External Harddisk for old Acer Ferrari notebook ?

Hi ..

I need to get an external hdd for my old notebook
Acer Ferrari 3000Lmi
(Amd Athlon XP 2500, 1.86 ghz, 512 Ram, 60 gb - I dunno the rpm)
drive C: is only 8 gb and D: is only 3 gb left
(use it with windows xp home)

Since I dunno much about computer hardware and I've just spent hours reading the thread, so here comes the questions
Please help.

I only need maximum 320gb of hdd space, 160gb or 250 gb is ok. But the 3.5" ext hdd now has a min of 320 gb, (that I know of) , which makes the 160 gb & 250 gb only available in the 2.5" ext hdd, am I right / wrong ?
I think I should get a 3.5" external hdd so I can plug it in to external power supply, better not to use the 2.5" that uses only usb for power.

1. Since The newer models are mostly 7200 rpm, Will it be compatible with my old notebook ?
Does it matter ?

2. how do you check the rpm speed of a notebook?

3. Any recommendation of what I should get ?
The only ones that are available & fit my budget are :
I was looking at
Maxtor onetouch 4 (320gb)
Seagate FreeAgent (500gb) - someone said reading speed is really slow and I'm worried the 500gb size might cause problem because the drive's too big ?
Those 2 are the ones I can find online in my country. I need to ask around shops whether they have more stuff.
or should I get a hitachi/fujitsu/other brand, IDE with an enclosure ? (I think my notebook has IDE)
will this be more fragile that the external hdd ?

3. I use my notebook mostly at home,
Can I leave the ext hdd plugged to my notebook's usb port all the time ?

4. Here comes the stoopeed multiple choice question
If the ext hdd is unplugged, and my notebook's running,
How do I correctly connect it to my notebook ?
a. Plug the ext hdd to a running notebook, then Turn on ext hdd
b. Turn on ext hdd, Plug the ext hdd to a running notebook
c. Turn off notebook, plug ext hdd to notebook, turn on everything at the same time

The reason I'm asking is, coz I tried backing up my files to my sis's old ext hdd which she hasn't used in a year or so, (i think it's 320 gb or more, with usb and external adaptor)
and I tried all of the above, and after 5 minutes, my notebook won't read the data in the ext hdd,
hardware not detected, but the ext hdd is still making noises like it's reading files, the noise goes on for like 20 mins. There's probably something wrong with the ext hdd, coz I tried it with my sis's old notebook, and it also won't work, though she said she used to plug the ext hdd to her notebook all the time with no problems.
But I'm still unsure whether it's a problematic old external hdd or my notebook can't accept an external hdd with big drive.

So... Thank you for the help

 

You can get any external HDD that you might want. Any size as the size doesnt matter when it comes to external HDD's.

It's when it comes to internal HDD's that you get that problem of size. And you're not changing out the internal HDD.

RPM's wont matter with external HDDs either if you run it through USB as the USB will be the bottleneck when it comes to speed. You'll get maximum USB-performance.

You can leave it plugged in to the notebook 24/7, no problem.


On question 4 the answer is A. You can plug it in at any time. Only when you need to unplug the HDD, you have to disconnect it through windows if you don't wanna turn of your notebook.

 

Hi Michel.K
Thanx for the info

Now I just need to decide whether I should get an external hdd or a hdd with an enclosure. (3.5") and what brand.
I'll search the forum for suggestions.

Any inputs appreciated though

 

An external HDD is a hdd with an enclosure (both 2.5" and 3.5")!


Just buy any that you think is pricey!

 

^^^ You wont get maximum USB speeds in the sense that you are getting the maximum theoretical speed of USB which is 480MB/s.

Real life performance you will get 30-40 MB/s with a USB connected external HDD.

Either of those are good choices.

Question: What country are you from? There must be something behind the fact only Seagate drives are available to you...

 

USB is not 480 MB/s, it's 480 MBits/s. You have to divide that by 8, because 8 bits = 1 byte. So, the maximum transfer rate is 60 MB/sec.

 

Any external HDD he chooses will get the same performance, as the USB will limit the speeds (i meant the maximum speed of what his USB can deliver, not what USB has as a miximum theoretical transferrate), that what was i meant.

And as the rapion said, it's 480Mbit/s not MB(yte)/s for USB2.0, though it'll probably will be halft that speed, so about 240Mbit/s (~30MB/s), as i've never seen anyone being near maximizing the speeds that USB can handle.

 

Hi Michel.K
hahaha... sorry...
I meant is it better to get one of those internal 3.5" hdd (hitachi , etc) and add an enclosure, or is it better to get an ext hdd that's pre-made, like the maxtor onetouch 4, etc.
sorry if I was unclear.

Hi Jaycee8980
I'm from Indonesia,
There are other brands such as Lacie, Buffalo, WDC, etc , but the ones that are 3.5" ,under 500gb and are available from local online stores, are maxtor onetouch4 320gb and seagate freeagent 500gb.
I haven't start calling other stores and asking for alternatives yet
I was offered a 3.5" Hitachi hdd plus an enclosure, but I'm not sure whether to get that or the maxtor/seagate.
I'm just wondering what would be better in terms of quality, durability etc.

Thanx

 

I see!

Though the external HDD's use 3.5" hdd's too, but you don't know exactly what drive's init! So i'd go for a 3.5" hdd and get an enclosure to fit with it. Get any size of HDD, go for Hitachi or WD. Seagate is good too though.

I'd go for a big HDD(minimum 500GB) as they don't cost so much anyways. 750GB-1TB drives are pretty pricey!
And much diskspace is always needed sooner or later, so it'll always be of use.
The "bad" thing with an external 3.5" HDD is that you'll always need to use external power. If you get an external 2.5" you can power it up via the USB without the need of external power. So you can bring it along anywhere where there is no power outlets. But if you don't need the mobility of the external HDD then go for 3.5" because of the much better price per GB.