External Harddrive?

[Dolby]

Hi,

I need to get a new HDD in the next month or so and saw a nice looking external harddrive that connects via USB. It actually looks great, but what about transfer rates? I have just got a P4 board/chip, so I assume USB2. Does it make a difference?

What other disadvantages (aside from price) are there with external harddrives? I see you also get a firewire version. How is this?

 

[Toxin]

Disadvantages with external drives (aside from price) is power. The big drives normally need an external power adapter for it to work. You can get drives that run directly of the USB power but they aren't as big (100Gigs or less I think). So if you're thinking of getting a big drive and taking it to a LAN, make sure there's enough plugs.

If you don't need a big drive do what I did. Get an 80Gig notebook drive and a notebook enclosure. Notebook drives can take more of a beating and don't need much power. Runs off USB alone. Speed wise it depends on the type of files you're copying, how full the drive is and sometimes the PC you're copying from for some reason. At best I can copy 1 - 2Gigs in less then 3min.

USB2 is way faster than normal USB. I'm not sure but I think USB runs at less than 20MB/s while USB2 runs at 480MB/s. This could be way wrong tho. So make sure you're running USB2 otherwise don't bother.

PS: Don't know about firewire but I assume it's faster.

 

[Dolby]

Thanks Toxin.

How does 20MB/sec or even 480MB/sec compare to the standard IDE ... ? Should I be looking at the rpm speed instead ie 7200rpm?

 

[Toxin]

How does 20MB/sec or even 480MB/sec compare to the standard IDE ... ? Should I be looking at the rpm speed instead ie 7200rpm?

You got me there.

The bottleneck with external drives is the speed of the USB. The rpm speed shouldn't make a difference since only a certain amount of info can pass through the USB.

Normal IDE drives are of course much faster. How much faster I'm not to sure tho.

 

[bboy]

usb 1.1 is NOT fast enough!

but a p4 board has a 99% chance of being usb2,just remember sometimes the front slots/keyboard slots are not as well powered as the rear usb slots!

 

[Dolby]

bboy - so how would USB2 compare to standard IDE? I'm concerned that there will be a bottleneck at the port! I'm looking for something as fast as IDE ...

Also, does it work as simply as a memory stick? Just plug it in, the PC recognises, and you're away ... ? Can you use this as a PRIMARY harddrive as well (with an OS), or only as a secondary for storage?

 

[bwana]

When it comes to harddrives and other sustained transfer devices firewire trounces usb2 hands down even though on paper it shouldnt. Then you get firewire 800.

 

[Toxin]

but a p4 board has a 99% chance of being usb2,just remember sometimes the front slots/keyboard slots are not as well powered as the rear usb slots!

Almost forgot about this! My old PC's front USB couldn't handle the drive. I had to use the USB ports on the back of the motherboard itself.

Also, does it work as simply as a memory stick? Just plug it in, the PC recognises, and you're away ... ?

Yes, works exactly like a memory stick. But you have to format the drive the first time you use it before windows will see it.

Can you use this as a PRIMARY harddrive as well (with an OS), or only as a secondary for storage?

Some motherboard do have the option of booting off of a flash device but I've never heard of anyone using it like that.

 

[Obelix]

USB 2.0 specs says it can do 400Mb/s raw. That is nowhere near the actual speed you get from your device though. The usb spec has major protocol overheads making your actual transfer speed a lot less.


If you want proper speed from the device get a firewire enclosure. It handles large data throughputs much better than usb does.

 

[Dolby]

Alright from what I see, an external drive is going to be slower. I reckon I'd rather get an internal IDE drive. I think maybe externals are for those that a) need the protable data b) have used both primary and secondary IDE

 

[Person]

Buy a standard IDE Drive, put it in an External Case and you'll have a cheap and fast HDD. Thats the best way to go if your looking it buy External. PM me the size you want and i'll Quote you.

 

[diabolus]

Some motherboard do have the option of booting off of a flash device but I've never heard of anyone using it like that.

Most newish PCs can boot from a USB device , you just set your boot-order in your bios. In my case, when i plug in my external usb HD and THEN go into the bios it will be listed as another HD in the boot-order menu, so i just move it up in front of my usual HD and it'll boot from the external drive.

As for flashdiscs, you get these tiny Linux distros [feather linux] which is like 50MB , you put it on the flashdisc and same effect.