what casing in compatible with what HD etc. ?

 

You can never go wrong with Western Digital.

 

the 2 different sorts of hard drives are IDE and SATA..the cases will say "Compatible with SATA" or "Compatible with IDE"... There is "2.5" SATA Cases" and "2.5" IDE Cases" and "3.5" SATA Cases" etc. Sata is newer, faster technology for not much of a price difference.

 

I currently have 3 external hard drives:

Western Digital Passport 120GB (USB powered)
Seagate 400GB (older model)
Seagate FreeAgent 500GB

All the hard drives use USB 2.0 to transfer the files to and from my desktops. The Seagate FreeAgent also has an eSATA option, which I personally don't find necessary - files whether they be videos, music, or documents transfer very quickly. All 3 hard drives have worked great throughout the time I have used them. The only minor complaint I have with the FreeAgent is that there is no power button, so the hard drive shuts down when your computer is shut down.

I hope this helped!

 

Anyone know a good place to start looking besides new egg? And is it really worth buys an enclosure and a HD...it doesn't seem like im saving much

 

The guarantee on most pre-assembled externals is one year. On most bare drives, five. Could save you some down the road.

 

There isn't much price difference between purchasing an enclosure for a HD and a pre-built one from Seagate or Western Digital. I got my Seagate FreeAgent 500GB for $85 off Amazon, plus there was no S&H or tax.

Other places I recommend looking are TigerDirect or ZipZoomFly. Also be sure to check store ads such as Bestbuy and Circuit City because sometimes they offer pretty good deals on certain hard drives.

 

Id look around for a cheap premade, if you cant find one (WD has some nice ones the same cost as DIY) then make one yourself. Look somwhere like newegg for a cheap hdd, then a case to put it in.

Firewire 800 and esata are the way to go if you have those on your computer, much faster than usb 2.0

Read the review of the new enclosure on the main page, from coolermaster. It has some educational material in it.

 

Firewire 400 is still very good compared to USB2.0. With small files USB2.0 will probably easily outperform it, but with large files requiring higher sustained throughput, the Firewire 400 comes out on top. So, I suppose if you do a lot of video or possibly audio work any firewire connection would be better than USB2.0. Firewire is also less taxing on the CPU if that matters.

I actually just bought an Antec MX-1 external enclosure (should arrive in a couple of days). It's a bit expensive when it comes to enclosures, but reviewers seem to like it (an excellent quiet, stylish, and actively cooled enclosure). It doesn't have firewire, but it does come with eSATA. I'll be using it through the USB2.0 interface for now, but as I believe in the future most notebooks/desktops will have an eSATA port, I'll be set for a while.

 

2.5" drive or 3.5" Oogly? problem with 2.5" and 1.8" is that they are not really fast enough to need or benifite form esata but 3.5" is.

 

3.5"

I still think in terms of 3.5" hds and actually never thought of the smaller ones. I'm relatively new in the world of notebooks. However, shouldn't a 2.5" @ 7200rpm be able to benefit or is there something I'm missing?

 

As an external? Well the benefit would be that its ultra portable, and it can run directly off your computers power via usb or firewire. No need for an external adapter.

Thats for mobile people. If your using your notebook as a desktop replacement or it doesn't move often and you dont mind the ac adapter, the 3.5" is better value for your money and also much faster.

I just shelled out the $$$ for a 250gb 2.5" but it will be my main drive, it would make a killer portable storage device tho.

If you really want to take advantage of a 3.5" use firewire 800 or esata.