USB Mobile External HDD

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i wouldnt go for a one piece external hd for the folowing reasons:

a) warranty , most external hds have only 1yr warranty while a few have 2yr
b) its not performance wise in many cases , as many external hds have only a 2mb buffer and some as you alredy noticed are 5400rpm
c) in some cases external enclosure+ide hd costs less

these are the benefits of buying an ide hd+external enclosure:
a) much longer warranty 3-5 yrs (seagate hds have 5yr)
b) better performance due to 8/16 mb buffer (alot of maxtor hds have 16) , also dont forget the rpm..

as for the question - those are normal specs for a 2.5 inch hard drive (the hard drive in that external is a 2.5inch one,like the ones laptops have) and naturally 2.5inch hard drives are much more expensive then 3.5
 
indid but its only 4200rpm+2mb buffer+as said before 1yr warranty , as alredy explained above external enclosure+ide hd will give a much better value
 
I'm confused. Which one should I go for? Which one is which, and whats the difference between the two? Remember I can't spend over AUD$170 (USD$100)...
 
1. Can I connect these using USB?
2. If so I found a Seagate one you were saying that has a 5 year warranty, with an 8mb cache & a 5400rpm. Is that alright?
3. What does the enclosure do a where do you get them?
4. Sorry if these are stupid questions...
 
an external hd enclosure is basicly a box with bit of electronic in , you put the hd inside of it in a snap , and it have usb/firewire or both connectors .. infact technicly all one peice external hds arent exactly one piece its simply a hd in a box.. but as said above it doesnt give a good value in compare to buying an ide hd+external enclosure , there are 2 types of external enclosures 2.5 and 3.5 the 2.5 ones are for 2.5 inch hds (like the ones used in laptops) and the 3.5 are for 3.5 inch hds (like the ones used in desktops) as i mentioned before 3.5inch hds are much cheaper also alot of em have 8/16mb buffer unlike 2.5 ones (there are several 2.5 with 8mb but most have 2mb) also 3.5 hds have higher rpm in most cases (7200rpm) RPM stands for Rounds Per Minute the higher the better i mean it have alot of impact on the hd performance however also the higher the RPM the higher the hd heat level but its nothing extreme - and just to make it clear as long as the hd is in an external enclosure it doesnt matter wether its 2.5 or 3.5 it will work with any computer so for example if you got a laptop it doesnt mean your limited to use 2.5 , theres a slight power advantage if buying 2.5inch & external enclosure which is no ac adapter needed (no power cable to connect to the wall socket) as its bus powered , when buying a 3.5+external enclosure it aint self powered it comes with an ac adapter but thats not so bad not all ac adapters are bulky , anyway after the hd is in the enclosure you simply connect it to the pc and thats it automatically detected no drivers needed (at least in windows xp) , basicly you can find external enclosures in most computer stores, anyway like humans external enclosures arent built the same youll better look for one thats aluminum made as aluminum is better with heat disposal than plastic also if it will have a fan that will be nice but not a must have and also search in google for reviews if you cant find a review on an external enclosure you seen then dont buy it its better to play it safe , also as i alredy mentioned some external enclosures have usb only and some have usb+firewire i recommend youll get one that have both and also get a firewire pci/pcmcia card if you dont have firewire builtin ok its not a must however firewire is faster

as for #2 , your talking on a 2.5 seagate arent you? as far as i know theres no 5400rpm 8mb 3.5 seagate , go for a 3.5 their much cheaper and i suggest youll go for 7200rpm for reasons mentioned above , and just for reference if your curious to know how a typical external enclosure looks like look here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=
 
jeremy said:
RPM stands for Rounds Per Minute
Click to expand...
Isn't it Revolutions Per Minute.

Anyway, thanks heaps for the information. I was thinking of buying 2.5" because I want a small drive that is powered off the bus. I don't want to be carrying around a big drive, with an adaptor. I only want to use it as a massive USB key and I thought I may as well pay a bit more for a Mobile HDD that is 40 times the size. As for a Enclosure I will probably buy an Aluminum one, with Firewire and USB 2.0.
That Seagate drive looks good. It's fairly cheap and has the 8MB Cache as apposed to the 2MB. 7200rpm would be nice but I suppose I can cope with 5400rpm.
One more question...does the drive just easily connect to the enclosure?

EDIT: Oh and does it just plug and play into anything, obviously depending on the drive format?
 
no it isnt. definetly rounds , you welcome:D , 3.5 ones are indid bigger but not too big and its way more then a bit just think about it from the the price/capacity ratio on 2.5's its much higher then 3.5 so if youll get a 3.5 it will have much bigger capacity but thats your call , i guess you wouldnt notice much diffrence using 5400 after all your gonna use it just for external storage , yeah easily. you might wanna look on images & user reviews of some external enclosures on the link i gaved it might help you understand it better , as for the last question any 2.5 inch hd will fit into it regardless to its file system. if i got the question wrong feel free to correct me it just isnt so clear
 
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