External hard disk... IDE or SATA? N other ques..

[David]

Does it matter whether I choose IDE or SATA type if I want to make it external?

Which type of casing is recommended?

All hard disk brands are reliable? Looking at Hitachi, Maxtor and Seagate.

THANKS!!!

 

[yymun]

Hi, did u know that Seagate just bought over Maxtor!
i just got seagate IDE 200GB 7200RPM with 5 yr warrently and with 3.5" smart.drive at $223. SATA are faster speed than IDE but come with extra cost, it depend what are u using for? so far i know only seagate offer 5 yrs warrently

 

[alankuik]

yymun is correct. seagate acquired maxtor in mid dec.

just a note, you can get really dirt cheap external IDE hdd casing, USB2.0 only for dirt cheap prices... below $10 (w/o fan, 3 and 1/2 inch).

Sata ext case will be more expensive.

i'll go for seagate, just for the sake of the 5 year RMA possibility.
over the years, i've realised that buying a hdd is like buying lottery. see heng sway one, any brand and any model will fail if u 'heng' enough..

if u go for performance, read reviews (e.g. tomshardware)
if u go for pricing, choose the cheapest (likely samung, hitachi)
if u go for value for money, choose the longest warranty. (seagate)

 

[zachmus]

There is no pt in getting sata for external, $. get normal USB IDE ones. 80gb nowdays + casing dun ned even 200 bucks(less than 190). i'm using a samsung one, so far so gd. seagate is more value for $ due to wty. For HDD, there are grades 1,2 . Grade one is better so sometimes dun be mistaken like the price differences for same capacity(althou some shops jerk up prices). RPM is also a factor. get 5400 and above. slight increase in cost if u wan 7200 RPM( u can feel a slight difference, trust me).

 

[Klose]

Does it matter whether I choose IDE or SATA type if I want to make it external?

Which type of casing is recommended?

All hard disk brands are reliable? Looking at Hitachi, Maxtor and Seagate.

THANKS!!!

IDE of external

 

[David]

Ok thanks guys!

What about the formatting? Just right click on the drive letter on the comp and select Format? It's just plug and play via the USB2.0 cable right?

Sorry for my ignorance... First time doing this!

 

[Pro Image]

yymun is correct. seagate acquired maxtor in mid dec.

just a note, you can get really dirt cheap external IDE hdd casing, USB2.0 only for dirt cheap prices... below $10 (w/o fan, 3 and 1/2 inch).

Sata ext case will be more expensive.

i'll go for seagate, just for the sake of the 5 year RMA possibility.
over the years, i've realised that buying a hdd is like buying lottery. see heng sway one, any brand and any model will fail if u 'heng' enough..

if u go for performance, read reviews (e.g. tomshardware)
if u go for pricing, choose the cheapest (likely samung, hitachi)
if u go for value for money, choose the longest warranty. (seagate)

SCSI.....lor. Fastest, Best, Most Expensive Too, Reliability is almost 100%, No Heng Suay Heng Suay.

 

[alankuik]

HAhaaa.... for the price of scsi..... i rather backup my photos more and wait for the hdds to crash.


btw david, 3 1/2 hdd are mostly 7200rpms now. get one with 8mb cache.. price diff of a few dollars oni.

pricing is ard <100 for 80gb.... + <20 for USB2.0 hdd casing external.
120 should be more than sufficient.

just plug it in, go to start > run > compmgmt.msc
go under disk management, right click on ur new hdd, and click new partition and then format it .

 

[David]

Thanks alankuik for the tips!

I should be getting the 200GB or 250GB. I think better get a huge one or else next time must buy another one again. Also, it's cheaper for the price per GB.

 

[Pro Image]

Thanks alankuik for the tips!

I should be getting the 200GB or 250GB. I think better get a huge one or else next time must buy another one again. Also, it's cheaper for the price per GB.

No need to get to big as after all HDD is a moving element. There is a certain lifespan. 250GB is more than enuf unless of course you shoot on RAW, Process with CMYK and save on TIFF format, created plenty of layers and so on.