External Hard-drives...

[MinionZombie]

Okay, so I'm looking into getting myself an external hard-drive and came across a couple, but I'm new to the external hard-drive game, so any advice/comments on the following ones I've spotted would be cool.

I've got £100 max to spend and have spied a couple of options:

Buffalo 300gb, £80 (was £100 a couple of days ago):

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/1102656/Buffalo_300GB_DriveStation_External_Hard_Drive_USB 2_0_HDD/Product.html

Buffalo 300gb (SATA) £109:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/1102644/Buffalo_300GB_Drive_Station_External_Hard_Drive/Product.html

(not sure what the difference is, any ideas? What's this "SATA" thing? Why is it more expensive but the same size?)

Seagate 320gb, £80 (reduced from £130, PC World special offer):

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1099189391.116299185 2@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckaddjfmihldkcflgceggdhhmdgmh.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=240892&category_oid=

What are your comments/thoughts on these external hard-drives? Not sure about the Seagate one, it's been advertised all over TV recently, but being reduced by £50 at PC World makes me a bit cautious. I was mainly thinking about the £80 Buffalo 300gb one (first link), but what's the difference between that and the same one which has "SATA" whatever that is?

Cheers chaps (and chapettes).

[DjfunkmasterG]

I use the seagate drives. All the files for my film are on those.

[LouCipherr]

(not sure what the difference is, any ideas? What's this "SATA" thing? Why is it more expensive but the same size?)


MZ - "SATA" stands for "Serial ATA" interface. This is different than the standard IDE connection (or eIDE) to a hard drive. The IDE connection is that wide, flat ribbon cable attached to the back of your hard drive. A SATA cable is only about a quarter of the size of the IDE cable. Easy to spot the differences once you see 'em. ;)

The difference between the drives (IDE and SATA) is the data transfer rate. SATA is faster, but not fast enough in my opinion to jump on the bandwagon. Seriously, if you're craving speed as far as reading/writing to your HD, and it really matters that much to you, go SCSI. :elol:

*notices MZ's head swelling on the verge of explosion*,

In case you're wondering.. SCSI is an acronym for "Small Computer System Interface" (pronounced "scuzzy") - and it's transfer rates are among the highest out there - the problem with SCSI is that the size of the hard drives themselves are no where near what IDE and SATA are at, plus, the price of SCSI is through the roof - although if you're looking for tons of HD read/write speed, its worth every single penny. ;)

Now, to really blow your mind..

WARNING: SCIENCE CONTENT

SCSI devices can communicate independently from the CPU over the SCSI bus. This is due to the fact that each device has its own embedded controller. Data can then be transferred at high-speeds between the devices without taking any CPU power. IDE, likewise, uses controllers on each device, but they cannot operate at the same time and they do not support command queuing.

There, how's your brain feel now? :D

[Danny]

the seagate ones are pretty good.

[CivilDefense]

Just a note if you go with the larger 3.5" form factor drive enclosure. If you drop it, on a hard surface. it will absolutely KILL the hard drive. BAM! I have lost three drives this way, one had 48gb of audiobooks I had been collecting for almost ten years. If you get the smaller notebook drive enclosure, they are much much more resiliant, I have dropped mine several times with no ill effects. If you are planning on carrying it around. dont get a full drive enclosure. if its sitting on a desk.. its ok.


Just so's you can see the ultimate enclosure, check out the Mvix, I am seriously thinking about these.. the enclosure itself, acts as a usb2.0 file storage device, plays divx, xvid, avi, mp3's does jpg slideshows, has a car kit for using it in the car, built in FM transmitter, and has a tool that slides out to decapitate zombies.

www.mvixusa.com

[MinionZombie]

Lou ... that there is some fancy larnin' computar talk right there...

Head is intact, but feeling a little swollen ... then there's the head on my shoulders! BOOM BOOM! :lol::p

Well I'm not really that fancy, so it'll be sticking to the USB transfer method, these external hard-drives are ones you plug into a USB port, so bob's your daddy's bruvnah.

Civil - it's be handled with utmost care and just sit on my desk, not really sure what all that enclosure or whatever it was you were on about, or what the ones I linked to (particularly, now, the Seagate one) have in terms of that enclosure-or-whatever stuff ... but yes, it'd simply be there to store data like rendered out video files/DVD content which otherwise just sits using up space on my computer. These files are ones I back up anyway on DVD-R, but I like to keep them handy and "in the system" so-to-speak in case, getting an external hard-drive would afford me some much needed space, especially as I come closer to editing much larger projects (thus requiring lots more HDD space).

So Dj, Hellsing, I take it the Seagate drive meets with approval, it's worthy of my money? I must say I'd rather get an extra 20gigs for the same price as the Play.com one, so if the Seagate one is fine and dandy, I'll snatch one up before the offer is gone. :cool:

[MinionZombie]

lol, so is the Seagate external hard-drive reliable and decent? Should I go get it before the offer is off?

[CivilDefense]

to be quite honest I think they are all pretty much the same, the only difference is some "buy it complete" hard drive enclosures, some have a sync button and software for backing things up at a touch of a button.

Most of these drives should all function pretty much exactly. Just get one with a good warantee and a good return policy.

OR go to your local computer shop that builds computer and they can usually put one together for you and you can save some cash. the only difference going this way is your warantee might be a little less, but you will probably end up with the same reliability with more GB for your $.