400GB external hard drive

Leopard

Check this out. (Yes, it's IDE / PATA - not SATA.)

It appears to have an on/off switch, too, which is useful.

Price includes a mains power adaptor.

BenL

I bought a Buffalo Link Station, its a network harddrive that plugs into your router or any network port if your home is wired up.

All the network pcs can access it and all the wireless laptops and the PS3 and the other as yet unbought network media devices.

£50 from ebuyer for a 320Gb version. I think they have a 500Gb version as well.

Technical name is NAS - Network addressed storage. Not technical to setup, power plug in, provided CAT5 patch cable from router to linkstation. It puts itself onto the network then your pc's will find it. Vista and Windows 7 find them really easily.

almillar

barry, any of the enclosures you linked to are fine, I'd just go for the cheapest - that would mean the one on eBay that Leopard linked to.

andy2004

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=3.5+hdd+enclosure&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1311&_sop=2&LH_PrefLoc=1&_dmpt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&_odkw=3.5+hdd+external+caddy&_osacat=0

better link, there are more than you think on ebay, note: bid price, not the price you will pay, as you have to be the winning bidder,
Buy it NOW, this is the price you will pay.
I prefer buy it now as you know the price and you know your going to get it in a certain number of days after ordering, non of that have i won it.

As a personal note: i dont use external cases, I just use a usb 3 in 1 adapter, I can connect a 3.5in ATA / 2.5 ATA and 2.5/3.5 Sata
like this one, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-in-1-USB-2-0-to-SATA-IDE-Adapter-Cable-Power-PC6_W0QQitemZ110426498705QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item19b5eea691&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177
actually i bought 2, one with power and one without, if you have a spare PSU with a switch just use that to power.

motorguy

Why not stick a second hard disk into the PC itself?

Then simply back up from one to the other?

taldor83

I always get paranoid and burn things to DVD as well. Means a fair number of DVD's in the hosue but those bad boys are labelled! (Geek much! :rotfl:)

almillar

pgicl1 - Power usage, and more particularly possibly putting a strain on your power supply would be a good reason not to install a drive permenantly. It'll also raise the temps in the case, and is obviously less portable.

barnishroader

Leopard wrote: »

Check this out. (Yes, it's IDE / PATA - not SATA.)

It appears to have an on/off switch, too, which is useful.

Price includes a mains power adaptor.

I bought this one but am now having a problem.
One of the drives works fine but the other one, when i connected it up, won't show up as a drive on "My Computer".
The balloon in the bottom corner said that there was new hardware detected but said it was a new void disk whereas the one that worked said it was a new usb disk when detected.
There was a driver disk with it but i'm not sure if i need to install any of the drivers or which one to install as there are loads of options.
Can anyone help?

Leopard

If it crossed your mind to mention what operating system you are using, others would be able to provide you with the advice you seek about drivers. (A Mac wouldn't need any drivers at all but nor would some versions of Windows.)

Since one HDD worked and one didn't, it is reasonable to suppose that the problem lies with one of the drives, rather than with the enclosure. It would also be worth checking that cables connectors are fully and correctly inserted in the sockets.

isofa

BenL wrote: »

Technical name is NAS - Network addressed storage. .

Network Attached Storage - just being pedantic