External Hard Drive ???
 

Hi all

I am after a 'cheapish' external hard drive to back up 40 gb of music and 10 gb of data.

Sort of tower thing....................would be really grateful for any recommendations.

thanks

Mike

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...358600-2191833

[Edit]-See also http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/computi...a_846=External

HTH.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

When I click on that link, I get an Amazon error page saying there is a bug in my browser, and that I'm using Mozilla 4.0 - I'm actually using IE 6! Anyone else get this, is is the link wrong?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I get the same error using Firefox.

What does the OP mean by "tower thing"?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

IE6 gives error
I assume he means like a small tower (imagine 2 or 3 cdrom drives on top of each other - about that size) with a small power supply on the rear and a port for a USB/Firewire cable.

Bug with Amazon is the way it performs searches - The search has since expired and therefore does the next best thing and blames the user!

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Sorry..............one which stands on it's side !

Thanks mike

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Probably something like I have - an external hard disk in a case which stands on its side (ie the disk is vertical). (I got mine off Ebay).

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

How often are you going to use it? - I've just dragged the ide cable out of a open port on the rear before now and extended the power...This'll cost you £30 or so but it's not pretty!?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Have you checked the Pricerunner link I gave you Mike?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Neil.....just looking thanks.

Mike

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I can't get my head around what the idea of the external drive is. How is it going to be used?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I'd recommend Maxtor or Western Digital USB. Both do an 80GB at under £80. But check the version of USB you have, USB 2 is preferable, but some external drives will run (more slowly) with earlier (slower) USB ports. Another alternative, if you have it on your PC, is firewire. Also, I'm assuming you are using an OS which supports USB.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

http://www.simply.co.uk/positiontech...ters/index.htm

They would connect via a USB/firewire cable and then appear in Explorer as another disk drive (just like a floppy or Memory card would).

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I use mine as an extension to my laptop. Also, an external drive can be easily moved between PCs.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Like this...

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/11/7.jpg

or this...https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/11/8.jpg

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

This is the type of thing I am after

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Another link.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Some people refer to the base unit as a hard drive which made me wonder if that was the case here. I can't see the orientation of the drive makes any difference if it is only as a backup.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Maybe space is the issue for Mike?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

If space is an issue then an internal drive would take up less space. If the backup needs to be taken away from the system then a USB external drive or an internal drive in a removeable drive bay could be used. The question really is why the need for this backup and how is the backup going to be used?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

:shrug:

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Neil, I consider that I was asking sensible questions in an effort to provide the OP with advice. I know very well what the opening post said and it is unclear from that what his purpose is. My brother used to have a computer base unit that looked very much like the image in post #16 which prompted my asking further questions to determine exactly the OPs requirement. You are assuming, rightly or wrongly, what the OP needs which can only be clarified by him.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I bought a Maxtor 'One Touch' just like in the picture above. It came with some backup software called 'retrospect' which seems pretty good (excellent help site, bulletin board etc)

If you upgrade this s/ware you get 3 clients which allows you to perform backups across your network though this depends on your network working well. It drops out mid backup usually on my wireless net and I've resorted to carrying the drive to each PC in turn.

Just upgraded to a 54g router though. and this might help.....we'll see.

I bought this to replace a Freecom drive which failed after 13 months so just outside the warranty period :Yikes: so although it is anecdotal I would avoid that brand!

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Just to confirm the external drive is for a simple back up which could be taken away if necassry for safe keeping. I have just convert 7000 tracks to MP3 from my CD collection. Took me ages so I am concerned if my internal hard drive went up in smoke I would have to re do it all.

Thanks everyone for thier time and advice.

Regards to all and yes it is snowing in Oxford.

Mike

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Good value from these people http://www.envizage.com/env/ thinking of getting one myself soon.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Prices look good, but seem to be ex.VAT

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

We use Lacie USB Drives at work to backup > 200GB of data from some PC's (and for transporting data to other locations).

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

No, they`re inc vat :D

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I have my hard drives mounted in removeable caddies which means that I can take them away from the system for safe keeping and take no room up when inserted in the system. I decided on this after my grandson mucked up my PC whilst playing on it. I take my normal drive out and replace it with one setup just for him. I have an old small drive that I use just for internet banking in another caddy. This method means that you can swap boot drives very easily for different operating systems or different types of use. They can be picked up for about £4 or £5 from places such as ebuyer (#72253) and you can use whatever HD you want in them.

You can use the various USB and Firewire external drives mentioned in other posts or external caddies to take your choice of HD.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I got a 160GB CrossFire USB2.0 external HDD a few weeks ago from Dabs for £96.99 all in - next day delivery too, also for backup - really happy with it.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Much difference in transfer rate between USB 2 and Firewire. Not sure whether to spend more and get one with a firewire connection ! :dunce:

Thanks

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

http://www.canadiancontent.net/tech/computing/11/

Not much really by reading this, if you`re only using one usb device.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

The problems with these is ofcourse going to be compatibility, they revise the designs every few months and as such a drive you bought last year wont fit in a friends caddy if he bought it a week ago.
Its ok if you buy a bulk lot and just switch the drive between your own PC's with Caddies pre-installed but what if you want to take it to assist with a repair at someones house you have never been to before?
The Removable caddy market needs a little standardisation before it becomes practical IMO.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Ive found USB2 to be no different to firewire, it may be worth investing in one that can do both though to ensure compatibility if you plan to move it around to a lot of different computers.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

So I take it it's easy to just plug from one pc to another if necessary ?

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Yes, providing, as I said before, both computers have USB 2 and/or firewire ports, and operating system support.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

Thanks....................

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

I bought a USB2 case that holds a laptop 2.5" drive from ebay for £9, then a 2.5" laptop drive, also from ebay for £30. This gives me a usb2 powered external drive, very small, relatively fast. 2.5" drives go from about 10Gb to 80Gb. Cheap, plug and play and convenient.

Re: External Hard Drive ???
 

There's a 800mbps version of Firewire but I'm not sure how many drives support it - certainly when I was looking into this a few weeks ago none sprang out - assuming of course you have a PC that supports it too.

The transfer rate on USB2.0 is just fine for me - in fact slightly better than basic Firewire at 480Mbs. The Crossfire drive will also work on USB1.1 and I assume similar ones will, but I don't know what performance is going to be like.

XP/ME should recognise the drive without needing to instal any drivers; you'd need to d/l drivers for other OSs from the manufacturer's website if they aren't included with the HDD, but that should be pretty straightforward.

Worth bearing in mind that it probably comes out of the box formatted in FAT for maximum compatibility - but it's easy as pie to reformat to NFTS (or whatever order the letters are!)

If you're mainly going to be using it for backup then get software that does incremental backup so it doesn't have to waste time backing up files that haven't been changed.

I understand you could probably save maybe £20 getting an internal drive and one of those little caddies that turn it into an external one, but unless you're really used to delving inside PCs and setting up drive partions it seems (just my point of view though) like a lot of faffing around for little gain. The external boxes really are ridiculously easy to use.

Hope that helps :)