Hardware External hard disk drive

[Sc4rFac3d]

So I figured I'd wait with the purchase of a brand new computer and use this old thing for another year or so. Problem is it only has a 60 GB HD and I need some new storage really bad. I figured an external hard disk drive would be the most easy, cheap and hasslefree option. Thing is, my computer is really old, 5 years old to be exact, so it's slow too. Few questions.

- What would the best option be, USB or firewire?
- Speedwise, is it the same as an internal HD? Let's say I'm downloading a 20MB file onto the drive, would it take as long as downloading it onto the internal drive?
- How does the computer recognizes the drive? Like an actual HD or like a mass storage device?

Thanks!

 

[fischju]

USB is the most standard, and you should have plenty of USB ports.
External drives are slower than internal, but a 20MB file would still transfer very fast.
A mass storage device, it will show up in My Computer in the Hard Disk Drives section

 

[zidane_genome]

Why go with USB/Firewire?

Get a Network drive... MyBook World Edition from Seagate.

Comes in 500Gig and 1Tera models. Connect to power, and your router, and enjoy from any system that's connected to your network, be it wired or wireless!

 

[Salamantis]

You could also find out what type of HD you have and upgrade the internal one... if you really do want a External HD, check of your computer has Firewire (better speed) if not go with USB (better compatibility).

 

[Mangofett]

Since its an old computer, it might not have USB 2.0 ports(do you know if it does?)... so I would go with firewire.

Otherwise it doesn't really matter if its usb/fw

 

[Sc4rFac3d]

Thanks so far!

You could also find out what type of HD you have and upgrade the internal one... if you really do want a External HD, check of your computer has Firewire 800 (fast fast fast) if not go with USB.
I'm guessing IDE, definately not SATA. Thing is I only found an 130GB drive for 80 bucks. While the external drives are starting at €60 at 320GB. If I could find an IDE drive at that price with that capacity I'd be all over it.

USB is the most standard, and you should have plenty of USB ports.
External drives are slower than internal, but a 20MB file would still transfer very fast.
A mass storage device, it will show up in My Computer in the Hard Disk Drives section
Thanks! So, let's up that filesize to a GB or 2. How would that compare to the internal drive?

Why go with USB/Firewire?

Get a Network drive... MyBook World Edition from Seagate.

Comes in 500Gig and 1Tera models. Connect to power, and your router, and enjoy from any system that's connected to your network, be it wired or wireless!

Hmm... After a bit of searching I found the cheapest model to be €120. Is a wired connection faster than USB?
QUOTE(Linkiboy @ Jul 18 2008, 11:42 PM)

Since its an old computer, it might not have USB 2.0 ports(do you know if it does?)... so I would go with firewire.

Otherwise it doesn't really matter if its usb/fw

2.0! Guess I'll go with USB since it's the most common.

 

[zidane_genome]

I use my drive on a wireless laptop, and my xbox (wired)... I created different folders on the root (you can't partition the drive), and can copy a 700MB movie in about 5 minutes from wireless (that's while downloading in uTorrent as well)... so I'm guessing the transfer rate is pretty high (about 2MByte/sec)

 

[chuckstudios]

You could also find out what type of HD you have and upgrade the internal one... if you really do want a External HD, check of your computer has Firewire 800 (fast fast fast) if not go with USB.

I'm guessing IDE, definately not SATA. Thing is I only found an 130GB drive for 80 bucks. While the external drives are starting at €60 at 320GB. If I could find an IDE drive at that price with that capacity I'd be all over it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136110

 

[Sc4rFac3d]

You could also find out what type of HD you have and upgrade the internal one... if you really do want a External HD, check of your computer has Firewire 800 (fast fast fast) if not go with USB.

I'm guessing IDE, definately not SATA. Thing is I only found an 130GB drive for 80 bucks. While the external drives are starting at €60 at 320GB. If I could find an IDE drive at that price with that capacity I'd be all over it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136110

They don't ship outside US.

Edit - A friend just showed me a website that ships over here. Guess I'll go with that. Thanks for the help everyone!