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Old 09-19-2005, 09:03 PM
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External hard drives.....need some advice

I've been looking at various data storage solutions for a couple of weeks now. My office computer's hard drive is getting pretty packed between knife data, customer data, and all the general forging related data I keep. My eye has turned to external hard drives, but there are just so darn many, and so varied that I'm wondering the pros and cons to the different types. From what I can gather, I think I'm leaning towards the following: 2.5" portable hard drive, 80GB, USB 2.0. The only issue that I've noticed with these is that they all seem to be powered by the USB port, and some even have dual USB plugs to ensure they get enough power. I'm wondering if that will have a big effect on my laptop when I travel? Ya know, sucking the battery dry in short order? Of course I'm looking for as good a deal as possible, but that thing of no power supply just bugs me.

Inputs are needed and very welcome!


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Old 09-19-2005, 09:11 PM
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80 Gb sounds good Ed. As for it sucking all your power you might see you battery drain a little faster, but it shouldn't really suck it dry too fast.


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Old 09-19-2005, 09:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Caffrey
I've been looking at various data storage solutions for a couple of weeks now. My office computer's hard drive is getting pretty packed between knife data, customer data, and all the general forging related data I keep. My eye has turned to external hard drives, but there are just so darn many, and so varied that I'm wondering the pros and cons to the different types. From what I can gather, I think I'm leaning towards the following: 2.5" portable hard drive, 80GB, USB 2.0. The only issue that I've noticed with these is that they all seem to be powered by the USB port, and some even have dual USB plugs to ensure they get enough power. I'm wondering if that will have a big effect on my laptop when I travel? Ya know, sucking the battery dry in short order? Of course I'm looking for as good a deal as possible, but that thing of no power supply just bugs me.

Inputs are needed and very welcome!
Ed, I almost bought one of those external hard drives a while ago but my son, who is a software engineer, scoffed at the idea and advised me to save the money and simply download files to CD'S.

I don't know which is better, so I haven't done anything. And both my computers are loaded up with large files. If I lost one, I'd be hurting worse than I usually do. I need to do one or the other, too, so I'm interested in seeing other's opinions and solutions here.
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Old 09-19-2005, 10:10 PM
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Don,

the problem with burning to CD is that they only hold 700 MB each. Now I have 140 GB and 90 GB HDs so I would need a stack of discs to take data off once. Then I would have to mark each disc so when I needed the data I wouldn't have to check a big stack of discs. Easier is a large external or internal HD I could move my data to so I could access it quickly and easily.

Just my 22 years of computer experience.


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Old 09-19-2005, 10:45 PM
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Just an FYI...

You will need USB 2.0, so make sure you have that. Make SURE the card you install is WinXP compatible. (Don't ask.... ) I bought a 250GB external with a separate power source. My 60GB internal is getting too cramped and programs run slower if it is 75% full.

I got a LaCie 'Porsche design' model for $180 delivered from NewEgg.com. I save all my stuff there, now.

Coop


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Old 09-19-2005, 11:17 PM
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An external drive is just another piece of equipment to break (and to lug around!) Buy a larger internal drive and have your existing drive "ghosted" to it. It will be an exact copy and you can run your machine like you always have.

Yeah, CD's only hold 700 MB, but that's still a lot of info that is permanently backed up and the disks are super cheap. A DVD writer will put even more on a disk, but you have to do a little homework on compatibility. A CD/DVD writer will let you store off the disk hogs (like knife pics).


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Old 09-20-2005, 08:16 AM
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A larger internal drive might be a good answer. I had thought about that, but rejected the idea because my desktop in my office is a little older, I think it's called IDE connection? And the only new, large hard drives I can locate are all SATA. That would mean getting another adapter (about $50) and the hard drive too.....and then I wouldn't have the capability to tote the hard drive when I traveled for use with my laptop. It's just so confusing sometimes.....Darn it! I'm a Bladesmith, not a computer engineer!

Gosh, I never thought I'd hear myself talking like that! A few years ago I was wondering how I would carry all the paperwork......now I'm jumping into the computer age!

I've been cruising around on ebay, looking at various external hard drives, problem there is that I can't get any of the sellers to respond to questions. So again, I'm just stabbing in the dark. Seems the more research I try to do on the subject, the more questions it generates for me. Where's Alex!? He'd be able to straighten this whole thing out!


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Old 09-20-2005, 08:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SharpByCoop
Just an FYI...

(Snipped) My 60GB internal is getting too cramped and programs run slower if it is 75% full.

I got a LaCie 'Porsche design' model for $180 delivered from NewEgg.com. I save all my stuff there, now.

Coop
That's my problem too, Coop. Hundreds of huge picture files plus 2 2/3 books I've written using MS Word.

MS Word is really slow now. Yeah, I have the books on CD's, but I go back and update the books once in awhile and it's easier to just leave them on the hard drive.

Coop, you're saying you have the option of saving to whichever drive you choose? Yeah!!
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Old 09-20-2005, 10:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Robinson
Coop, you're saying you have the option of saving to whichever drive you choose? Yeah!!
Yeah, Don. You can use the external drive JUST as storage for your data. I don't run programs off of it, although I guess I could.

I simply choose my 'M' hard drive from the list of drives and go into the folders I created there to store.

USB-2 is really fast transfer, but probably slower than an internally-wired one. But, the benefits are obvious. The HD can go with you anywhere to any other computer. Now and onward. I think it's smart.

Coop


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Old 09-20-2005, 12:09 PM
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I have a Dell Win XP desktop and a Mac laptop.

I guess the same external drive would be compatible with both? That'd be neat.
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Old 09-20-2005, 12:58 PM
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Wish it worked like that Don, but you could use it for one or the other, unless you are a partition wiz. Mac and PC file systems are quite different, and it is not easy to keep both systems/ partitioning on a hot swap HD would be easier to get 2 drives one for each machine.


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Old 09-20-2005, 04:42 PM
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Yeah, I was afraid of that, Paul. I do use MS Word on both machines, but it probably wouldn't work, as you say.

What I need to do is get a seperate hard drive for the Dell, and download all the photos off the Mac onto CD's.

I use the Dell for everything except the internet. That's what the Mac is for.
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  #13  
Old 09-21-2005, 08:55 PM
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Well, I've been keeping an eye on various "pocket sized" external hard drives on Ebay for the past couple of days. Those things must be really popular these days! 40GB with enclosures for USB are going for $75-$95, and there was even one auction I was bidding on where a 40GB sold for $149! That guy must be on crack!

Just a short while ago, I stumbled upon an auction for one of the 2.5" enclosures and won it for 1 cent! Now I'll keep looking for a 2.5" hard drive to use with it. If all else fails, I have an old Dell laptop that has a 12GB drive in it. But I'm pretty sure if I stick with it, I'll be able to get a new 40-60GB drive on Ebay for $40-$50.

I like tinkering with that stuff anyway.....always wanna know how it goes together and how it works.


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  #14  
Old 11-09-2005, 03:13 AM
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Hi Ed:
Why don't you explore just adding a second drive to your computer. It will run faster and cost less than an external USB drive. You could partition it any way you want.

Steve
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  #15  
Old 11-09-2005, 09:34 AM
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That's just what I wound up doing. I got a great deal on two new 120GB internal drives. I installed them and they are working great! I was thinking about going larger, like 160 or 200GB drives, but wasn't sure it the "132GB barrier" applied to my machine.

I picked up and external hard drive enclosure off Ebay for less than $20, and put my old 40GB hard drive in it for additional storage.

Now that I've ventured into video capture and editing, I've asked Santa to bring me a new motherboard and processor for Christmas. I've had great success with Gigabyte motherboards over the years, and found a good deal on a motherboard/CPU bundle on Tigerdirect.com.......I gave "Santa" the exact URL of the one I want.....now if I'll have to wait and see if I've been a good boy this year!


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