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I'm thinking of getting a new external hard drive to complement the small, 40GB drive in my (fairly) new laptop. I plan to get a new laptop in about 18 months, and I was wondering if one of our resident techies would recommend such a product and preferably a place to get one for a reasonable price, or would recommend simply waiting for my next machine because advancements in portable HDD's are likely to make such a device unnecessary in the next couple of years. I'm looking for something in about the 80GB range, and I was hoping to spend no more than about $270 on it.

USB or Firewire?

Eh... doesn't matter too much

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822154409

$237 + s/h

Warranty relatively sucks, compared to their regular hard drives, but it's in a fanless case, so what do you expect.

I hear LaCie makes some good stuff.

60GB 7200RPM for $250

Beowulf wrote:USB or Firewire?

Eh... doesn't matter too much

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822154409

$237 + s/h

Warranty relatively sucks, compared to their regular hard drives, but it's in a fanless case, so what do you expect.

That's a great price, for the memory, but the thing weighs damn near as much as my laptop with the battery.

So far, I'm liking this one. Can anyone tell me if I should be looking to buy a product like this, though, or if I should just wait to buy my new machine?

You didn't mention weight as being a requirement.

You can get either get weight, size or low price, choose two or fewer.

Beowulf wrote:You didn't mention weight as being a requirement.

You can get either get weight, size or low price, choose two or fewer.

I did say it had to be portable. Anyways, yeah, that HDD you linked to is great in terms of how big it is, but... it's too big for me. I like the little ones that'll fit in my briefcase. Thanks, though.

If you can do hands-on work you might consider a 2.5" drive enclosure and a laptop HD.

phongn wrote:If you can do hands-on work you might consider a 2.5" drive enclosure and a laptop HD.

Don't you mean if he can use a screwdriver and remove 2 screws?

I use an Addlogix 2.5' USB2.0 enclosure that was about $25 along with a 40GB Seagate laptop HD that was $89 when I bought it last year.

The only thing no one's mentioned so far has been the power requirements.
The USB bus doesn't put out enough power to run a hard disk.
They get around this by giving you a second USB power only cable that supplies additional power to the drive.
This works for some drives, but doesn't supply enough juice for others.
If you go the build your own route, make sure that the enclosure you choose comes with an AC adapter as well as the USB data/power and power only cable set.


The above only applies to laptop HD enclosures.
Desktop HD enclosure require an AC adapter, period.

A decent laptop enclosure from Newegg should run about $30 or so and a 80 GB drive is about $110-$120.

I use a Western Digital 80 GB. I'd say you should probably get a portable HD, but there are some things to bear in mind:

1) PRO: Most of them have two to three times the capacity of any reasonably-priced laptop HD, so if you buy one now you'll probably get some mileage out of it even when you upgrade your laptop.

2) PRO: You can keep large/sensitive files on the portable HD rather than the laptop, freeing up disk space and keeping people from snooping around in your shit.

3) CON: Portable HDs have a short lifespan, or so I've heard.

I'd recommend getting one, but make sure you make plenty of backups or you might get a rude surprise soime day.

Maxtor 200GB External Firewire (1394a)/USB 2.0 HD - $194

Master of Ossus wrote:I did say it had to be portable.

Portability is a pretty broad cateory.

They make cases where you can put a normal internal HD inside, and use it as an external HD. If you're worried about longevity and warrenty, this would be the way to go.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:They make cases where you can put a normal internal HD inside, and use it as an external HD. If you're worried about longevity and warrenty, this would be the way to go.

Which is what alot of manufacturers use to begin with...

Vertigo1 wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:They make cases where you can put a normal internal HD inside, and use it as an external HD. If you're worried about longevity and warrenty, this would be the way to go.

Which is what alot of manufacturers use to begin with...

Look at the prices that have been quoted so far. $250 for a 60GB external HD?

The case I saw was $40. I can throw in a 160GB HD for $120. That's $90 less and 100 GB more.