Re: External Hard Drive Recommendation
- From: Quaoar <quaoar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:05:04 -0600
Sharkbait wrote:
When I purchased my laptop a couple of years ago, I thought a 100 GB internal drive would be adequate. I do recall that Lenovo was asking quite a premium as you bumped up the storage. So for my purposes of primarilly storage images, a portable external drive would make sense.
I am looking for something around 320 GB. As I would like to take it with me on my travels, I would prefer that it be powered from the USB port. My Thinkpad also has Firewire. I am quite confused with the brands and their varying reviews. Simpletech, Maxtor, Seagate, or Western Digital? Speed isn't so much a concern as reliability. Thanks in advance.
rg
This is a difficult question to answer. Note that Simpletech uses one (or more of) Maxtor, Seagate, or Western Digital drives. So, rule that out of the manufacturer category.
With a larger external drive, I think it is reasonable to have cooling on the drive case. Maybe this is just ventilation with a case fan, but the result is the same: prevent the drive from burning itself up from internally-generated heat.
Also, I fundamentally believe that an external drive needs its own power supply. I know that the power supply is a nuisance when traveling, but it is better than having the USB on the notebook burned out. Unless your notebook has a full size Firewire port (...i.e., does not have the little iLink port) the firewire port will not supply power at all, so to use Firewire on the iLink connection the drive *must* have an external power supply.
Frankly, I don't think there is much difference in any of Maxtor, Seagate (who ownes Maxtor), or Wester Digital. They all have the same failure rates.
All in all, I suggest you purchase an external drive with a fan, and an external power supply. Other than that, you are safe with any vendor.
You will need, when traveling, a transformer or a simple wall plug to make the drive work. If the drive is rated 220v-110v then you just need the wall plug adapter. If the drive is rated 110v only, you need a transformer with the plug adapter. These are commonly available with adapters and transformers for most EU countries.
Q
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