external storage
 

Ok, I've been thinking about getting an external harddrive for a while now, my laptop only has 30G, which really sucks cause I have many games that I like, but can't store any movies or much of anything if I have all the games on, especially once my girlfriend puts the Sims2 on, it takes a tenth of my harddrive by itself.

So here is my question, what is the max storage I could get for under a 100 dollars, and will I need to install an OS on it or will it just act like another memory source where I can just click and drag stuff onto it? I wouldn't think I'd need an OS on it but I just want to make sure.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Hmmm, I'd be interested in this too. I'm looking for something I can take data files from my home machine to my buddies laptop at work with, maybe 5-10 gigs of storage.

http://www.ubid.com/actn/opn/getpage...fLoc=searchall

That was the best one I could find, and you do not have to install an OS or anything on it, it just acts as an extra storage unit. Hope I was helpful, have a nice night.

That's not bad. But what about this, I also have a laptop and a spare hard disk, is there a way to just get a IDE to say USB connector? And if so can USB power a HD or would one need an external source?

Okay, there is no way that i know of that you can use an ide cable as apposed to a usb cable for a laptop. As far as I know the usb port WILL power the hard drive.

Edit : If you have a usb 2.0 port it will transfer just as fast as an ide would, the external hard drives generally only run at 5400 rpms so you don't lose and read/write speeds when you use the usb port.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...154-623&depa=1

same price, size, but better seek times, and its a 7200 rpm, instead of 5400. There's also a $15 rebate, but I wouldnt rely on that. I think of those as bonuses, which don't always happen.

you can buy just external enclosures... usually around $20

then you can put a hard drive you already have in it... or buy whatever size drive you want...

I like this place because you can pick different hhds for a enclosure.

http://www.dealsonic.com/sabl35inslal.html
case:27.99
HHD:64.99(maxtor diamondmax 80GB 2M 7200rpm)
HHD installation:5.00(if you dont want to install the HDD yourself)
shipping 5.95
---------------
97.98

exactly.. just buy an internal HD (choose your size) and put a case around it. ..

bingo!

with the options and flexibility of an external and a standard IDE HD, it is ridiculous to spend the money on an external HD, that is more expensive and less flexible. IMO of course. :thumbsup:

Cool! Thanks I might have to gt one of those!

how fast a disk you'd put into a USB or FireWire enclosure is quite irrelevant...

You can choose a udma-133 Maxtor, fastest IDE disks on the market...but the USB- and FireWire-to-ATA bridgeboards in the enclosure generally aren't capable of anything above udma-33...

YMMV and there may be something faster out that I've not seen yet.

As for bus-powered drives, you'll have to plug in a brick for a 3.5" desktop drive, since they draw 12v as well as 5v juice...and USB and FireWire only pass along 5v...so if you want a bus-powered external drive, it'll have to be a 2.5" (laptop type) drive which only uses 5v power.

Oh, and if you have both FireWire and USB (even 2.0), definitely go with FireWire. It consumes less CPU cycles to perform its I/O operations, thus bringing less overhead on your system.

I own at least a dozen external hard disks. One USB2, one FireWire, one combo, and the rest are all SCSI...

Oh...and don't forget that iPods and similar devices are also external USB drives! (I have Gateway's knockoff of the iPod...has a 20gb disk...if you're looking for "a good excuse" to get an iPod...hehehehe... :)

I have a lacie brand usb 2.0 160Gb drive - it is good.

The only question I want to raise is "do those external usb ide drive cases travel well?". If you are not moving it, it should be OK...

I just wonder how much better a specifically made external drive is for transportation.

At my old work, we used a set of lacie drives as the offsite backup - so they got transported regularly, and never had a failure.

I have also used an IDE external box - the guy in the shop said it is worthwhile (from a time saving perspective) to put it into a machine connected to an internal IDE controller to format it, before putting it into the external thingy.