External Hard Drives
 

Hey guys, Im about to buy an external hard drive but I wanted to know whether there were any compatibility issues first. I noticed that the HD run at different speeds (Ex: 7200 or 5400 RPMs) Do I need to check what speed my computer HD runs at or does it matter if the computer and the external HD run at dif speeds?

it doesn't matter. not that I know of anyways.

I have the MY BOOK from western digital. it's pretty good but a bit bulky. I'm gonna be really fucking happy when they come out with the high capacity flash drives. (100-200gb or more).

You're correct, MOAB. Each HD can run at a different speed without difficulties. I happen to be using the proof of that right now.

What external HD are you looking at? I' like to get this one some time in the near future.

Speed only matters if you're doing something that needs a fast seek time (movie and/or sound editing for instance).

(Will - we have three of those Lacie 1TB drives at work. It's amazing ... 3TB of hard drive space for around $1200. We spent $150,000 on a 2TB SAN 5 years ago ...)

Ah, that's very good to read.

First off, thanks for you all of the prompt feedback. Second, yowzers! I didnt even know they made external HD that large!! You guys are looking at some bad ass externals. Im not looking at buying the lacie, Im looking at something more along the lines 100-300GB. Just something that I can back up some important files with. Im looking on ebay and found a 120 BG for 20 bucks!

That's a great deal! Right now, I'm using am Acomdata 250GB firewire external hd I boguht from Fry's like a year or two ago. Other than some minor heat issues, I've enjoyed it very much. I keep all my Garageband stuff on there, just in case something happens to my computer (which only has an 80GB HD). Good hunting!

....yeah, its not 20 bucks anymore....

Here is the one I am looking at, plus I get 20% off I believe.

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...OID=1611556627

The only problem is it is friggin ginormous. Look at the dimensions, but price is the primary factor. Its pretty cheap for me. What do you think?

A lot of users, myself included, like www.newegg.com for electronics. A quick search returned the following:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nd&Order=PRICE

Decent HDs starting at $63.49.

There is always the option of buying a case and drive seperately. I'm not sure if this saves you any money, but it certainly allows you to tailor the drive to your needs. Also, if space is an issue, you can shop around for good deals on a 2.5" drive.

I always recommend an external enclosure (vantec nexstar) and getting the harddrive separate. That way you can always upgrade, or you can use the enclosure to troubleshoot other harddrives, it's just more flexible, and sometimes cheaper if you can get a good deal on the hd alone.

I've also used the MyBook Western Digital and had no problems. Windows detected it immediately. I was dissapointed with the speed, as it took hours to backup a few gigs of data.

But so long as you're using some half-way modern operating system, you shouldn't run into any compatibility issues. If you do, it will be stuff associated with whatever ports you are using. (Which means so long as you don't have issues with USB, you should be able to use any external USB hard drive just fine, for example).

Did you just try to copy to it via USB? USB is always going to be unbearably slow for large data transfers, that's not the harddrive's fault. For any kind of fast speed (like full hard drive backups) you need USB 2.0 or firewire. I'd say it's worth buying a USB2.0 card if your computer doesn't already have it, just to use for running your external drive off of.