Which External Harddrive to buy?? Question RE STORAGE SOLUTION
Hi,
I am desperately looking for a definitive storage solution to accomodate my MP3 collection. I've bought a few high capacity harddrives but they all seemed to crash in one way or another, bad luck I guess
What I need is:
1. at least 250GB of space
2. which I can connect to my laptop using firewire and to my ipod also using firewire AT THE SAME TIME (so the device must have two firewire connectors)
3. it must not be too huge in physical size and too noisy in operation
4. it must have a separate on /off switch - or turn itself off as the computer is turned off.
I'm using a Sony Vaio Laptop, Pent. 4, with WINDOWS XP, SP1. It does not have USB 2. Only firewire.
I'm thinking I need something along the lines of a high capacity HDD put into an external enclosure. Does anyone have better ideas? Any personal recommendations? What products are the best on the market which offer a complete solution and are also reliable as well as convenient in operation? I don't mind paying $$$ as long as the device fits with my needs.
Thank you very much!! Look forward to your advice!
I am desperately looking for a definitive storage solution to accomodate my MP3 collection. I've bought a few high capacity harddrives but they all seemed to crash in one way or another, bad luck I guess
What I need is:
1. at least 250GB of space
2. which I can connect to my laptop using firewire and to my ipod also using firewire AT THE SAME TIME (so the device must have two firewire connectors)
3. it must not be too huge in physical size and too noisy in operation
4. it must have a separate on /off switch - or turn itself off as the computer is turned off.
I'm using a Sony Vaio Laptop, Pent. 4, with WINDOWS XP, SP1. It does not have USB 2. Only firewire.
I'm thinking I need something along the lines of a high capacity HDD put into an external enclosure. Does anyone have better ideas? Any personal recommendations? What products are the best on the market which offer a complete solution and are also reliable as well as convenient in operation? I don't mind paying $$$ as long as the device fits with my needs.
Thank you very much!! Look forward to your advice!
If you are concerned about speed then RPM is definitely a role playing factor.
Some of the buying guides to help you make decision:
http://products.consumerguide.com/cp/electronics/background/index.cfm/id/11158
http://www.one2surf.co.uk/enduser/buyingzone/guides/july_00/storage/
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,102507,00.asp
www.outpost.com (cheaper and bigger)
some good tips
http://lists.isb.sdnpk.org/pipermail/plug-list/2001-June/000076.html
Hope this helps you to make a decision.
http://products.consumerguide.com/cp/electronics/background/index.cfm/id/11158
http://www.one2surf.co.uk/enduser/buyingzone/guides/july_00/storage/
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,102507,00.asp
www.outpost.com (cheaper and bigger)
some good tips
http://lists.isb.sdnpk.org/pipermail/plug-list/2001-June/000076.html
Hope this helps you to make a decision.
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Oh yeah, and before you buy anything you'll want to know the addressing capacity of the IDE controller & BIOS in your Sony Vaio: it may be that you cannot use a drive greater than, say, 80gb - or 120 - or whatever. If this is the case then you should go for the larger multi-device enclosures that have their own IDE controller built-in - or for many smaller drives in many BYTECC ME-350U2F - type enclosures.
- japman
- japman
Maxtor, LaCie and Western Digital and I/O gear come to mind.
2. which I can connect to my laptop using firewire and to my ipod also using firewire AT THE SAME TIME (so the device must have two firewire connectors)
Your IPOD can't communicate directly with the disk AFAIK, you're tryring to overcome the limitation of having one firewire port on your laptop? 2 firewire ports are pretty standard on these drives/
3. it must not be too huge in physical size and too noisy in operation
They're all about the same size, smaller drives that use notebook 2.5 inch drives can be very tiny, not in this size range though.
Acousitic signatures for the bare drives are available but I haven't been able to find it for the external drives, which in any case muffle the drive. The LaCie's 2 125GB drives in raid0, so there might be more noise there... just a guess.
4. it must have a separate on /off switch - or turn itself off as the computer is turned off.
You do NOT want a Firewire powered drive, especially with a VAIO. The lacie has a switch, I believe the others are automatic though they do draw some current, the disk spins down.
I'd really stick with name brands here, the internal controller is the technical part you may potentially need supprt for and on a no-name enclosure it may be hard to get.