Which External Hard Drive ?

ahll

Hi all,
I need to get myself an External Hard Drive to store my photo's and Music files on, as I only have a 40GB hard drive in my laptop.

I have never bought one before. Can anyone recommend a good/value/sized one or things I need to be aware of ?

I assume I will just plug the hard drive into a usb port and then my data will be stored on the Hard drive even when it is not attached to my laptop.

Bob63

https://www.usbtech.co.uk

Great company to do business with. Either choose one of their pre-built external drives or, if you feel technically competent, buy an external drive casing and put your own disc in. To be honest you don't save that much with the latter option so go for a pre-built one.

Another option at the moment is that Staples are doing a Lacie 250GB external drive for £79.99 - not sure if it has expired though, no doubt somebody here will know.

Mike

pin

have a look at this 300gb one from amazon for only £100:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007OJY8I/qid=1139948352/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/203-3509081-5675965

ahll

Hi,

I found a 250GB on PCworld for PIKAONE - 250GB Extenal Hard Drive(722370) for £88.43 if you pick it up from the store. Does this seem like a good and reliable hard drive ?

Link http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0248033652.1139951297@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccddaddgmjfjlffcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&page=Product&fm=5&sm=0&tm=1&sku=722370&category_oid=-24880

OR
FREECOM - 250GB USB 2.0 CLASSIC SL EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE - SILVER EDITION(751024) cost £90.44 if u pick it up at store.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0248033652.1139951297@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccddaddgmjfjlffcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&page=Product&fm=5&sm=0&tm=1&sku=751024&category_oid=-24880

daysleeper_2

I recently bought a western digital 60gb drive from Amazon, priced at £79.00. It's very easy to use and there was no problems backing up, just connect and go. Looks quite sylish too.

codetown

Hi, three general comments:

a) make sure your laptop has a USB 2.0 port or a Firewire port.
This is really essential if you want to be able to transfer files as in an HD. With USB 1.1 speeds (really slow) you will notice the big difference (and lack of real usability)! So if you don't have USB 2 or Firewire directly from the laptop, check for ways to add it first (via an PCMCIA -> USB 2 converter for example).

b) if you go with an external drive, check they use 3.5" inside the box. They are more reliable and have longer time before failure. Some 2.5" models are cheaper but less reliable in the long run.

c) Decide if you want a complete set ready to go or prefer something you assemble.
In the first case you get something formatted and ready to plug into USB. e.g. Lacie or Freecom. Both brands give you something ready and trusted.
As an example, this 250 GB HD from Lacie, costs 85 GPB inc vat
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=16206686559&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62833


In the case of own-assembled box, you can buy the external box (caddie) as you like and put inside which IDE hard disk you wish. The advantages are:
- you can swap the HD at later date (oh yes, you will fill it in few months, no matter how big it looks today!)
- you can find good boxes which support both USB and Firewire (fire
, and of course you can take the HD off if needed and mount it into a normal IDE cable (a PC).

Example of a good caddy:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=74827
(~20 pounds)

which can be coupled for example with this Western Digital 250 GB:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=47656
(~68 pounds)

Final result? You get an external USB and Firewire box for ~88 pounds and you have the satisfaction of choosing the components!

In any case, if you are carefull, the final price of the premade or own-made solution will probably be similar.
So it is a choice of flexibility against premade solutions.

ahll

Can anyone tell me how I can findout if the USB ports on my laptop are 2.0 or 1.1 ?

I have a Sony VAIO PCG-FR27 model with 3 USB port.

I have prob had the laptop for about 2 years now.

Mmmm what is a a Firewire port ? I am not sure if my laptop has on or not !

Chippy_Minton

Yes, your USB ports are 2.0 and you also have a FireWire (aka IEEE 1394) port. Look at the marketing specs here ->
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=PCGFRV27

FireWire is a serial interface like USB, typically used for digital video cameras.