using external hdd constantly

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VashX

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I'm running out of space on my laptop hard drive so I was thinking of getting an ext. hd. But I decided that I should get an external enclosure with an hd in it. I intend to use this drive as if it were an internal drive (store all of my junk there, listen to music off of it, etc).

Now, I have some questions that got me wondering...
1) I don't know much about hard drive cache but will there be a difference between 8mb and 2mb in this case?
2) Also, will the hd's rpm matter since it's external? 5400 or 7200? Eh... upon searching Newegg, I've found that all the harddrives (except 1 seagate 20mb hd) are at speeds other than 5400... so scratch this question but I guess it'd help to answer it anyway
3) I don't know much about or have had any experience with external hard drives so I was wondering if it was a good idea to be using it constantly. In other words, do people use it just for storage or what? Will it be okay to listen to music, watch videos, etc. directly from it?
4) Also, I've read the USB is pretty heavy on CPU resources. What should I do about this?

Thanks in advance.
 
My experiences are based upon a 160GB 7200rpm 8MB cache Maxtor inside an AMS Venus USB/firewire external enclosure.

1 and 2) Sustained transfer rate of USB 2.0 probably still limits the benefits of 7200rpm and cache size for external use. But as you noticed already, brand new 5400rpm drives are somewhat rare. Plus 8MB cache is more or less standard on the vast majority of 7200rpm drives. Any mid-range drive available now should keep up with USB 2.0 easily. Even though I look foward to eSATA, eSATA for the masses (i.e. wide availability and good prices) is probably still a year away.

I would place priority on $/GB when selecting a drive. And warranty too.

3) According to Dan's Data, leaving an external enclosure on is like a time bomb. I use my external HDD for storage and that's it. I turn on the external enclosure, transfer files, and then turn it off (safely removing via windows first in hopes of ensuring complete transfers). It's okay to occasionally watch a movie off the drive, but I wouldn't leave it on 24/7, since most enclosures aren't designed to spin down when idle.

4) I use the firewire on my enclosure because a friend told me it uses less CPU than USB. But I don't leave my enclosure on all the time anyway.

And a few more things to note that may be helpful:

i) Try to get an external enclosure with good chipsets. Most users prefer Cypress for USB and Oxford for firewire. Check out this FatWallet thread to get started.

ii) Look into an external enclosure with good cooling for the hard drive. Even though many enclosures are aluminum, the drive frequently doesn't even make good contact with the case, so it still runs hot. There was an enclosure with mesh sides that was really popular for a while. Metal Gear something ... Some enclosures even have active cooling like this Mapower enclosure. I have this AMS Venus enclosure with a built-in 80mm fan. It doesn't move much air but it's quiet and I guess it's better than nothing (or those tiny screeching fans in many earlier enclosures that hardly push any air).

Well I typed all that assuming you want to choose your own enclosure and hard drive. The hard drive companies own branded externals typically only have 1 year warranties, but sometimes have neat features like one-touch backup or useful bundled backup software.
 
Hm... Based on the information, it looks like getting a harddrive won't be a good idea. :|
With a desktop, it's easy to add another harddrive. But with a laptop... I was hoping to be able to use the ext. hd as if it were a second harddrive that I could use not as storage, but as if it were an internal second drive.

I was hoping to rip a bunch of CD's in .flac but I only have about 2gb left. :/

So I guess, I'll be dropping this project unless anybody has any ideas what to do with a laptop running out of space (other than buying a bigger hard drive, of course).
Or, unless I decide to buy the enclosure and hard drive, backup some stuff that I don't really use, and then delete them from my laptop (which might probably be my solution if nobody has any solutions for me).
 
The thing I would be most worried about is heat. I would really recomend an enclosure that some type of active cooling. I would also look for a utility that has the ability to work Power Management stuff. Some drives also have their own internal power management that can be enable through manufacture utilities. That would make the drive spin down when not in use which is a good thing especially in an external enclosure. The last idea is use a 2.5 inch drive. They tend to be alot more rugged, operate over a much larger temp range and generate less heat.
 
If heat is your worry, I'd strongly suggest the iOne EN-35 enclosure I reviewed a couple of months ago. It's a little more expensive but nothing keeps a drive cooler that I've seen. I've seen Fry's sell this guy for $80 and a $30 mail-in rebate.

The spool-down issue is an interesting one. Considering I work with an external enclosure running all day next to me (and have for the past year and a half) I've often thought about that issue. Where I work, I bring in my entire MP3 collection (about 320GB worth) and control it off an old laptop. I wind-up being the radio station for the office. But even if there were spool-down features available on the enclosure, I doubt it would ever be used since the disk is being accessed nearly constantly all day long. I suppose in a different situation, where the disk is only being used infrequently, it would be a good idea to shut it down when not in use (at the least).
 
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