external harddrive?

[V.Alonso]

hey everyone


ok so my comp is runnng relly slow lately and i just realizd it was because i only have 250mb left on my 40gb harddrive

so i need to get and external one quiick, i have thousands of pics on my comp that i dont want to loose

so if anyone has any suggestion on external harddrives, it would be great

im looking for someting in the 20gb range

TIA:mrgreen:

 

[el_shorty]

Check newegg.com
Western Digital Passport WDXML800UETN 80GB 5400 RPM 2MB Cache USB 2.0 External Hard Drive $123.99

why not an internal
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $79.99

I've bought from them before, and have always been very satisfied.

 

[Jeff Canes]

I have two USB Cavalry 300gb drive got them from http://geeks.com I had never heard of that brand before, but I figured they just assemble them. http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CAUC35300&cat=HDD

 

[Jeff Canes]

----why not an internal---

Because, when it’s time upgrade, primarily drive fails, you have more that one computer, you’re a heavy shooter, or maybe you been shooting digital for a few years now. Personally I have more the dozen boxes of negatives over 20 plus years with film. If you’re still in to photography 20 years from now you could easily have 5000-20000GB of files. I went digital 3-1/2 years ago and have over 300gb in files

 

[V.Alonso]

my comp has no hook-ups for an intrnal

thanks for the ideas

jeff, that looks like a mighty fine idea....

btw i have more than one comp (3 to be exact) but this is the only one with dsl, so its the only one i use very often

 

[vim]

why not burn all your images and files u dont use much to dvd or cdr ?
then burn an image of ur current hdd and get a 400gb hdd and reinstall the image and u have a upgraded hdd of 400gb and fit the small one to a spare ide/sata port on ur pc and run them like that.
this way u have a hard copy of your file/pics stored so if ur pc goes bang at any time u haven't lost them.
thats what i would do, or put a 400gb hd in the spare port and transfer all files over and run the small hdd free from clutter
peace

vim

 

[DeepSpring]

try and get one witha built in fan otherwise it will prolly get extremely hot and you will need to place a small portable fan next to it

 

[Snap Happy]

I got a Digital Partner 30 GB USB Portable hard drive / card reader on eBay for $99. Reads all sorts of cards, and looks like just another drive to my PC when hooked up via USB cable.

 

[usayit]

Firewire or USB 2.0? If both are available on your machine, then go firewire.

"External drive" as in portable or just external to your computer case? If you require just an external drive, Lacie makes some pretty nice units of various sizes for USB, Firewire, or combo. I went slightly cheaper route with Acomdata. Their support sucks but their price is low and no problems so far. If you need one to take around with you, get a drive that can power itself over the USB or Firewire bus. Saves you the trouble of having to lug around another cable/power supply as well as the trouble of finding an outlet. Lacie makes one that is rugged and protected with a rubber case. Firelite also makes a bus powered external drive for either USB or firewire.

If you need one to pack in your bag to dump or back files directly from digital media, I have the Wolverine purchased from Adorama which is a copy of the one Snap Happy pictured. Works ok. 40gb version with battery power enough to load a little more than 10gb at a time. My grips:
*) NOT BUS POWERED. Still requires an external power supply/plug
*) If the battery is dead, you can't simply plug in the power supply and keep dumping from compact flash. You have to wait for the battery to accumulate a charge. In other words, power is still pulled from the battery pack regardless if the power plug is attached or not.
*) Battery could last longer. Pain to swap out the battery becuase it requires you to open up the unit wiht a screw driver. So carrying several batteries isn't really a practical option.
*) could be smaller in size.

 

[V.Alonso]

thakns for the replys, some good info here

to answer your questions usayit

i dont have a usb 2.0 this is an older comp
i do have fire wire port though

im looking for something to just hook up to my comp, not a portable one

 

[usayit]

Oh man.. Please spare yourself some fustration and do not hook up storage to a USB 1 connection. It is sssslllllooooowwww... very slow... watching grass grow slow...

I'd say that firewire is a requirement for you. There are also external combo drives that has USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 although external drives with just one or the othe will be slightly cheaper. As stated earlier, Acomdata is cheap but there are better drives out there. They available at the local computer store (CompUSA for example) and inexpensive.

I have two Acomdata 250gb firewire drives... haven't had any problems yet. In the past, I had a Acomdata combo drive but was unable to boot my Mac from the firewire port... Contacted Acomdata but never ever got a response.. hence why I think their support sucks. But cheap is cheap.

Another dumb design.... they advertise that the drives can be stacked and daisy chained. Which is true.... but the power supplies are NOT daisy chainable. Great! So I need a power strip of 6 plugs to power my 6 drives. Talk about a mess of cables back there.

 

[Unimaxium]

I've always liked LaCie for external drives. They make big, sturdy drives like their d2 line. And they'll work with USB 2.0, Firewire 400, or firewire 800. They also make good portable drives if that's what you want. If you don't want to run it off a power brick, then you could get a portable drive which is bus-powered from the computer.

Just thought I'd add my 2¢.

 

[niccig]

I'd get a bigger hd than 20gb if you have the budget for it. That's going to fill up WAY quicker than you think. I'd go with at least 100gb (less than $150 at best buy)

 

[MommyOf4Boys]

I would get something around 250GB or ABOVE if you are going to continue storing large files such as RAW. You can find them all over the place, even on Ebay for around $100-$150

 

[ksmattfish]

I just recently bought a 250 GB Western Digital internal HD, and an external case to put it in for $30 less than a similar pre-assembled external drive. Not only did I save a few bucks, but the case is better quality than usually comes with external HDs. If you can operate a screwdriver, you'll have no problems assembling it yourself.