3.5 external hard drive w/laptop?

So I know that notebook hard drives are 2.5 inches while the desktop is 3.5 . But can an external 3.5 external hard drive work with a notebook? Cause if it's possible...I think I'd rather use one of those since there are more models with higher rpms, higher capacity, higher..um..everything lol. If it isn't, what kind of things prevent it from being compatible? Are there ways to remedy that?

Thanks!

 

1. yes, it's possible. it's external so what does the notebook care

2. you need a/c power; it will not draw power from the usb/firewire connection

3. faster drives won't matter because your bottleneck is the usb/firewire connection

 

If you have Windows XP or a modern version of Mac OS X, therr really isn't anything that would prevent the Drive from being compatible.

If you have an old laptop, the ports may be USB 1.0, modern external HDDs use Firewire or USB 2.0. If you connect a USB 2.0 compatible HDD to a USB 1.0 port on your laptop, you will get extremely poor transfer rates.

 

Hrm...about the AC power thing. How would I connect it? What kind of AC adapter would I need? (Attempting to build my first external HD...so...I don't know much )

USB 2.0 is like 4800kb/s, right? So you're saying a 4200rpm, 5400rpm, and 7200rpm would transfer speeds at the same rate?

 

we may be talking about two different things

i'm talking about a taking a 3.5" desktop HD and putting it into an external enclosure and then plugging it into your notebook via usb or firewire.

if you've looked at any 3.5" enclosures, they all require an a/c connection.

maybe i misunderstood what you're trying to do?

 

I just went to a computer store about 30 minutes ago, and I understand what you're talking about now drumfu. Thanks for the help haha (sorry I confused you.) But this topic is closedddddddddddddd. xD

 

ok, hopefully all goes well

good luck