Can anyone reccomend an external HDD? (1 Viewer)

My 10GB Hard Drive is filling up faster than I'ld like. I don't have USB 2, but I do have an Audigy with a FireWire connection. My PC has a 500 mHz Celeron, 250 MB RAM, with Win XP.

I saw an ad from Micro Center for a 120GB FireWire External Hard Drive. The brand name was "AcomData." Would this fit the bill, or should I look for a different brand?

Not sure about that particular drive, but chances are, the company AcomData really only makes the HDD interface, and they stick someone else's drive in it. If you can go to the store and take a look at it, you may be able to figure out which brand it is, although it may require you to open it up.

Is there a reason you don't want to just get another internal hard drive? I'm sure it'd be much cheaper.

Thanks. I'll probably ask someone at the store what's in it. I might look around for something smaller, as well.

Is there a reason you don't want to just get another internal hard drive? I'm sure it'd be much cheaper.

Two reasons. The device manager lists the HDD as a "Samsung SV1022D." I heard years ago that it was best to have the second HDD be from the same manufacturer, and I'm not sure Samsung is a good brand when it comes to hard drives.

The second reason is this: at 500 MHz, this computer is on its last legs. My thinking is that an external hard drive would make moving to a new computer a whole lot easier.

So, should I go ahead and get an external drive (any brand), or get another Samsung internal? Or has hard drive and motherboard technology improved to the point where you can put drives from two different manufacturers in the same PC?

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Mike,

there's absoltely no need to have multiple drives be from the same manufacturer. Go ahead and pick up a nice Maxtor or Western Digital internal hard drive. For best performance though, you will want them on different IDE channels.

Hmm. Okay then, I might get another internal drive. I just hope hard drives come with detailed instructions. I've never installed a second HDD in my life! RAM, sure, that's easy. But a hard drive? Also, I'm not sure the switching power supply can handle the load. I think it's about 120 watts.

Mike:

If you want to go external, you can buy a standard internal HDD and an external case to hold it. I bought one from CompGeeks and I couldn't be happier with it.

Roughly comparing prices, it looks like you can save a little money ($40 if you get a 120GB drive) and also have the ability to switch the hard drive back out of the case, should you chose to. Granted, this takes a little work, but if you decide you want to put the HDD from the external model into a new computer, it makes it that much easier.

Tranfer's fairly painless, too -- FireWire can transport about 40MB a second, which (I THINK) is about 15GB an hour. It ends up taking a LOT less time than it would to bring it into a by-the-hour shop that lets your computer sit a few days before they actually work on it.

Internal HDs are a fairly easy to install. I know that WD gives you a big fold-out install guide/diagram to do it. One of my coworkers used to do only RAM, but managed a HD and a CD drive fairly easily.