Good "active" external HDD?

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Hey guys. I'm looking for a good external HDD, and basically it will house all of my media (music, vids, downloads etc.) as I don't wanna fill up my laptop HDD.

Now as I'm probably gonna be constantly listening to music and/or downloading a lot of the time, would this be okay for an external HDD? I've not really delved into them, but always got the impression they were for backups rather than constant use?

I'm currently looking at putting a Seagate Barracuda drive into an IcyBox enclosure, or one of the Lacie HDDs. Would one of these suit my needs, and if not, have you got any suggestions?

Thanks in advance. :)
 
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I have been looking at the Western Digital My Book. Looks very nice and isn't exspensive.

I was going to go for an icybox and hdd but the My Book was made to be external so I will be getting that :)
 
I've got a 500GB WD MyBook drive storing all my media, it's an excellent drive, very pleased with it. Automatically turns on/off with the PC and is very tasteful, especially so when compared to the ghastly looking IceyBox enclosures.

The drive inside is a 5000YS, which I believe is the fastest 500GB drive on the market, but unfortunately it's throttled by the USB 2.0 interface quite badly, 30MB/s throughput average - fine for media etc, but not for large transfers.

If you can, get a Firewire 800 drive, or if your laptop permits it, an eSATA drive (I believe you can get eSATA PCMCIA and Express cards).
 
i love the lacie d2, it has usb and firewire 400 , 800 so your spoilt for choice, but the thing that wins it it the construction, i looked at the my books, but there all plastic, even the 500GB's and i wasnt too keen, the lacie is made from solid alli so the case disperses the heat from the drive, people often mistake this as the drive is running hot but not so. I have to admit the only thing i would like to see is the little light on the my book, transferd to the lacie......
 
jimblowscash said:
i love the lacie d2, it has usb and firewire 400 , 800 so your spoilt for choice, but the thing that wins it it the construction, i looked at the my books, but there all plastic, even the 500GB's and i wasnt too keen, the lacie is made from solid alli so the case disperses the heat from the drive, people often mistake this as the drive is running hot but not so. I have to admit the only thing i would like to see is the little light on the my book, transferd to the lacie......

LaCie also have a bad reputation for drive failures, I believe they use maxtor disks inside.

Tob3z - does the colour really matter *that* much? They look fantastic in the flesh, the performance, interface, drive and price should outweigh any conerns about the colour.
 
mosfet said:
Tob3z - does the colour really matter *that* much? They look fantastic in the flesh, the performance, interface, drive and price should outweigh any conerns about the colour.

PC Case - Black
Keyboard - Black
Speakers - Black
Amp - Black
TV - Black

External Drive.... white....

LOL
 
mosfet said:
LaCie also have a bad reputation for drive failures, I believe they use maxtor disks inside.

Tob3z - does the colour really matter *that* much? They look fantastic in the flesh, the performance, interface, drive and price should outweigh any conerns about the colour.

the last three i have had were 2 x seagate and 1 x maxtor
 
mosfet said:
LaCie also have a bad reputation for drive failures, I believe they use maxtor disks inside.

Tob3z - does the colour really matter *that* much? They look fantastic in the flesh, the performance, interface, drive and price should outweigh any conerns about the colour.


just bought another 250GB porsche drive and its a seagate inside
 
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