Philips USB 2.0 250GB Hard Drive £69.99 (Staples 4 days only, in store)

mantisgeek

Called up a couple of Staples in North London late morning but they had none left. Then called up the one in Watford and they had 3 left. I reserved one over the phone and picked it up in the afternoon. Having just installed it and made my first backup, I'm very pleased with it.

The unit comes already pre-formatted so you can use it straight out of the box. However, it is in FAT32 format so you will need to reformat it to NTFS if you're backing large files such as home movies etc.

This is a fantastic buy for the price!

ianonline

mantisgeek wrote:

The unit comes already pre-formatted so you can use it straight out of the box. However, it is in FAT32 format so you will need to reformat it to NTFS if you're backing large files such as home movies etc.

I've started off a new thread in the "Techy" forum so that anyone wanting to discuss any technical issues can do so there.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=187584

Hopefully this will open up the discussion to the techy guys (and gals!;) ) who hang out there and who might not otherwise have read this post. :beer:


There's also a separate thread running about the whole "FAT32 v NTFS" general formatting issue:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=115205

talkshop

mantisgeek wrote:

However, it is in FAT32 format so you will need to reformat it to NTFS if you're backing large files such as home movies etc.

This is a fantastic buy for the price!

It matters not one bit that it is in FAT32.

The only reason to use NTFS is that it is a more secure format system.

It's not really a great bargain, maybe a £20 saving on the Maplins Seagate model, which is a much superior drive.

ianonline

talkshop wrote:

It matters not one bit that it is in FAT32.

Why do you refute mantisgeek's assertion that FAT32 cannot handle large files? As I understand it 4Gb is the maximum file size that FAT32 can handle. :think:

talkshop wrote:

...maybe a £20 saving on the Maplins Seagate model, which is a much superior drive.

Yeah, just a shame the Seagate one isn't fan-cooled :wall:

talkshop

ianonline wrote:

Yeah, just a shame the Seagate one isn't fan-cooled :wall:

It shouldn't need cooling if the drive was any good

I have drives in my PVR's and Xbox, all 250GB 7200rpm drives, and there is no cooling fans.

Also have a HDD in a USB housing from a computer fair with no fan, and works perfect.

tubbies74

Rang and reserved mine on Friday picked it up yesterday with my voucher great bargain, havent installed it yet do I need to do anything to it format it etc... anything

tubbies74

[/QUOTE]The unit comes already pre-formatted so you can use it straight out of the box. However, it is in FAT32 format so you will need to reformat it to NTFS if you're backing large files such as home movies etc.

what is NTFS system and do I need to change it and if so how?

talkshop

tubbies74 wrote:

what is NTFS system and do I need to change it and if so how?

NTFS= Windows NT Filing System (Used by NT, WIN 2000, & XP)

It is a secure filing system, which means you can restrict other people from viewing files on it.

If your current internal Drives are FAT32 then there is no need to reformat to NTFS.

My Computer > Right click on C: Drive > Properties > File system is displayed

patnut

Can you power this from the PC?

THE_MIDDLEMAN

patnut wrote:

Can you power this from the PC?

no it comes with a wall power plug, you need it in there.

Hope this helps.

I now am the proud owner of 3...w00t nearly a TB of storage now.......no more space issues and the movies are transportable ....