External HDD - a good choice?

Hi all:

I just picked up my first USB external hard drive. It's a Smartdisk Firelite
120 GB, 5400 rpm USB 2.0, powered from the USB plug. It came FAT 32 &
I converted it to NTFS.

I created two 2.8GB C: images on it with ATI 10, & restored them both,
in perfect form. The restore took about 40 minutes, vs 14 minutes for
a restore from a second internal 7200 rpm SATA.

I was just wondering if you experienced Wilders imagers think it was
a good choice, or is there something better I might have chosen?

Cost was in the typical range. The reason I ask, is that it worked
so well, I'm thinking of getting another, for other uses.

Thanks.

 

Do you know what drive they use?

I wouldve just gotten an external drive from Western Digital or Seagate, or bought a separate enclosure and drive.

 

I bought a WD My Book 320GB a few months back, seems to work well, and am happy with it, though I only use it for backup, so it doesn't run constantly.

 

With HDD I always stick to brand name manufacturers. You can find WD on sale most of the time if you look around. Currently I have 6 WD ext HDD is use. 2 are from the late 90's. They all get used at least once a day.

Although I'm a WD kinda guy I just ordered 3 Toshiba mini 2.5" portable drives for my laptops. These are just a little bigger than a deck of cards. Time will tell if it was a good purchase.

...screamer

 

Everest home analysis shows it to be a Fujitsu MHV2120AH:

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/mobile/mhv2120ah.html

Ratings here:

http://shopproducts.howstuffworks.com/Fujitsu-MHV2120AH-120-GB-ATA-100-Hard-Drive/SF-1/PID-26055846

The one I purchased is for partition image back-up only, but if I get
another, it will likely get more frequent use.

 

I have been using a WD external USB drive for about 1-1/2yrs. & am quite satisfied. Used for backup storage for my PC. Also just got a good deal on another WD external which I will use for backups on my wife's iMac.

All things being equal, a 7200 rpm drive should provide some improvement in performance.

Rob

 

My last one was a

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=10929

Only using to store photos on at the moment, but its been working fine

 

I am also thinking to buy a Toshiba one( I have not many choices here is Saudi Arabia). My Toshiba laptop,s HD is actually manufactured by Histachi.

When u get ur HDs, can u check who is actual manufacturer of these?

Thanks

 

Aigle,

The model number is: MK6021GAS. Manufactured by Toshiba.

I wound up returning two of the three purchased. They work fine in my ToughBook CF-18, but on my Dell E1705 There is not enough USB power output to run the drive. Keep in mind, these were self-powered external USB drive. The Toshiba is known to be problematic as a self powered drive. See this:

http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/txt/usb/

It's about Lunix, but self powered is self powered...

The ToughBook is a little beast, built for extreme environments & conditions. It doesn't suprise me that it will run this external self powered drive.

If I were you and this is a "replacement" drive for you laptop, I'd stick w/ OEM equipment. In your case Hitachi. You can check the Toshiba site for the replacements they use. I'm sure they also use their own drives. If it's for an external drive, I'd look into Fujitsu. From what I've read (after the fact of course) they are low in power consumption. This is what I'm considering as an external for the Dell:Fujitsu MHV2080AH 80GB 5400 RPM ATA-6 Notebook Hard Drive - OEM

Is it an ATA-6 or SATA? Some of the new Sata drives are incredible.

hth,

...screamer

 

I like to use notebook hdd's for my externals. I find they're very portable and can take a few knocks. Currently i use a self powered Lacie 2.5" 160gb usb drive. Its actually an hitachi drive, it performs very well and stays cool.

 

That's the beauty of the self-powered units, their portability. This Toshiba fits into my PDA case along w/ the cable a small pad & pen

...screamer

 

Thanks for info.

I am looking for an external self powered USB HD for my notebook. The store here has mainly 2.5 inch Toshiba external HDs and they are self powered.

I can find in the market by seraching: Siemens, Maxtor and Western Digital but no segate.

What do tou suggest? Seems I should avoid Toshiba ones.

 

Out of those three i'd have to recommend western digital. I've used a few WD drives in my time and they always seem to perform well.

 

Hello,

I use a WD 160GB, works extremely well...

I plug it in every month or so for some 40-60GB of backup / overwriting old stuff of course. Otherwise, it warms my sockies and whatnots. I do recommend placing only encrypted stuff in it - or into an encrypted volume / container ... for the security reasons (theft).

Mrk

 

I have a WD My Book 320GB and am quite happy with it, have had it for a few months now, just used for backups.

 

I'm not so sure you need to avoid Toshiba altogether. In the article I linked to it was referring to the Toshiba I purchased, no?

OTOH, WD has a new 2.5" called Scorpio. It's available in ATA-6 & SATA. I'd suggest buying a raw drive and putting it in an enclosure yourself. That's a no-brainer way to save a few $ (SAR)

...screamer

 

That's prolly a very good idea, never thought of it to be honest. Am always a it wary of encrypting things generally, in case somehing goes wrong and can't decrypt.

 

Whereabouts in Saudi?

 

Because two of ur Toshiba did not work as expected.

Infact I checked here in the market and making it myself or buying it pre-assembled doesn,t seem to make make any significant difference.

 

Seems I will go for Western Digital!

 

Makkah, Jeddah

 

Hello,
You should have unencrypted backups on DVDs and such ... multiple copies. No one is likely to nick your cases full of pron and nonsense, but an external DVD seems like a nice little trophy.
Mrk

 

Hi, have never trusted media such as this, I used to backup to cd quite a bit, (though in fairness not multiple copies of the same thing) but I found cd's corrupted too easily. Might not have accessed a cd for 6 months, then I go to get something off it one day, to be told that the cd is corrupt.

 

Ah, ok don't know Jeddah very well, there was always a reasonable selection of gear in Riyadh, a little behind but not too far. WD My Book's have been out for quite a while, should be able to get them in Saudi ok I would have thought.

 

Actually Riyadh is too far from here.