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I've currently got a Maxtor OneTouch II external drive and want to replace it with a newer drive thats USB 2.0. What is the best 250GB external drive right now?
Best External Drive?
- Thread starter byron_hinson
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Man of Honour
The usual response to this question is to suggest buying the drive and enclosure separately, that way you can pick the drive that you want and pair it up with the enclosure that suits your needs.
A USB2 connection will give you the widest choice of enclosure and the best compatabilty with PCs but you also have the option of Firewire or eSATA connections if your PC supports them - or if you plan an upgrade soon. As for the drive, unless you go eSATA then you won't notice the difference in speed as any drive will be limited by the interface. The choice is then down to personal preference and warranty - Seagate is the current brand of choice due to the 5 year warranty and good performance (says the guy with 10 Hitachis!).
If I was in your shoes I'd be looking at pairing a Seagate 7200.10 with something like this but then again I have eSATA support.
EDIT: The caddy linked above needs a bit more research - I can only find one review so far and it suggests that if you fit it with a SATA drive you can only use the eSATA connection, NOT the USB one. Which is both odd and annoying....
A USB2 connection will give you the widest choice of enclosure and the best compatabilty with PCs but you also have the option of Firewire or eSATA connections if your PC supports them - or if you plan an upgrade soon. As for the drive, unless you go eSATA then you won't notice the difference in speed as any drive will be limited by the interface. The choice is then down to personal preference and warranty - Seagate is the current brand of choice due to the 5 year warranty and good performance (says the guy with 10 Hitachis!).
If I was in your shoes I'd be looking at pairing a Seagate 7200.10 with something like this but then again I have eSATA support.
EDIT: The caddy linked above needs a bit more research - I can only find one review so far and it suggests that if you fit it with a SATA drive you can only use the eSATA connection, NOT the USB one. Which is both odd and annoying....
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Thanks for that, I'd actually forgotten I have an e-sata port on the back of my motherboard so i'll go with that option as it makes the most sense.
does the icy box one do SATA-II externally? Just wondering as I see some external chassis only do SATA
Actually like the look of the new IcyDock enclosure...looks great. http://www.guru3d.com/article/gengoods/384/
Hoping OcUK get it in soon as I noticed it went on uk sale last week.
Hoping OcUK get it in soon as I noticed it went on uk sale last week.
Man of Honour
Now that is a bit funky! I like the way they give you an eSata backplate for those folk that don't have it already.
The review also confirms that it'll do eSATA and USB which was my concern with the one I linked to.
The review also confirms that it'll do eSATA and USB which was my concern with the one I linked to.
Well got it and it was excellent, so easy to setup too. My PC already had eSata on the motherboard so didn't need to use the card that came in the box, though I might add another external one sometime so that will come in useful. Really great speeds.