The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    help me pick an external harddrive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Mat Dope, Jul 16, 2007.

  1. Mat Dope

    Mat Dope Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    i ordered a dell vostro 1500 with a 120gig 5400rpm drive. i would like to have an external drive to take alot of stuff off of my desktop and put it on their. and just to put all of my music and things i download on their.

    i dont need something huge 160-250gb should be fine. i would like to keep it pretty cheap, around 80. i also want something that will transfer pretty fast so i guess 7200rpm. i have only been looking at usb2.0 because i dont know about other things like SATA and stuff. i just need something that will work with my new PC.

    i have been looking at:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136077
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822101026

    if anyone has any other good deals please post or shed some light on my situation.
     
  2. thegsrguy

    thegsrguy Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    24
    Messages:
    812
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Go buy a generic external case, then slap whatever standard desktop hard drive you want in there.
     
  3. baddogboxer

    baddogboxer Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    144
    Messages:
    1,092
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Because of the limitations of USB 2.0 The only improvement 7200 will have over 5400 is seek time. My external 7200 transfers 16.2 MB/s burst 17MB/s seek time 19ms. Does work well for storage and can play audio & video files.
     
  4. CodeMonkeyX

    CodeMonkeyX Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    118
    Messages:
    1,168
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    If you are moving around a lot you might want to get one that runs off of USB. It will drain your battery more, but can be great if you need files and do not have a plug.

    Iomega eGo

    That drive is expensive, but runs off of the USB power (I liked it because it is red like my system). I have not bought it so can not review it for you, but the power thing just seemed like a nice feature to me.
     
  5. corin555

    corin555 Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    90
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    western digital 500gb....looks gd (a few different colour cases and lcds)....cheap for its size....and a got rectangular shape, so many fit together well
     
  6. zinfandel

    zinfandel Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    3
    Messages:
    121
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I picked up a WD My Book 500GB at Staples today for $130

    http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/s...=-1&storeId=10001&ddkey=StaplesProductDisplay

    Got backup software at Fry's for free after rebates. Norton Ghost Magic 12 is one of the few that is Vista compatible. Internet Security in the bundle. Partiton Magic is only XP, not Vista, but so what. Free is free. Norton rebates not Fry's. Ghost Magic 12 does full HDD copy, not just files so you can completely backup a system, OS and all programs.

    http://shop3.outpost.com/template/software;jsessionid=hNtJ+EapwgDnuqqHdn5TFg**.node1