I need two drives, less than £100.

yantorsen

yantorsen

yantorsen

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I currently have a 320GB, and it is almost full.

I want one internal drive to expand onto (nothing too big, 200GB would be ok), and one external drive for back up (at least 200GB). What do you recommend? It needs to be as cheap and Reliable as possible.

What do you recommend?
 
Hmm what kind of external?
2.5 or 3.5?

You can get a 250gb 2.5 external drive for £40
Benefits are you don't need a power plug like you would for a 3.5 drive and they're more mobile.

Then any 3.5 internal drive I guess, sata or ide?
 
ja3h said:
Hmm what kind of external?
2.5 or 3.5?

You can get a 250gb 2.5 external drive for £40
Benefits are you don't need a power plug like you would for a 3.5 drive and they're more mobile.

Then any 3.5 internal drive I guess, sata or ide?
Click to expand...

what does 2.5 and 3.5 mean? I've never bought an external drive before.
 
2.5" is the size of a laptop harddrive

3.5" is the size of a desktop harddrive.

Laptop harddrives use less electricity and therefore only need to be connected via a USB cable, they're also much smaller. 3.5" need to be connected to a mains supply in order to work but typically you get more storage space for less money and they're faster but quite a bit larger.

2.5" enclosure

3.5" enclosure


If i were in your situation i would buy two of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...nt F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ)

and one of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...SATA/USB 2.0 3.5" Hard Drive Enclosure - Blue

Stick one of the harddrives into your PC case and the other into the enclosure (marginally over budget)
 
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Nah, both will connect via USB

The purpose of the enclosure is to put one of the internal harddrives i specced to you into it, it then acts as an external harddrive but with a longer warrenty than most external harddrives. I also love samsung because theyre quick, quiet and up to present very reliable.
 
Streeteh said:
Nah, both will connect via USB

The purpose of the enclosure is to put one of the internal harddrives i specced to you into it, it then acts as an external harddrive but with a longer warrenty than most external harddrives. I also love samsung because theyre quick, quiet and up to present very reliable.
Click to expand...

What does the enclosure do though? Is it just a pretty case?
 
yantorsen said:
What does the enclosure do though? Is it just a pretty case?
Click to expand...

Well, it allows you to make internal harddrives external. Without it you would have to put the harddrive in the PC case, it supplies power to it, protects key components and allows it to use a USB interface.

[EDIT] Alternatively to save effort you could just buy one that has already been fitted into an enclosure for you:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...assic 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive (29492)
 
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Streeteh said:
Well, it allows you to make internal harddrives external. Without it you would have to put the harddrive in the PC case, it supplies power to it, protects key components and allows it to use a USB interface.

[EDIT] Alternatively to save effort you could just buy one that has already been fitted into an enclosure for you:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...assic 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive (29492)
Click to expand...

I see, so what's the difference between putting one in an enclosure yourself and buying one pre done?
 
yantorsen said:
I see, so what's the difference between putting one in an enclosure yourself and buying one pre done?
Click to expand...

Well, firstly, as i stated you typically get a slightly longer warranty with an internal drive (in this case, an extra year). Also, you know what drive you're actually buying, as i stated i really like samsung drives due to their low noise level, speed and reliability. I don't actually know what's inside the freecom, though i do know it's a bit noisier than my self-built external harddrive as my parents own one.
 
Streeteh said:
Well, firstly, as i stated you typically get a slightly longer warranty with an internal drive (in this case, an extra year). Also, you know what drive you're actually buying, as i stated i really like samsung drives due to their low noise level, speed and reliability. I don't actually know what's inside the freecom, though i do know it's a bit noisier than my self-built external harddrive as my parents own one.
Click to expand...

Okay, cheers for the advice. So I currently have a WD 320GB AAKS, could I get two more of those? As my current one has served me well and is silent.
 
yantorsen said:
Okay, cheers for the advice. So I currently have a WD 320GB AAKS, could I get two more of those? As my current one has served me well and is silent.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty much any 3.5" HDD will work with the enclosure i posted, that's the advantage of building your own external; it means you can buy harddrives you're comfortable with.
 
my advice would be to get something like a 640gb aaks to replace your internal 320gb drive, all u need is to clone the data over to the new drive. then use your old 320gb drive in an external caddy as the backup drive.

simpler and cheaper process.
 
Cyber-Mav said:
my advice would be to get something like a 640gb aaks to replace your internal 320gb drive, all u need is to clone the data over to the new drive. then use your old 320gb drive in an external caddy as the backup drive.

simpler and cheaper process.
Click to expand...


how do you do that?cheers
 
yantorsen said:
will I need a new code for vista to do that if it's only OEM?
Click to expand...

By code do you mean CD key? If so then no, i've installed my OEM vista copy several times to different harddrives on the same computer. An OEM copy seems to tie itself to a more 'important' part of the computer (Motherboard for example).
 
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