Need a hard drive

Computer Hardware and electronics in general.
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isapiens
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Need a hard drive

Post by isapiens »

I have a laptop and i wanna back it up but i need an external hard drive for that. I dont see any reasonable alternatives. There is like billion brands so i was just gonna ask u guys what features should i be looking for in my new external hard drive. I want smth around 80 gigs maybe and around 100$, cuz i am poor lol

damn, move it to the hardware and electronics please...

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Post by Stavros »

Well, I think the HDD is going to be expensive anyway.

Have you ever worked with the internal parts of a computer? If not, why would you want an internal HDD if you don't know what you're doing?

It would be a helluva lot simpler to just plug in the external HDD to a USB port (although it would be considerably slower than having it plugged into an IDE or SATA port on the motherboard due to bandwidth discrepancies).

That said, here are several things I need you to answer/consider before I can help you:

-Is your current Hard Disc Drive (HDD): A)PATA B)SATA C)SCSI?
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's not SCSI. Chances are it's a 5400 RPM HD.

-Laptop Hard Drives are always going to be inferior to desktop internal hard drives in terms of HDD capacity-to-price ratio and speed. That means that Laptop internal Hard Drive platters are going to spin with less RPMs and access less data at a given rate than a desktop internal hard drive.

-External Hard Drives are going to have the same platter speed (RPMs) as a desktop HDD, but the bottleneck is going to be in the USB bandwidth. That means that the transfer of data from Computer to the External Hard Drive is going to take longer.

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Re: Need a hard drive

Post by Necrix »

isapiens wrote:I have a laptop and i wanna back it up but i need an external hard drive for that. I dont see any reasonable alternatives.
(@ Stavros)

From what I've seen..External Harddrives are a bit more expensive than internal HDDs.

Tigerdirect.com
Computergeeks.com
compusa.com
newegg.com

There are plenty more..but those should suffice.
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Stavros
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Post by Stavros »

Exactly. Maybe I didn't make it clear or maybe I forgot. I knew there was something I was forgetting.

Basically, what I was trying to say was that, either way you go with a Laptop HD or an External HD it's going to be more expensive than a desktop HD.

So, you options are internal Laptop HD or an external HD.

Maybe I read it wrong, but I was on Newegg (briefly) and saw an external HD .

Ok, so I re-read it. What you should look for:

-Capacity(I'd reccomend at least 160GB, but it is up to you)

-HD Platter speed (noted in RPMs. I'd opt for the 7200RPM that's the speed of a normal desktop HD).

-Interface (PATA or SATA depending on MoBo)

-Cache Size (normally 16 MB, but externals won't have as much 8MB would be great if you could find it)

And lastly:
-Form Factor (do you just want this for backing up stuff then it won't matter, if you're going to be traveling with this, you might want to get a smaller size.) 3.5" is the norm.

Shop around different sites. The price at one site may be lower than at another site.

Ask more questions and I'll be happy to answer them if no-one else does first.

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Post by mystikblaze »

..
Last edited by mystikblaze on 21 Jun 2009, 08:05, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gogeta70 »

Heh, i was nice and even found some good external hard drives for you.

They're 80 gigs, 7200 rpm's, and under 100 dollars. Link
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It works on my machine...

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Post by Xonet »

you can get a western digital essential 80gb for around 70euro here, its the cheapest ive seen :wink:
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isapiens
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Post by isapiens »

Hey, i actually ordered the one gogetta70 found. I hope i ordered it... it told me my credit card information was wrong for couple a times, then it just told me i bought it.. i saved the page in case something goes wrong. I let you know how this works out for me.

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Post by Gogeta70 »

If there are problems, all you have to do is call them up (they give you a phone number) and tell them that you received an email that said the credit card information was wrong. Then they'll ask you a few questions, and everything's fixed. Happened to me a few times too.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It works on my machine...

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isapiens
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Post by isapiens »

Damn, there working hours are from 8-5, right when i go to work and cocme back lol, have to find time to call them during the luch break or smth...

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isapiens
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Post by isapiens »

btw guys, i got my hard drive, everything works great and i already baccked up my drive :) its very slick too, its black and looks like a little book that you cna store on a shelf with others if you get more. Thanks for help guys.

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Post by Gogeta70 »

Yeah, no problem. Newegg is 'the shit' :P
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It works on my machine...

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