External HD?

[Ken Masters]

I'm looking to getting an external HD just to back up my stuff. Here's what I'm looking at...

http://www.fronet.com/ProductDetail.aspx?productID=950012261

Can anyone recommend a could external HD?

This may be a dumb question but do you need to install an OS on an external HD? and how does the speed of the USB compare to the IDE cable?

Thanks

 

[majistic]

Um, almost all the Externals are the same. Just make sure it is a 7200rpm (for faster load up times). Um USB is my favorite, I don't know why, it is just an easy plug and play. You won't need to install an OS on the external Hard Drive. Good Luck.

 

[Ken Masters]

So is the USB faster than the IDE of an internal drive?

 

[Mickroy]

Nah, USB is slack in comparison to IDE....but, USB 2.0 is pretty funky. The drive that you're thinking of buying supports 2.0, so check that you have 2.0 support on your mainboard aswell! If so, you'll be set.

 

[Big Chub]

It is much cheaper to buy an internal drive and install it yourself, instead of an external. But if you are looking at it for the software also, it is a pretty good deal.

 

[Ken Masters]

I'd just be using it mostly for back-up but if I could run applications from it, I probably would.

 

[Big Chub]

I was talking about the software that came with it, Norton Ghost, it is good backup software, i meant that if you were buying it and wanted that software with it, it was a good deal, but if you don't need the software i would go internal!

 

[Apokalipse]

Norton Ghost creates an image of your HDD for backup, and nowadays the data won't usually fit onto CD's, so I think people are using other HDD's for backup now
I never liked external drives as they are too expensive
I'd get another internal drive, about 120GB, from Seagate

 

[mrdinkel]

Another good ghosting program I've found is on the INSERT Linux Live-on-cd distrobution... it can basically do what norton does for free.

Regardless, the prospect of Norton Ghost coming with the drive is a good deal indeed.

 

[rakesh_1024]

If U need a second HDD for backup I would seriously recommend U to get an internal drive.
Go for an external drive only if U have to transfer data to other computers frequently.