External HDD - a good choice?

That was only on the Dell laptop. Everything worked on the ToughBook. Again, only the model I purchased seemed to be troublesome. But I think that WD is an excellent choice. Good Luck,

...screamer

 

Thanks.

 

Choose high-quality media, burn it at medium speeds with some recovery information and store it in a cool, dark and dry place (safebox).

 

Hello,
That's why I said multiple copies.
Let's say you make 2 copies every month. This means 24 backups a year. Are you telling me all these DVDs are gonna die?
Mrk

 

I use Verbatim DVD/CD's only as second backup and I have an ISO-file of each paid software CD to reproduce them as many times as needed. My main backup = Seagate External harddisk.

 

Anybody any experience with one of these?
Drobo

 

I don,t want to start a new thraed for same Q. Please advise me on this. Easily available option here in the market is:

External USB2 HD (self-powered), Toshiba 120 GB, 5400 RPM, 2 Inch

Is it OK? I wonder should I buy 5400 or 7200 rpm drive. Will 7200 rpm will be significantly faster in data transfer as comapred to 5400. I will use it mainly with my Toshiba latopfor my system image backups and data storage.

Thanks for any help.

 

Aigle,

I would go for the 7200RPM if it's for external only. The only difference b'tween 5400 vs.7200 is power consumption and speed. e.g. you sacrifice power used for speed gained.
The 7200 RPM will drain your battery faster than the 5400, but it will increase data transfer.

hth,

...screamer

 

What i did in the end was follow Notok's advice: i went with Seagate for an internal Sata HD, 7200 rpm, 500 GB. Mostly due to quality reputation and unbeatable warranty.
Then i got an external case, with USB 2.0 and eSata (that was actually a good surprise, but didn't influence my decision).

Only years will tell me how good it is, but so far i'm happy with it.

 

IMO,the most important factor is to get a 7200 rpm SATA capable HDD,thats always assuming your mobo is configured for SATA-the data transfer speeds are so much faster than USB.

External HDDs can get hot,so a fan within the enclosure is a good idea.

My setup is an Antec case with fan,to which I fitted a 320gb Seagate disk.

The make isnt so important,but with Seagate,you get for free the equivalent of Acronis True Image.

 

Only I want to know if 7200 rpm HD will run from USB of my laptop, without need of an additional power supply, just like 5400 one?
Someone on a forums told me that with 7200 rpm, I will need to use 2 usb ports to power it!

Thanks

 

I have not much info about e-SATA. It,s rather new and my mobo probably might not be supporting it( it,s a 2 years old Toshiba satellite M 70). Am I true?

CAn u get an external HD supporting both USB 2 and e-SATA?

BTW not sure about future of e-SATA( USB 3 is on thge way!!).

 

Do u mean SATA or e-SATA? To my knowledge, practically SATA doesn,t give any significant speed gain over IDE.

Not feasible for me. I want a small portable one( I mentioned 2.5 inch drive). Also I guess, a fan means external supply for HD. I want self powered via USB, no external power at all.

Seagate was my first choice but it,s not avaialable here in the market.

 

BTW I did a small search on internet and I don,t see a 2.5 inch HD with 7200 rpm. All 2.5 inch HDs seem to come with 5400.

 

Well SATA 2 has a theoretical max transfer rate of 300mb/sec as opposed to IDE/ATA of 133-not that this is attainable often.

e Sata merely means external SATA,indicating that the mobo has a dedicated plug provision for the back of the case.

The speed etc is the same.

If you only have SATA,then just buy a cable/plug in for the case back-same thing.

For you- all this is probably a bit academic-my remarks were more directed at the original poster,who was querying his choice and a choice for a second external drive.

However you must check whether your mobo will support SATA before you make a decision

I havent got the exact figures handy,but eSATA is much,much faster by a very noticeable margin than USB2.

 

The USB connector cord comes w/ two USB plugs on one end --> Laptop and one on the other end --> to USB Ext drive. This way you can use twice the power "if it needs it."

see this:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=160 GB ATA-100 Hard Drive 2.5 7200&btnG=Google Search

hth,

...screamer

 

@aigle - also do a google search for 2.5" enclosures. I know Vantec has an enclosure without power brick. I dont know if it supports 7200rpm drives though.

 

Thanks for your input. I'm dealing with two desktops here. One is 5
years old and came with one ATA drive, and no room inside to mount
a second drive. My new machine has two internal SATAs, and two racks
still empty to mount two more, if desired. I picked an ATA USB drive
to assure compatability between the two machines. I'm really not
interested in an external, case-mounted, separately powered, SATA.
The older machine has been relegated to a test box. The first USB HD
drive I picked up fits in my shirt pocket, requires no external power
supply, is only used for back-up ATI images, lives in a desk drawer
when not in use, and works on both machines. Mission accomplished.

Interestingly, I picked up a second Firelite, only in 160 GB instead
of 120 GB. On plugging it in and checking its specs I found it not to
have a Fujitsu drive inside, but, rather a Western Digital Scorpio
2 1/2 inch ATA drive. Additionally, that drive will not run on the
old machine, but works fine on the new box. My guess is that it requires
more power from the USB plug than the old machine can deliver, or else
there is some kind of mobo driver issue, but that is beyond my current
technical knowledge.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=312&language=en

 

Well,on second look, it appears you have achieved a great setup in view of your current equipment.

The USB external HDD seems fine for backups,so it doesnt matter if its a bit slower-also the small size means you can take it with you on holidays etc for security reasons in the extreme case of a burglary in your absence.

Strange the new USB/HDdoesnt work on your old computer,USB2 is backward compatible.
Most drives just use the Microsoft drivers.


EDIT;

Your WD Scorpio drive is available either in EIDE or SATA mode.

My guess is that the shop gave you a SATA drive,which most customers would want.

If this is correct-then that explains why it doesn't work on your old computer which is strictly IDE only.

But this could be a real blessing in disguise for you,as by buying a cheap plug/cable extension from the mobo to an included plug plate for the back of your case,you can then run the drive at full SATA speed,by connecting up to your new drive with a SATA cable,which should be included in your original package.
You can easily do all this in five minutes.

What you now have is eSATA,which considerably faster than USB2.

 

Well, I thought it might be a SATA in disguise, but the part number
that Everest Home reads off the drive (WD1600BEVE) matches the part
number in the WDC link in my last post. EIDE = external ATA, I think.

The user manual makes no mention of it, but if it's just a jumper
inside the case, that could certainly explain it. Might have been
an error at the assembly factory. I don't think I'll risk contaminating
the platters by opening the case, though.

 

Fadeaway,check my revised post-it cant be both IDE and SATA-still very possible its a SATA.

You said yourself an ATI restore took 40 minutes with USB and 14 minutes with SATA.so ts worth finding out etc.

BTW you cant contaminate a HD,the plates are fully enclosed.

 

The 160GB Scorpio SATA is listed as part number WD1600BEAS. That does
not match the part number of my drive, WD1600BEVE.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=263&language=en

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=312&language=en

Am I missing something?

 

Fadeaway-its a mystery

 

It was cheap (local store, good deal). About the same price as only with USB, so i said why not.
And yes, they come in different flavours , only USB, USB and Firewire, USB and eSata etc. But thats the external interface (is that the right name?).
Internally, the case has to support the HD you bought of course -i got a SATA one, so it had to have that, and support the size and speed; it has another cable for IDE i think.
My case has no fan, it's made of aluminum. Never gets too hot, aluminum does a good job with the heat, and it's never turned on that long anyway (only for backups). It does need external power (hey its 500 gigs).
Oh, and i don't think it supports eSata either, unless you expand the laptop with one of those cards (? lol) (some cases come with that AND the eSata cable), but i don't know anything about that.
USB is fine for now, but i know that i can use eSata also in future.
I also know that if i want to use this HD on a computer, i can, and if one part (HD or case) breaks, i got the other. The case gives a lot of possibilities, and the brand reassures me.

 

May I just repeat these important facts,for those who may not be quite aware of them.

SATA is always going to have a higher transfer rate than IDE,even if the difference is sometimes not so noticeable

IDE is yesterdays technology-SATA drives are becoming faster as they are further developed.

Many new motherboards will not support IDE,so these may not be transportable to a new computer

eSATA(basically an addition to the mobo) is the same as SATA except there is a plugin on the back of the case to allow connection to an external SATA drive.
The mobo connects the internal SATA drive to this plug .

SATA can be converted to e SATA,if this is not present originally,by buying a cheap plug in set with cables.

USB,any version is always going to be appreciably slower than e(external)SATA,as regards transfers.

Quick proof is provided by Fadeaway who restored the same ATI image in 14 minutes using SATA-but took 40 minutes using USB/IDE-nearly 3 times slower!

The obvious limiting factor is finding out whether your motherboard supports SATA-some mobos will run both.

However you cannot interconnect IDE to SATA-to run eSATA,you need an internal SATA drive.

Check your instructions book or use software like PC Wizard to give you the specs of your computer.