External Hard Drives...

[David Kelly]

i'm looking for a christmas present for my self and need some help. does anyone have any suggestions for the best external HD? and within a reasonable price range.

*edit* i'm going to be using it mainly for a laptop and PC.

[Kyle Fenton]

What type of interface are you looking for SCSI, USB 2.0, Firewire (Which is the fastest out their now)?

They range from 40 to 100 gigs per hard drive.

Than you also consider the speed of the hard drive, what are you going to use it for. 72000 RPM is the standard. If you are going to use it for video editing I would suggest a 10000 RPM or better.

For price, internal drives are about $50 to $100 less expensive and don't take up extra room and a plug. So if your computer can support an internal hard drive, I would get that. Otherwise you can go to mySimon http://www.mysimon.com/category/inde...vesstorage&v=1

and they seem to have a wide sellection of hard drives.

[gniticxe]

Well, Kyle was mostly right. If you're looking for something that is even less expensive and you have to get an external drive, you can go with something under 40GB (which for most people is more than you'll ever need) and a lower RPM (5400 vs. 7200 (standard)). But as Kyle said, if you're doing demanding stuff with it, more rpm = faster read = quicker load (Proc/RAM/ATA/interface dependant). Also, a great site that has stuff for way under retail is www.pricewatch.com. They sell just about everything there, and I'm sure you can at least get a start.

[Jeff Waegelin]

I believe that FireWire is the fastest, though I could be wrong.

[Clark Gilbert]

I saw an Iomega product at Office Max a few days ago....and it was external and it could hold 20 GB...plus it had a removable disk (but it was kinda bulky)...

[Jay Lundy]

If you are going to buy computer parts, I highly recommend http://www.newegg.com. They have the cheapest prices around, and their customer service is great. Don't believe me? Check out the testimonials at http://www.newegg.com/app/testimonials.asp.

I just ordered the parts for my computer from them. My order consisted of:

• 1 Enlight Medium Tower case w/ 1 internal case fan and a 300w power supply
• 1 Epox 8kHA+ KT266A 200/266 MHz Mobo (3 DDR RAM Slots, 1x/2x/4x AGP FSB + AGB slot, 6 PCI slots, USB 2.0, ATA 33/66/100)
• GeForce 3 Ti200 w/ 64 MB DDR RAM w/ overclocking enhanced performance mode
• AMD Athlon XP 1800+
• 512 MB DDR RAM
• MAXTOR 60 GB 7200 RPM HD
• PLEXTOR 24x10x40 CD-RW
• PIONEER 16x DVD
• SB Live 5.1
• Linksys ethernet card
• Heat sink + fan (cost: 47! there's gonna be some serious overclocking!)
• Thermal Paste
• Speakers
• Windows XP
• Floppy Disk Drive
• Logitech Keyboard

Total: $1255

Unbeatable prices and unparalleled service. Whenever you want to buy parts for a computer, use them!

Oh by the way, when we made the order my dad accidentally left the card type as visa when he really used a discover. We emailed them and within hours we got an email back saying it had been changed successfully. Talk about good customer service.

PS, want a DVD-RW? They have several (http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactor...log=156&DEPA=1) and the average price is a mere $400! Not only do these things burn DVDs but they also can burn regular CDs.

[Joe Ross]

Actually, SCSI is the still the fastest. The fastest SCSI that I am aware of is 160 Megabytes per second, whereas usb 2.0 is 480 megabits per second (60 megabytes per second) and firewire is 500+ megabits per second.

Since you want to use it for a laptop, your options are very limited because you can't just drop in a usb2.0, firewire, or scsi card. Your best bet would have to be a usb 1.1 drive, although your speeds are going to be limited to at most a meg a second.

What are you planning on using this drive for, and what storage size (and physical size) are you looking for? Are you only planning to use this for your laptop and desktop, or does it need to be used on many computers?

Once we know the answer to those questions, we can start to make suggestions.

BTW, its never a good idea to buy from a place soley based on the recomendations posted on thier website, which is easily forged. Its much better to look at a third party site, like http://www.bizrate.com or http://www.resellerratings.com (which both say that newegg is a pretty good place)

[gniticxe]

Originally posted by Jay Lundy
1 Epox 8kHA+ KT266A 200/266 MHz Mobo (3 DDR RAM Slots, 1x/2x/4x AGP FSB + AGB slot, 6 PCI slots, USB 2.0, ATA 33/66/100)

That looks like a happy system I'll be upgrading mine soon as well, but I thought since you are obviously in the OCing realm, I'd bring this to your attention. You might already know this, but theres a bug with OCing past 138 MHz FSB on the KT266. It only relates to USB devices (mmm optical mouse...), but they wont function properly when the FSB is OCd over 138. This problem will be resolved with updates, its just a matter of time. Besides, you're still free to OC with the clock multiplier - which will get you quite a bit out of that 1800+

[Joe Ross]

Originally posted by gniticxe
You might already know this, but theres a bug with OCing past 138 MHz FSB on the KT266. It only relates to USB devices (mmm optical mouse...), but they wont function properly when the FSB is OCd over 138. This problem will be resolved with updates, its just a matter of time.

That problem has already been resolved, that is why it is the KT266A (besides the fact that the memory performance has substantially improved )