Spec me a portable hd plx

Sash · 29 Jul 2009 at 08:10

Trying to get the highest capacity and reliable portable hd for sub 150pounds. Ideally below 100 Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

miniyazz · 29 Jul 2009 at 13:05

500GB WD Passport has my vote.

Sash · 29 Jul 2009 at 13:51

Gonna have a look to see what is available in my local pc store and get the cheapest samsung, western digital or seagate.

AbsenceJam · 29 Jul 2009 at 14:40

The nice thing with the passports is that they'll run off a single USB port more often than most others, WD quite confidently don't even supply a Y cable with their drives. They're around £75+ for 500GB, others are up to a tenner less except for Samsung who despite being so cheap for 3.5" drives are so expensive for 2.5" externals.
A DIY alternative though would be to get a 2.5" enclosure with eSATA + USB (needed for power or data) and a 500GB drive.

Sash · 29 Jul 2009 at 15:25

AbsenceJam said:
The nice thing with the passports is that they'll run off a single USB port more often than most others, WD quite confidently don't even supply a Y cable with their drives. They're around £75+ for 500GB, others are up to a tenner less except for Samsung who despite being so cheap for 3.5" drives are so expensive for 2.5" externals.
A DIY alternative though would be to get a 2.5" enclosure with eSATA + USB (needed for power or data) and a 500GB drive.

Yeah I noticed that idea from the other thread I made. I will be looking for prices tonight on DIY jobs.
But may end up just getting a passport one.

AbsenceJam · 29 Jul 2009 at 15:34

It's what I ended up doing. Speed of eSATA is nice but all those cables... and it's only really useful for you, any other system you use it on won't have eSATA.

USB3 is long overdue and needs to get implemented quicker, plenty of power and speed.

miniyazz · 29 Jul 2009 at 15:44

AbsenceJam said:
It's what I ended up doing. Speed of eSATA is nice but all those cables... and it's only really useful for you, any other system you use it on won't have eSATA.

USB3 is long overdue and needs to get implemented quicker, plenty of power and speed.

Yes, IMO USB3 is far more needed than SATA3, and yet SATA3 is on the horizon while USB3 is long off :confused:

Sash · 29 Jul 2009 at 15:46

miniyazz said:
Yes, IMO USB3 is far more needed than SATA3, and yet SATA3 is on the horizon while USB3 is long off

At least make SATA be able to be used by more than Hard Drives and Optical Storage lol.

USB3 would be so much more useful as nearly everything can or does use USB.

Is Firewire dead now?

AbsenceJam · 29 Jul 2009 at 15:57

miniyazz said:
Yes, IMO USB3 is far more needed than SATA3, and yet SATA3 is on the horizon while USB3 is long off

Sash said:
At least make SATA be able to be used by more than Hard Drives and Optical Storage lol.

USB3 would be so much more useful as nearly everything can or does use USB.

Is Firewire dead now?

USB and SATA are very, very different. We need them both.

Yes Firewire is pretty much dead, Apple even stopped adding ports to some laptops.

Sash · 29 Jul 2009 at 16:02

AbsenceJam said:
USB and SATA are very, very different. We need them both.

Yes Firewire is pretty much dead, Apple even stopped adding ports to some laptops.

TBH I dont really need SATA3, yes it will be a lot faster than SATA2 but I can survive without it for now.

USB3 on the other hand would be more useful for me personally.

I can see how SSDs will be getting held back by SATA2 though.

AbsenceJam · 29 Jul 2009 at 16:11

Sash said:
TBH I dont really need SATA3, yes it will be a lot faster than SATA2 but I can survive without it for now.

USB3 on the other hand would be more useful for me personally.

I can see how SSDs will be getting held back by SATA2 though.

Oh I see what you mean, yes most definitely, I was referring to the standards in general. eSATA seems like such a hack to make up for USB2 being so inadequate, really not suited to what most people use it for.

Sash · 29 Jul 2009 at 16:13

AbsenceJam said:
Oh I see what you mean, yes most definitely, I was referring to the standards in general. eSATA seems like such a hack to make up for USB2 being so inadequate, really not suited to what most people use it for.

Yeah, its about time we got faster standards. Just like Wireless N has this moved from Draft N yet?

AbsenceJam · 29 Jul 2009 at 16:21

Sash said:
Yeah, its about time we got faster standards. Just like Wireless N has this moved from Draft N yet?

Funnily enough it was only last week they they submitted a final spec to be approved in September. It's just a shame that it's kind of unimpressive, I'd be hoping for speeds near to Gigabit Ethernet by now.

miniyazz · 29 Jul 2009 at 17:21

It's 'cause they've been fannying around with N for so many years now, it's behind the times

JeffyB · 29 Jul 2009 at 20:59

I managed to get a transcend storejet 320gb for £50 its shock proof and meets us military drop test standards, been very pleased with it has worked a treat and gets lugged around a lot in my bag.