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    Help me find a new external hard drive please.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Fe ®, Jul 7, 2008.

  1. Fe ®

    Fe ® Notebook Geek

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    I'm looking for an external drive (a big one, 500GB - 1TB) that'll be used to run my applications and backup stuff as well. Any ideas as to what I can look at?

    Also, would you all recommend getting an eSATA drive or not. I don't really know much about it 'cept that it's supposed to be faster than USB and Firewire. How can I tell if my laptop would support it? I have a Dell XPS M1710.

    Thanks.
     
    Fe ®, Jul 7, 2008
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  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    eSATA is worth having if you are planning to shift large amounts of data. USB maxes out at under 30MB/s (I think Firewire is a bit faster) while eSATA lets you use the full speed of the HDD. See the attached for a 500GB Samsung 3.5" HDD via both USB and eSATA. The higher capacity HDDs are likely to be even faster.

    At the moment there tends to be a price premium for ready made external HDDs with eSATA. The alternative is to choose your own enclosure and HDD and spend 5 minutes with a screwdriver to put the two together. The Samsung HDD I recently bought has relatively low power consumption and doesn't need any cooling fan.

    John
     

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    John Ratsey, Jul 7, 2008
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  3. TheRealFireblade

    TheRealFireblade Notebook Consultant

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    Check any of the other 'external hard drive/external HDD' threads we've had of late for advice.

    Folks are undoubtedly getting fed up of repeating the same advice over and over in different threads ;)
     
    TheRealFireblade, Jul 7, 2008
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  4. Fe ®

    Fe ® Notebook Geek

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    Do I need anything for my laptop though to get an eSATA drive to work?
     
    Fe ®, Jul 7, 2008
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  5. THAANSA3

    THAANSA3 Exit Stage Left

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    John, how much do you think one saves by making his or her own external drive rather than buying one?

    To the OP, I have a Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB that works well. However, you may want to look into making your own like I'm going to start doing. Although I just started researching and don't know for sure, I think that one can save some money by making one rather than buying one.
     
    THAANSA3, Jul 7, 2008
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  6. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    You will need an eSATA card for the ExpressCard or PCMCIA slot unless you have a computer with a built-in eSATA port (there's a few now and more on the way).

    I recently bought this HDD and this enclosure. That saved a bit of money compared with any of these 500GB external units and avoids any uncertainty about the spec of the HDD inside the enclosure.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 7, 2008
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