Should I get an external HDD?

J

Jadestar

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 6, 2002
Messages
124
I need to get a second hard drive here at some point, since the one in my new computer is a 150GB Raptor X, it's not going to last me much longer...

Rather than getting a second internal drive, I'm really leaning towards the idea of getting an external HDD, for a few reasons-- 1) Less stuff inside my case, 2) It'll allow me to easily transfer over all of my files from my old PC, 3) I can take my files with me wherever I go. Sounds great. I've never owned an external drive before though, and was a bit curious as to their performance. I know transfers via USB 2.0 aren't going to be anywhere near the performance I'd get from an internal SATAII drive, but will they be acceptable? Would an external HDD be a good, practical solution for storing and playing media files, as well as program installations?

If so, where's the sweet spot for price:performance/capacity right now? Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance! =)
 
500GB is probably the sweet spot. In terms of internals $100-110 will buy you a good brand name 500GB drive (your pick of WD 500GB- pick the AAKS drives; Samsung T166- pick drive model number 501lj; or Seagate 7200.10). External 500GB drives are available as well; cheapo ones at that price, nicer ones at a little bit more, or you can just get an internal and an enclosure. The WD and Samsung are a little faster, the Samsung a little quieter, and the Seagate 2 years more on the warranty; take your pick.

750GB is around $180 at the cheapest at this point, with 1TB over $300.

One option, depending on your motherboard, may be an external drive with an eSata connection. That will approach the performance of an internal sata drive.

I'd also suggest partitioning off a partition the same size as your Raptor X and every so often backing it up to the external drive, for peace of mind and backup purposes.
 
If you buy an external eSATA drive or enclosure they often give you an expansion slot internal to external eSATA adapter. The eSATA are then treated exactly as if you had plugged the drive internally.

As a side note I've noticed that external USB to internal drive gets around 20-30MBps sustained transfer rate which is about the same as what I get on internal to internal transfer. Does that make USB 2.0s not so slow or do my SATA drives and/or controllers just suck?
 
Sorry about the bump, I had one more question.

I probably would go USB 2.0 over an external SATA solution, just for versatility-- that way I could take it wherever, plug it into any computer, etc.. but my question is, would this be viable for game installs? Would I be able to run newer games off of a USB2.0 external HDD, or would the load times just be ridiculous? Like I said before, I have no experience in this area, so anything you guys could offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks. =)
 
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