Hard Drive Help!

I'm looking for an external HD for storage away from my notebook. I have very little knowledge about external HDs and their enclosure. All I know is that 3.5" HDs are cheaper than 2.5". I guess my main questions are:

1. Which brand of HDs are good and reliable?
2. Which HD enclosure would be compatible?
3. What online sites can I order from (has to ship free if possible to Canada)?

Some criterias I have are reliability, reasonably priced, and available to ship to Canada. Also, here are the two sites I've visited that ship in Canada:

Can Computer ( http://www.cancomputer.com/index.php)
NCIX ( http://www.ncix.com)

 

It is usually cheaper to buy the drive and case separately then slap them together. A 3.5" drive will offer more space, be cheaper and faster. A 2.5" drive will be much more portable. eBay is another option if you can get them to ship up there which some will. The Canadian Dollar is pretty strong right now. I shipped a drive to Canada I sold on eBay. They asked me to mark it as a gift to save the taxes which of course I did. Good Luck.

 

I am actually in about the same position as Nas... except I am in Germany so my options might be quite a bit worse.

Could anyone give advice on specific enclosures and or drives?

 

For 3.5" drives I prefer Western Digital and Hitachi.

For an enclosure speed is the last thing on your list of priorities since the USB interface is MUCH slower than the slowest drive. So you should look for cool, reliable and quiet running drives.

I believe the coolest running 3.5" is Hitachi 7K250 T. But the other WD and Hitachi options aren't bad either. I am currently using a WD3200JB (320GB) and very pleased with it.

As for enclosures, most will be just fine. There is a slight risk with generic brands, but they usually run just fine. Just make sure to get something that will be able to keep the drive cool, either with a fan, metalic body, or vents.

 

So qwester what your saying is that I could get a 4200rpm drive or a 7200rpm drive and not notice a speed difference? I am thinking of doing this as well. Oh one more question. Do you think those $20 enclourses on newegg will work okay or are they just cheap pieces of crap?
Tim

 

I REALLY doubt you can find a 3.5" 4200RPM .

If you are talking about 2.5", yes the 4200 and 7200 offer about the same performance.

If shopping at newegg check the customer reviews. For the 2.5" enclosures those cheap ones are pretty good. I have one that was around 17$ at the time (I got it for free ) and it is plenty good. For the 3.5", as I said just make sure that it can keep the drive cool.

 

Would these two work together? I need to learn more about hard drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817201015

Tim

 

Yup they should work together. Both are Sata

 

Thanks qwester. Now I just need to get my parents Credit Card.
Tim

 

You don't need speed for storage.

 

Hey ZaZ, thanks for the eBay advice. There are some very good deals, but I've been burned in the past. So I'm somewhat weary of eBay. I just consider it if I don't have any other option.

Another question I have is what is the difference between IDE and SATA HD? And what type of enclosure should be used for each HD type?

Also, thanks to others for all the comments.

 

You use sata(serial) enclosures with sata drives. And you pata enclosures with pata(parallel) drives.

For external drives there is no advantage with going with either over the other.

For notebooks and desktops especially, sata drives are faster. sata is the newer technology and where the market is going

 

i see. thanks qwester. i was looking at eBay and i saw this external HD on auction:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/250gb-External-H...temZ8817186464QQcategoryZ116257QQcmdZViewItem

this brings me to another question. is there a major difference between 2MB and 8MB (i'm assuming that refers to the buffer)? and also, what does the buffer do?

 

3.5" drives are cheaper, the enclosures cost more. And they require a power source. 2.5" drives are more expensive, the enclosures a little cheaper, but they dont require power since they draw enough power from the usb port. If your on the go, best to have a drive that doesnt require a power source.

 

Okay. I've done some more searching and I'm deciding on these two options.

1. the auction from eBay
http://cgi.ebay.ca/250gb-External-H...temZ8817186464QQcategoryZ116257QQcmdZViewItem

2. buying HD and enclosure seperately
seagate HD - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1647097&Tab=11&NoMapp=0
enclosure - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1388747&Tab=11&NoMapp=1

I'm a total newb on this so I need serious help on this.

 

I would stay away from 2MB cached drives which would rule out option one. TD rebates can be a little dicey. I think Ecost ships to Canada as well.

 

eCost does ship to Canada, but their shipping cost is very steep ($30) for just one item.

i saw another HD that's complete on eBay. is this too good of a deal? here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/EXTERNAL-200GB-U...yZ116257QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

 

Are you looking for a desktop or notebook drive?

 

i'm just looking for an external storage to free up space on my notebook. portability doesn't really matter. so a 3.5" HD is fine for me. my budget is less than $100 with a minimum price of $50.

i want to get as much bang for my bucks. so 100GB+ for $50 would be awesome.

 

Certainly looks like it will work. I always look for hard drive deals on FatWallet or SlickDeals. Is there some Canadian equivalent? I am assuming yous people like spending less as well.

 

there's one that i knew about, but i can't remember the website. they have deals for canada. but other than the one i can't remember, i don't think there's another website that offers discounts for canada.

hahaha. yeah. canadians like to save as much money as possible. that's why we have boxing days (day after christmas) where stores have crazy discounts on their merchandise. but that only happens once a year.

anyway, i shall try to bid on that eBay product from narro. i'll let you guys know if it pans out. wish me luck.