Noob post re: basic HD solution

[Doctor Acula]

So I was running two separate internal drives that i housed externally (300 + 160 gig) and needed a storage upgrade and some other factors addressed. Im looking at the WD 'My Book' due to its ability to 'turn itself off with the computer' which is an idea that i like, but also the seagate 750 (7200.10) drive due to the speed and storage (and only 380 bucks)

My questions:

If I have an external drive, which is worse for longevity: turning it on and off every time I use it (i.e. at least once a day) or leaving it on, but unaccessed, for days at a time? Would a drive that professes to 'stand by when my computer turns off' really be worth it? If you have a drive that does this, wouldnt it just periodically 'stand by' and need to be reaccessed? Isnt that the same as turning it off and on?

I tried the Netgear SC101 NAS unit and was wholly unimpressed in that it wont stop spinning the drives, gets very hot and transfer rate is very slow. Im disappointed since I thought it was the answer.

I guess if anyone has a way I can get 1 TB of storage for under 500 bucks, let me know Also, can you RAID two external drives together to get "one" drive? I have no idea about this and am not sure whats involved.

Thanks in advance

 

[Adidas4275]

you could just replace the drives in your enclosures with 500gb drives.... no you cannot raid external drives unless you get a multidrive enclosure that is for RAID or you have eSATA drives the i guess you could raid them on your mobo internal sata controller

 

[Doctor Acula]

I guess so, but that WD drive is only 220 bucks for 500gb. Its hard to find internal 500gb drives that cheap, even though I already have the enclosures.

 

[TMan1876]

Western Digital and Hitachi both have internal 500gb drives for less than that.

Check Newegg