External Hard Drives

I thought that I had above?

2.5" drives are more portable/compact and normally powered directly from the USB port(s) without the need for an external power supply. Small box that you just plug in and that's it.

3.5" drives are more bulky and always require an external power supply unit and maybe also fan cooling etc. so you have more bulk/weight and annoying cables.

The former are good for carrying with you on the go. The latter are good for fixed installations or maybe intermittent portability but not carrying with you day to day. 3.5" drives also come in much higher capacities than 2.5" drives but the latter are getting bigger these days.
 
ClubMan said:
I thought that I had above?

2.5" drives are more portable/compact and normally powered directly from the USB port(s) without the need for an external power supply. Small box that you just plug in and that's it.

3.5" drives are more bulky and always require an external power supply unit and maybe also fan cooling etc. so you have more bulk/weight and annoying cables.

The former are good for carrying with you on the go. The latter are good for fixed installations or maybe intermittent portability but not carrying with you day to day. 3.5" drives also come in much higher capacities than 2.5" drives but the latter are getting bigger these days.
Click to expand...

In addition to the above...

3.5" drives are cheaper and usually quicker than 2.5" drives.

Different interfaces are quicker than others.
USB/USB2/Firewire 400/Firewire 800/eSata etc.

Don't have all your data on one disk. Have a another disk with a copy of it, preferably in a different location, in case of theft/fire etc.

I use 2.5" for carrying around and 3.5" for infrequent backups. I started with 3.5" as they were a lot cheaper. But I'm slowly moving to 2.5" disks as its handy with USB power. I'm trying to decutter junk I don't need from my disks, to reduce the amount of data I backup. I used to keep lots of old stuff that I never look at anymore.
 
Maxtor
500GB External Hard Drive Model: MXTJ500GB
€109.99 PC World - any good?
 
Western Digital 250GB 2.5" external hard drive model: WD 250GB 2.5" PASS - €109.99 in PC World.

Any good?
 
Is this the same one in elara for 89e? Theyre ok, what it says on the tin, Ive 3 WD externals and no problem with any of them.
 
BroadbandKen said:
Western Digital 250GB 2.5" external hard drive model: WD 250GB 2.5" PASS - €109.99 in PC World.

Any good?
Click to expand...

If you are in the States, I picked this one up for 100 dollars (64 Euro) in circuit city. Great deal and fantastic drive !!! Its portable powered by your USB so you dont have to worry about a U.S. mains power supply.
 
I've had a couple of their 3.5" drives for a while now; no problems.

Nice price for a 2.5", presuming it comes with the usual three-year warranty? (not mentioned )
 
I bought of one these and it is excellent. I actually bought an eSata II card for the pc but haven't needed to use it as the speed is on the ball.

I'm definitely going to buy a second EHD and get my brother to mind it for me, just in case. I can update it then, perhaps every 3-6 months.

Gone are the days when you could store all your stuff on a few CDs or DVDs.
 
TARGA 500GB external HDD, network, eSATA, USB 2 connections, external power-supply and three connecter cables, €139.99 : [broken link removed]

IME, they'll sell out fast.
 
Once again - be careful to distinguish between 2.5" USB powered portable drives and 3.5" ones that require an external power supply and so are not really portable.
 
Both Pixmania.com & Komplett.ie are selling 500 GB drves for €70/73 + €13 postage at the moment.

Gel
 
2.5" Don't need to plugged into mains, and the box is smaller.
3.5" Need to plugged into mains, and the box is bigger.

If you've a few external 3.5 drives they start to get very bulky and finding a lot of power points becomes a problem. They are usually faster than 2.5 drives though.
 
aircobra19 said:
2.5" Don't need to plugged into mains, and the box is smaller.
3.5" Need to plugged into mains, and the box is bigger.

If you've a few external 3.5 drives they start to get very bulky and finding a lot of power points becomes a problem. They are usually faster than 2.5 drives though.
Click to expand...

Will also add:

2.5" - these tend to be drives made for laptops and as such they have to be designed to use less power - and normally spin at 5400rpm
3.5" - these tend to spin at 7200rpm (sometimes 10000rpm) and obviously read/write data quicker, but as was mentioned they will need an seperate power pack and are not ideal for carrying around with you. They also have much bigger capacity than 2.5"
 
Just picked up this one myself:
[broken link removed]
1tb for €115. It is a 3.5", but I wanted something with huge storage capacity. It will be a while before we see a 1tb 2.5" drive.
 
Thinking of getting an external hard drive which I need but would also like a media player in it as well but you cant find any that will play x264 files so I might just go for an external hard drive. I was also thinking of a laptop as my external hard drive and media player if you get me? I could back up data on to it's hard drive and use vlc player on it and connect direct to tv for playing x264 files,avi files etc.
Any idea's on this? What's the biggest, cheapest 2.5" drive available?
 
The Iomega Prestige 1TB Desktop Hard Drive USB for €119 in Peats -any good?

www.peats.ie - bottom right on main page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top