External Storage Options?

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RanceJustice

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 9, 2003
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Hey guys. In taking an inventory of my files, I realize I have 60 or more gigabytes of archival movies, ISOs, and other files taking up room on my HDD. I would like to clear some of this out, without trying to cram it all onto more than 10 DVDs, so I figure that some new external storage would be the best idea. I want to be able to just plug this drive to any computer and be able to access the HDD without any special software neccessary. I see two ways to go about this.

1) Buy a pre-packaged external HDD - this seems expensive and I'm kind of unsure what the benefits are.
2) Buy a 3.5inch standard HDD, and then find an external enclosure. This seems the cheaper option. I've been looking for enclosures that are cool, quiet, have USB 2.0, Firewire 800, and maybe even SATA. Have any suggestions?

Which one is the better course of action?
 
I'd buy an enclosure that supports SATA and USB. Firewire support is nice, but I think USB is more common. If you have a board that supports SATA, then you'll get better perfomance from it rather than USB. This site has everything you'll need.
 
I wouldn't worry about getting an enclosure with SATA. You do want FireWire 800 though because FireWire completely blows USB 2.0 away for external hard drives. The difference is not small or slight in any way.
 
i bought one of those cheap $30 usb 2.0 enclosure from neweggs like 2 years ago. works good still.
 
Buy a hd and get This enclosure
It is one of the few ones that is quiet and has a built in fan to keep the HD within 5F of room temperature
I have 6 of them total now for all of my external HD's
400GB Drives are running about $230
300GB Drives are running about $125
200GB Drives are running about $90

The 300gb is your best $/Gb buyright now but you can go as small as an 80gb for under $50
 
I was considering- http://www.satagear.com/USBG-SATA-351B_SATA_Enclosure.html

That case, seeing how it doesn't require a power brick and has both USB2.0 and SATA connectors, as well as being quite slim. To me thats worth the extra $40.

Then again, for an external drive is it really worth it to go SATA? I could get a cheaper IDE and USB/Firewire combo.

I'm definately planning on a 300+ gb solution though.
 
tiebird321 said:
Buy a hd and get This enclosure
Click to expand...
ummm...i hope that is not usb 1.0. i would die waiting for big files to transfer.

i bought usb 2.0 only because not everyone has firewire in their comp. even though i have firewire in my comp, i still never use the option since usb 2.0 is faster.

not sure if i would get that case for $80. if it cost that much, prebuilt would be the cheaper option i think.
 
Can anyone recommend a Firewire 800 enclosure? All the ones that i've been looking at at Newegg including the AMS Venus USB2.0/Firewire combo is only Firewire 400.

And would a Firewire 800 enclosure be just as fast as an internal IDE hard drive since the IDE spec is 100MB/s and 800Mbps = 100MB/s??? I'm looking for external storage solutions for my XPS 2 laptop and i'm wondering if a 7200rpm IDE drive over Firewire would be faster then the internal 5400rpm ATA-6 drive i have now.
 
My laptop only supports IEEE 1394a anyways so i guess a Firewire 800 enclosure wouldn't do me any good. Whats the difference between a 4-pin mini1394 Firewire port and a regular size 1394 port? Is there a performance difference or only size difference?
 
DougLite said:
IIRC, 6 pin 1394 delivers +12 and ground, while 4 pin does not.
Click to expand...

Ok so i'm guessing that just means the 4 pin mini on a laptop wont power the external hard drive so i'll have to make sure and get an enclosure that has an AC adapter.
 
If you really want a firewire/usb solution check this out. Here's another solution that offers all three interfaces. E-SATA offers the best perfomance and doesn't require any additional software, but you can't take it anywhere and expect to plug it in to other PCs. Thats why I felt that the USB/e-SATA solution was the best compromise. When you use it at home you can use the best performing interface and when you take it somewhere you can be reasonably sure you'll be able to use it. Of course if you plug it into a USB 1.0 port, you'll probably hate it - the performance is horrid. The Firewire 800 is somewhat close in performance to the SATA, but is probably less common than USB 2.0 connections. Oops, forgot this unit.
 
burningrave101 said:
I wouldn't worry about getting an enclosure with SATA. You do want FireWire 800 though because FireWire completely blows USB 2.0 away for external hard drives. The difference is not small or slight in any way.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine that edits media for a living told me that USB 2.0 is faster than FireWire. Can you please explain (or direct me to some info on) how FireWire blows USB 2.0 away?
 
USB 2.0 has a higher theoretical maximum of 480mbps vs Firewire's 400mbps. However, FireWire is a much more efficient protocol, and actual throughput on 1394 is almost always higher than USB 2.0. Firewire 800 only makes this lead even larger.
 
DougLite said:
USB 2.0 has a higher theoretical maximum of 480mbps vs Firewire's 400mbps. However, FireWire is a much more efficient protocol, and actual throughput on 1394 is almost always higher than USB 2.0. Firewire 800 only makes this lead even larger.
Click to expand...

Is 800 fairly prevalent for new machines? I just got my 9300 yesterday...that would be nice if it came equipped, but I'm sure it would have been advertised.
 
Unfortuantely, Firewire 800 is still rare. IIRC, only Texas Instruments makes the controller chips for 1394 800, and they are still pretty expensive. System integrators are hesitant to spend extra cash on 800mbps Firewire, especially when they can still put the Firewire badge on a system by using 400mbps at a much lower cost.
 
DougLite said:
Unfortuantely, Firewire 800 is still rare. IIRC, only Texas Instruments makes the controller chips for 1394 800, and they are still pretty expensive. System integrators are hesitant to spend extra cash on 800mbps Firewire, especially when they can still put the Firewire badge on a system by using 400mbps at a much lower cost.
Click to expand...

if you don't mind me asking, what is the most efficient (when weighing both performance and cost) external enclosure? I'm assuming it would be Firewire, based on what I've read, and I'm a-OK with that.
 
Thoughts anyone? I'd like to run into CC or BB this weekend and grab a FireWire enclosure
 
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