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external hard drives for computers........

S

scorpionldr

Dec 10, 2002
2,613
74
Dirty Jersey, USA
#1
so, right now i'm just trying to figure out what hard drive i should look into as an external for my toshiba laptop. friend of mine mentioned it helps him out greatly (we have the same model) but i don't want to go spending a fortune on space.........and then of course theres the questioning of "how much hard drive can the computer actually handle until it doesn't recognize the space because there's so much of it?".
all i can say since i am no longer computer saavy is "help" :help:
 
#3
One possibility is an ethernet drive, that you access through the network. This work well if you have more than one computers you'd like to share stuff with, but are more expensive.

Second option is a standard external USB drive, just plug it into the computer and you got yourself an extra HDD. A "powerless" model that doesn't need separate power cable is handy if you move around a lot, but if it just sits at home just go with the normal one which are cheaper.
 
#5
#9
scorpionldr said:
"how much hard drive can the computer actually handle until it doesn't recognize the space because there's so much of it?"
Click to expand...
There is no consumer grade hard drive to which this question applies.

I always buy an internal drive and a good external firewire drive case and hook it to my computer via Firewire. USB2 is an acceptable second if your computer doesn't have Firewire. The network-based drives are decent as well.
 
#12
Sonic_Death said:
Firstly, what are you looking to spend... that will dictate a lot.

If you are looking to spend around $100 or so, I have a great deal for you right here on a good external hard drive: http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/202367540.html
Click to expand...

I just bought one of those in the 80g version. Newegg has them as "open box" for $66 shipped. I just wanted to get something quality for as little money as possible. I like it so far. It wasn't actually opened. They sold it as open box because one corner of the box was slightly crushed but the drive was well packed inside and unaffected.

bc
 
#14
soulgeezer said:
And, if he doesn't need so much space, the 160 is like half the price! :)
Click to expand...
i saw a 160gig for 80 bucks, it seems like enough.....lol it's just i'm filling up half of the 120 gigger i have, and i don't think i download that much


"There is no consumer grade hard drive to which this question applies.

I always buy an internal drive and a good external firewire drive case and hook it to my computer via Firewire. USB2 is an acceptable second if your computer doesn't have Firewire. The network-based drives are decent as well."
see...that's the thing, i thought there was only a number of gigs so high that you could go, but i heard something like my comp would be able to handle a ballparked 500 gigs worth of storage.
as far as firewire, i know (almost) nothing about it.
 
#15
appearently ethernet is very slow.

what are you planning on using the drive for? just storage? or recording? video editing?
if you want speed go for sata (if your computer can take it). if you don't want to deal with sata, then try either firewire800 or usb2. For large quantities of data, firewire is far superior. however if you're only going to be transferring a lot of small individual files, usb2 is better.

there are other options but your best bets are sata and firewire800 imo. usb2 is only a last resort (but is also the cheapest..)
 
#16
Sonic_Death said:
Firstly, what are you looking to spend... that will dictate a lot.

If you are looking to spend around $100 or so, I have a great deal for you right here on a good external hard drive: http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/202367540.html
Click to expand...

That seems like an incredible deal. I haven't been in the market for a hard drive at all recently, but I think I might need one soon. School makes me install loads of crap on my computer.... which has a rather small HD, and now a linux partition as well. So I have even LESS room.

Hmmm...
 
#18
FWIW, my ancient P.O.S. computer (aka "old crashy") has had no problems recognizing and working with the 500GB Western Digital external Hard Drive I bought recently for around $150. I'm going to use it mainly to transfer files to a newer computer and as a backup. I can't picture myself needing anywhere near that much storage, but it's nice not to have to worry about running out of room down the road.
 

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