External Hard Drive

[CrazyAce86]

I'm interested in getting an external hard drive for my laptop. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about them.

I'd like to have one with at least several gigs of memory, but hopefully not too expensive. I'm not getting one right away, but rather I'd like to pick one out and save up for it. I don't want anything that's too complicated, because, let's face it, I suck at electronics in general.

Any recommendations or information would be greatly appreciated!

[Druid]

Potential lost hard drive do I feel coming on. As for being helpful, They're not really to expensive. I saw one for like 50 bucks, which I believe is a pretty good deal. Didn't see if it was broken though. As far as I've heard, External hardrives are fine. Haven't heard of one being wiped yet.

[Zonehunter1]

Your best bet is to look around online at different drives.

[Urban~Ninja]

Ebay i would say should get you one with a case for a good price aswell as a decent space within it.

[haterllnation]

I agree with ebay. I got mine on ebay. Pretty good deals.. If you find a good vendor that sells them bulk, even better.

[TLab3000]

Bought a couple of the those, lately:

- IcyBox 351 3.5" IDE HDD case - no fans, pretty fast but still inexpensive
- Samsung 250GB IDE HDD - Samsung really got better over the last years, inexpensive, too

If 3,5" isn't too big for you, I'd recommend this combination

[El_CJ]

TLab3000, I'm feeling too lazy to research, but is that IDE HDD enclosure bus powered, or does it need a power outlet like my brother's? If it needs an outlet, it's not the most portable. CrazyAce86, do you want portability, or price/size?

[Kaji]

I'd recommend a drive with a firewire connection if you can use it, it makes a real difference over USB 2.0. As for brands and all that fun stuff, Maxtor has served my needs decently well over the past few years.

[Trump]

A little internet research would have cleared this right up...

[TLab3000]

TLab3000, I'm feeling too lazy to research, but is that IDE HDD enclosure bus powered, or does it need a power outlet like my brother's? If it needs an outlet, it's not the most portable. CrazyAce86, do you want portability, or price/size?

Needs an outlet - is there a 3.5" case that doesn't? Only seen bus powered 2.5" cases. It's definitely rather the price/size option. FW version available.

[Riinuka]

If you've got a firewire port on your machine, then by all means go for Firewire. But if you don't (thereby needing to use USB 2.0), then make sure that the drive you're going to get is at least 7,500 RPMs ..I still see externals being sold that only run at 5,000, and this does affect performance. Though, the faster it spins, the higher the price...

Question - Do you have an eSATA port? (External SATA) Might be something to look into if you don't mind gettting a slightly bigger drive.

[Jetsetlemming]

Question - Do you have an eSATA port? (External SATA) Might be something to look into if you don't mind gettting a slightly bigger drive.
That sounds like it would be a damn useful thing to have for me... :knockout:

[Riinuka]

Yup. It's especially useful for when you have an internal drive and no place (drive cage space) to fit it. >< I sit on on top of the case, and run the cables to the eSATA port.. It's a big no-no, considering I've got a platter-filled drive sitting unsecured on top of a tower, but still. x x Can't beat the usability.

[The Republic]

I have a nice "Buffalo" external drive. It's extremely easy to use. just plug it into USB port, then plug it into wall, switch it on, and ViOLa! You dont even need to install software along with it... easy to use and it has 150GB, more than you'll ever need. It also looks pretty, however I forgot what I payed for it.