Which External Hard Drive? at DVinfo.net

James Darren · October 24th, 2005, 09:32 AM

hi all,

I'm looking at buying an external hard drive, purely for backing up my home PC & laptop. I need about 160-200GB in size & using USB 2.0. but have a couple questions:

1. Which brand of drive is best?

2. Do I need a drive with a fan or is the aluminium case enough cooling?

3. Is it better to build your own by buying a case & drive?

4. Why do some have external power supplies? Is there any difference in performance & reliability? I'd prefer to just use USB2.0 only without ext power.

5. Do all external hard drive cases with fans require external power or can the fan run off the USB 2.0 power?

Thank you!

Dan Euritt · October 24th, 2005, 06:29 PM

whether or not you can run a laptop-sized hdd off of just usb is dependant on how much power it draws... this subject has been covered out here before, you can get connectors that tie two usb ports together(??), using one of 'em to supply power, but it's not realistic for a desktop computer setup.

do not get a maxtor drive, they have a lousy warranty and are not reliable... think seagate.

October 24th, 2005, 09:32 AM	#1
James Darren Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: New York, NY Posts: 235	Which External Hard Drive? hi all, I'm looking at buying an external hard drive, purely for backing up my home PC & laptop. I need about 160-200GB in size & using USB 2.0. but have a couple questions: 1. Which brand of drive is best? 2. Do I need a drive with a fan or is the aluminium case enough cooling? 3. Is it better to build your own by buying a case & drive? 4. Why do some have external power supplies? Is there any difference in performance & reliability? I'd prefer to just use USB2.0 only without ext power. 5. Do all external hard drive cases with fans require external power or can the fan run off the USB 2.0 power? Thank you!

October 24th, 2005, 06:29 PM	#2
Dan Euritt Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 1,132	whether or not you can run a laptop-sized hdd off of just usb is dependant on how much power it draws... this subject has been covered out here before, you can get connectors that tie two usb ports together(??), using one of 'em to supply power, but it's not realistic for a desktop computer setup. do not get a maxtor drive, they have a lousy warranty and are not reliable... think seagate.