portable HDD

collisster · 17 Aug 2006 at 00:19

The HDD in my pc is messed up and I need a new one, its a maxtor if that makes any difference. I need an external HDD for backing up data and stuffys, which is the slimmest one available?
other criteria:
slim
no less than 40Gb
no power supply
not maxtor

also when I do swap HDD which one should I go for? I'm looking at a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE)
is that ok?

Thanks

jellybeard999 · 17 Aug 2006 at 00:23

slim
no less than 40Gb
no power supply
not maxtor

right - if you dont want a powersupply, then it needs to be a laptop HDD and enclosure

collisster · 17 Aug 2006 at 00:25

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Western_Digital_External.html what about the 1st one on there?

SiriusB · 17 Aug 2006 at 00:26

Hitachi Travelstars are very good notebook HDDs. Just make sure the enclosure you get can accommodate the size of HDD you are looking at.

For example, my IBM Travelmate enclosure can only support up to 40GB and that is the size of the HDD I have in it. Any more and it probably wont run properly, if at all.

SiriusB

mightynimrod · 17 Aug 2006 at 00:36

jellybeard999 said:
right - if you dont want a powersupply, then it needs to be a laptop HDD and enclosure

Deffo

i use one myself to increase my laptop capacity.

spireite · 17 Aug 2006 at 18:24

I have a Thecus Nano enclosure, takes notebook drives - mines an 80gig drive - not sold by OC, but you'll find it at another UK supplier. Doesn't require external power supply, powered off USB, but if your USB port doesn't deliver enough power (like my Shuttle doesn't grrrr), then you plug in another USB cable to boost it. Also has an external battery pack and can copy from cameras supposedly directly..... (haven't tried myself)

I'm happy with it.....

http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=1&pid=7

collisster · 17 Aug 2006 at 19:17

what about the one I suggested?

spireite · 17 Aug 2006 at 21:18

Looks ok to me. The only diff is that if your PC doesn't deliver enough juice on the USB bus you need an external [optional] power adapter. The Nano doubles up on USB connections to get the power boost necessary.

Like everything, its horses for courses....

oxygene · 17 Aug 2006 at 21:38

yeah I have a laptop hd caddy with a 30gb in it. ofcoruse laptop hds go up to about 180gb last time I looked and its tiny and usb powered as said previously, but expensive.

collisster · 19 Aug 2006 at 15:51

erm, can somebody advise me on laptop HDD enclosures? and help me with how I work it if i get a laptop HDD and an enclosure, do you just put it in the enclosure and it works or does it need formatting?

mightynimrod · 19 Aug 2006 at 21:13

But an enclosure, stick the lappy drive in it, when you connect it via usb - it shows up as a drive in my computer, just format it from there.

Dead easy.

collisster · 20 Aug 2006 at 00:35

how do you format it?
Any enclosures to recomend?

mightynimrod · 20 Aug 2006 at 11:01

collisster said:
how do you format it?
Any enclosures to recomend?

Enclosures are pretty much the same, i cant remember what make mine is, just a 2.5" aluminium usb 2.0 caddy.

when windows see's the drive, just right click and select format. Easy as that.