External HDD?

Tens · 30 Mar 2006 at 22:54

I am looking to buy a large amount of space for all my films or tv series, i saw the WD 400gb USB 2.0 external HDD in this weeks offers and It struck me that an external drive would be more use to me than a normal one

Whats good/not good about external drives and what do i need to look for, i am looking for 300gb - (huge)gb.

Andy100 · 31 Mar 2006 at 03:40

There's not a huge amount of downsides...

It has to have it's own power cable and usb/firewire/RJ45 cable so they can look a little messy. Obviously the transfer speeds are limited to the connection type but that's a complete non issue for watching films and stuff.

The upsides are that they're easily switchable from pc to pc. When I moved to Australia I didn't want to bring my whole pc but I did want to keep all my films, music and programs. I bought a 250GB HDD and an Icybox and transfered everything I wanted onto that.

If you buy a normal HDD and an enclosure then you always have the option of tranfering the drive to the inside of your case at a later date. Seems the best of both worlds to me.

gazometer96 · 31 Mar 2006 at 17:40

You should try the WD 320gb extreme lighted

Tens · 1 Apr 2006 at 11:24

I was looking at the
Western Digital WDXUL4000KDNU Essential 400GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive (HD-068-WD)
Anyone got anything to say about this drive.
Buying a normal hdd with an enclosure is more expensive and i cant see myself putting it inside any time.

Tens · 1 Apr 2006 at 16:12

bump, i am wanting ot buy for tonight so it arrives monday, any advice before then would be much appreciated.

djjuk · 1 Apr 2006 at 17:30

No downsides really...I use an external caddy with an old 150GB ide in it & it is hot swappable via USB2..

Just the job for backups..Turn it on backup..Turn it off... :cool:

Cheap as well!

Fuzz1 · 1 Apr 2006 at 17:44

I've not looked at the drive you're talking about but if you have FireWire on your system get an external HD that supports it as it uses less system resources then USB2 and the transfer rate is higher.

I've got a Lacie external 500GB HD that has USB2, FireWire and FireWire 800 (FireWire 2) and I can tell you it was faster and smoother under FireWire then USB2.