fry_007
05-29-2007, 06:10 AM
Hello.I am a complete noob and need help badly..This is my first post.
My laptop(dell 9400) has only 80 GB internal storage which is clearly not enough for me.Since i download a lot of files from the net and also record tv shows, the 80gb drive gets filled up pretty soon..So pls. tell me an easy and cheap way to add more external hard disk space(ard. 750GB to 1TB space) to my laptop.
I have searched the net and found that i can go for external hard drives.But these are very expensive and rather difficult to find.The other option i have come across is SATA to USB Enclosures(http://www.firewire-1394.com/sata-to-usb-enclosure.htm) These are relatively cheap and i can even add 750 gb SATA internal hard drives.
But i have a few queries regarding these SATA to USB Enclosures:- Will this setup work for laptops?? What are the pros and cons??I wanna know whether i can download huge 4-10GB files from the net or record tv shows directly onto this(hard drive inside this usb enclosure) completely bypassing the much smaller internal hard drive of my laptop??.i.e. Will the data transfer speeds be enough to download files from the net directly to this hard drive placed inside the usb enclosure??
Also will the data transfer speeds be enough for my laptop to smoothly play High def. movies stored in this thing(hard disk inside this external enclosure) without the need to transfer those movie files back to the internal laptop hard drive ??
The laptop i use is a dell Inspiron 9400.It has 6 USB 2.0 ports,a IEEE 1394 port, DVI output,VGA and S-Video Out along with 5-in-1 media card reader.OS: windows vista.
My laptop(dell 9400) has only 80 GB internal storage which is clearly not enough for me.Since i download a lot of files from the net and also record tv shows, the 80gb drive gets filled up pretty soon..So pls. tell me an easy and cheap way to add more external hard disk space(ard. 750GB to 1TB space) to my laptop.
I have searched the net and found that i can go for external hard drives.But these are very expensive and rather difficult to find.The other option i have come across is SATA to USB Enclosures(http://www.firewire-1394.com/sata-to-usb-enclosure.htm) These are relatively cheap and i can even add 750 gb SATA internal hard drives.
But i have a few queries regarding these SATA to USB Enclosures:- Will this setup work for laptops?? What are the pros and cons??I wanna know whether i can download huge 4-10GB files from the net or record tv shows directly onto this(hard drive inside this usb enclosure) completely bypassing the much smaller internal hard drive of my laptop??.i.e. Will the data transfer speeds be enough to download files from the net directly to this hard drive placed inside the usb enclosure??
Also will the data transfer speeds be enough for my laptop to smoothly play High def. movies stored in this thing(hard disk inside this external enclosure) without the need to transfer those movie files back to the internal laptop hard drive ??
The laptop i use is a dell Inspiron 9400.It has 6 USB 2.0 ports,a IEEE 1394 port, DVI output,VGA and S-Video Out along with 5-in-1 media card reader.OS: windows vista.