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    Is USB 2.0 Fast Enough for External HDD

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by paddlefoot, Jul 18, 2007.

  1. paddlefoot

    paddlefoot Notebook Geek

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    I am planning on buying a 500 gb External HD to store all of my music on a lossless format (probably FLAC), as well as rip to whatever format a portable player I have requires, and to keep smaller video files, word documents, save files, back-up, etc. I would also like to be able to play my music and video off of this hard drive.

    I am interested in the WD MyBook USB 2.0 500 GB that Circuit City has for 129.99 because I also have a $40 off $200 and there is a couple games and accessories I wanted.

    Will this drive fit my needs?
     
    paddlefoot, Jul 18, 2007
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  2. wave

    wave Notebook Virtuoso

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    playing movies, mp3s and so on of a external USB drive is not a problem. You wont notice any lag. Only you are loading many files at once like when you add a folder in Winamp for example it will take a bit longer then an internal disk. Also running programs of the disk is not so great. Games for example would load much slower. But it still works. So yes a USB drive meets your needs.
     
    wave, Jul 18, 2007
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  3. jessi3k3

    jessi3k3 Notebook Evangelist

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    Like said above, yes, USB would meet your needs. I personally would purchase an eSATA compliant drive just because of its amazing speed. Ofcourse this is if you have an eSATA slot on your notebook (or an eSATA express cardslot card).
     
    jessi3k3, Jul 18, 2007
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  4. fargo

    fargo Notebook Geek

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    I transfered a movie file 700+mb to my external hard drive through usb and it took about 30 seconds. I think that's pretty fast.
     
    fargo, Jul 18, 2007
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