External hard drive... 3.5" 80 GB 5400 rpm OR 2.5" 40 GB 5400 rpm

[alexruiz]

Right now I am at a dilemma. I want to get an external usb 2.0/firewire combo enclosure and a hard drive. I will be doing some video capture on the road.

I previously had a 3.5" firewire/usb 1.1 enclosure that worked fine. I used it with both, a 7200rpm hard drive and a 5400 rpm drive, worked fine with both and no frames dropped. Even a 5400 rpm in a good enclosure can read/write over 10 MB/sec sustained,and heat is important in an enclosure, so 5400 is the way to go.

As counterpoint, the enclosure was somewhat bulky (accepted only 3.5 drives, it was standard size, but with the power supply it wasn't really portable).

On the other hand, a 2.5 inches enclosure can even be powered by the bus, smaller and portable. The new drives (IBM 40gnx) are fast and I think they can even outperform a 5400 regular drive (the 40gnx spins at 5400 rpm, but has 8 MB cache as the WD SE)

I have set a budget of approx $180 to get both of them, and my dillema is.

1) Get a big harddrive (80 GB or better) and the 3.5 enclosure. Gain more size, but lose some portability. This is still cheaper because the desktop drives are way cheaper than laptop ones, even though the enclosure is more expensive.

2) Get a decent size hard drive (40 GB) and the 2.5 enclosure. I am not sure a regular 4200 rpm drive could be fast enough for DV captre, so I was thinking about 5400 parts. You gain in portabilit, but lose in size. This is also more expensive because the drive is way more expensive than a desktop part, even though the enclosure is cheaper.

Do you think the IBM 40gnx laptop drive could outperform a regular desktop harddrive (maxtor d540x or wd caviar-ab)???

What do you suggest???

Thanks

Alex

 

[corkyg]

It's your call. However - I haven't see any 2.5-in 5400 drive for less than $300, so it would be a much more expensive solution.

 

[bacillus]

Originally posted by: corky-g
It's your call. However - I haven't see any 2.5-in 5400 drive for less than $300, so it would be a much more expensive solution.

how about that ibm 40GNX for $153.99 ! 😉

 

[corkyg]

Bacillus, that looks good. That is a new model - and I can see getting a couple for my laptop. $154 ain't bad - but still about twice what a 40 GB 7200 RPM drive costs from "El Huevo Viejo." (NewEgg) 🙂

 

[alexruiz]

Thanks for the answers guys. I am personally leaning towards the 2.5 inches drive..... and I spotted the same drive, same vendor 😉

I could go cheaper and get the 20 GB for $100, but I think $50 for the additional 20 GB is worth the money!! 😛

My only doubt is how fast are these drives compared to a regular desktop drive...

 

[ElDonAntonio]

Well alex, I'm considering an external drive myself, and I think I'll be getting the ADS Pyro 1394 enclosure with a Seagate Baracuda drive. It'll cost around 180$, should be silent according to what I'm hearing on the forums, and much faster than my laptop's disk drive!

 

[BD231]

Originally posted by: ElDonAntonio
Well alex, I'm considering an external drive myself, and I think I'll be getting the ADS Pyro 1394 enclosure with a Seagate Baracuda drive. It'll cost around 180$, should be silent according to what I'm hearing on the forums, and much faster than my laptop's disk drive!

Sounds like the best thing to do IMO.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: alexruiz
Thanks for the answers guys. I am personally leaning towards the 2.5 inches drive..... and I spotted the same drive, same vendor 😉 I could go cheaper and get the 20 GB for $100, but I think $50 for the additional 20 GB is worth the money!! 😛 My only doubt is how fast are these drives compared to a regular desktop drive...

Why buy a 20 GB 5400 rpm drive for $100 when you can get a 40 gb 7200 rpm one from NewEgg for $71? Much more capacity and much more speed for less than half the cost of the 2.5.

BTW - I have three external Firewire 2.5 drives for email, data, etc., and have learned that my VirusScan will not check a Firewire external drive (McAfee.) No one can tell me if NAV will or will not - but I have found that the on-line check at Housecall (PC-Cillon) does the job nicely.

 

[alexruiz]

Thanks again guys for the suggestions. I guess I need to sit down and keep thinking about it.

It is true that a 72000 rpm hard drive will beat the 5400 any day, but that is if they are connected directly to the IDE channel. In an external enclosure, the max datarate is about 20 MB/s..... so the interface holds the 7200 rpm drive.

If the performance delta is gone, then a 5400 rpm drive is more logical because of heat issues.

The notebook drive that I want to get spins at 5400 rpm, but has an 8 MB cache (like the WD special edition). I am assuming that spinning at the same speed, the larger cache drive will win (That means, the 5400 rpm laptop drive with the 8 MB cache should be faster than the 5400 desktop drive)..... Or am I wrong???

And what I consider the real killer is the portability..... bus powered enclosure doesn't need a power adapter (specially for firewire)......

On the other hand, just having a huge drive anywhere you go is priceless... 🙂

Need to think more

Choices, choices.....


Alex