Need more storage, USB2 or Internal?

markwombat

markwombat

markwombat

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Hey guys, I've filled my 400GBs and so am hunting for some more storage, I am completly torn between an external drive or an internal solution. My motherboard is quite old so I can only have SATA via an expansion card, therefore speeds are never going to be great.

So i need help to decide whether to go for an internal drive (need to decide IDE or SATA aswell if this option is chosen)

or whether to get a USB2 solution..

any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance. :D
 
Depends how fast you want your new drive. SATA = quite a lot faster than USB2.0

If you don't really mind about the speed then get an external to keep the inside of your PC cooler.
 
lay-z-boy said:
Get a sata drive and an external box that supports sata/usb2

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-004-BT

when you eventually upgrade your mainboard you can use its native sata connector on the drive.
Click to expand...

That caddy supports SATA drives but not over USB2. For some bizarre reason the manufacturer decided that if you put a PATA drive in it connects by USB and if you put a SATA drive in only eSATA is supported.

The only caddy which I know supports SATA drives over USB2 is the IcyDock one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-023-BT

Unfortunately it's out of stock which is a pain because I quite fancy one for myself.
 
What's it going to be used for? Bear in mind that most applications wouldn't tell the difference between USB2/ESATA/Fast Ethernet unless you are moving large amounts of data about. I've moved all my music/video/documents onto a NAS connected with Fast Ethernet and have noticed no speed issues (except for when I moved ~250Gb around a few days ago, but that's expected).

Generally I'd suggest getting a NAS if you want external storage, it's a lot more flexible than the alternatives, as you'll be able to make it accessible to all devices on your network if you want to. Handy if you have a STB for your TV/HiFi that is networkable (like my modded xbox).

You could get something like one of the Icy-Box NAS's.
 
rpstewart wrote:

That caddy supports SATA drives but not over USB2.
Click to expand...

Have a look Here

This states it supports the following modes:

1) 1 x SATA HDD - USB Host

2) 1 X SATA HDD - SATA Host

3) 1 x IDE HDD - USB Host

So it does seem to support SATA HDDs over USB. :)
 
rpstewart said:
That caddy supports SATA drives but not over USB2. For some bizarre reason the manufacturer decided that if you put a PATA drive in it connects by USB and if you put a SATA drive in only eSATA is supported.

The only caddy which I know supports SATA drives over USB2 is the IcyDock one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-023-BT

Unfortunately it's out of stock which is a pain because I quite fancy one for myself.
Click to expand...

Your wrong, how do i know?

Because i have one sitting 20cm away from me right now. :p

pata & sata are supported through usb2
straight through sata is also supported (it comes with an external sata bracket, not esata)
 
one answer too is to get a dvd re-writer and back up data you hardly use onto a dvd disc.when ever i run low on space i scan through see what installs ive updated and such and put them on disc so i can free up space on my pc. i know this is a bit redundant if you have internet access to the updates but if say you get an update for your motherboard and end up having to format, you can then just install the updated instll instead of installing from the motherboard cd to get the updated version off the internet. i.e. network drivers etc
 
The Icy docks come with no instruction for setting it up, there are two SATA ports on it, one will allow SATA to USB other will Allow SATA passthrough.., would be nice if they actually told you this instead of having to figure it out yourself, but SATA is much better that USB2, a bit faster and less overhead, and less stress on the system bus...
 
Do the Icydocks power down and up automatically when the pc is shutdown/started/put to sleep. I need some more storage for my Mac Mini and these look like the most futureproof option.

Cheers
Ian
 
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