I was going to get a new computer, but decided to get an external hard drive instead... What should I get?

[WarDemon666]

I have three computers, all have USB 1.0 and not 2.0. One of them is running linux, and im using it as a PVR, will a usb hard drive be fast enough for recording TV shows etc? Will I notice a difference when I play games from the external hard drive?

heres what I was thinking of getting:
http://www.futureshop.ca/catal...;langid=EN&dept=18

What do you guys think? Its 7200 RPM but only has a 2mb buffer... hmmmm....

And keep in mind that I dont have USB 2.0.....

how fast would I get with this?

Is it possible to get a pcmia usb2.0 card? (how fast is pcmia anyways?)

thanks a lot guys 🙂

 

[Gamingphreek]

Dont get one. Dont get any. Especially without USB2.0 or Firewire B.

Just get an internal for a fraction of the price and much faster speed.

-Kevin

 

[WarDemon666]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Dont get one. Dont get any. Especially without USB2.0 or Firewire B.

Just get an internal for a fraction of the price and much faster speed.

-Kevin

I have a laptop, and I want the harddrive to be able to go on all 3 computers, im always running out of space

EDIT: I was looking around, I found a usb2.0 pcmia adapter, only 20$, so now I have usb 2.0 😉

Fast enough?

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: WarDemon666

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Dont get one. Dont get any. Especially without USB2.0 or Firewire B.

Just get an internal for a fraction of the price and much faster speed.

-Kevin

I have a laptop, and I want the harddrive to be able to go on all 3 computers, im always running out of space

EDIT: I was looking around, I found a usb2.0 pcmia adapter, only 20$, so now I have usb 2.0 😉

Fast enough?

yes, usb.20 is fast enough for an external hard drive...

 

[WarDemon666]

Originally posted by: CraigRT

Originally posted by: WarDemon666

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Dont get one. Dont get any. Especially without USB2.0 or Firewire B.

Just get an internal for a fraction of the price and much faster speed.

-Kevin

I have a laptop, and I want the harddrive to be able to go on all 3 computers, im always running out of space

EDIT: I was looking around, I found a usb2.0 pcmia adapter, only 20$, so now I have usb 2.0 😉

Fast enough?

yes, usb.20 is fast enough for an external hard drive...

Will I be able to play games etc?

will I have to but a pci 2 usb2.0 card for all my computers? On the PVR will I be able to record fast enough on the hard drive?

Thanks!

 

[Keyvan]

that's probably the best deal at FS for ext. HDDs right now (i work there).
It should be more than adequate for PVR use. I'm not sure about gaming, I don't see a problem with it, I've just never tried it on USB HDDs.
But make sure you pick up one of those Dynex PCMCIA USB cards.


edit: if you want to get USB2.0 speeds on all your computers, then yes, you'll need to add PCI cards in your desktops.

 

[biostud]

It will be a slower but still fast enough IMHO.

 

[JackMDS]

Not having an Internal Drive and counting on the USB is Not a sound way to work.

You can find a used 10 or 20GB for less than $20 and use it as the prime drive, and add to it an External USB2 drive (a USB2 PCI card is very inexpensive).

:sun:

 

[WarDemon666]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Not having an Internal Drive and counting on the USB is Not a sound way to work.

You can find a used 10 or 20GB for less than $20 and use it as the prime drive, and add to it an External USB2 drive (a USB2 PCI card is very inexpensive).

:sun:

I have 12 gigs in one computer, 40 in another, and 30 in my laptop, its not enough..

If I install games on the external HDD it should be fairly good or?

Thanks for all the advice. I think im going to go get one today 🙂

What about memory for my laptop, toshiba satellite 1110 series.. Do i need a special type of ram for the laptop? Can I buy the ram at futureshop Im not sure what Im looking for

Thanks!

 

[Gamingphreek]

USB1 is going to be horribly slow. Just invest inlike 3 small HDD's.

USB2 will be much better but still not faster than IDE/SATA.

-Kevin

 

[WarDemon666]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
USB1 is going to be horribly slow. Just invest inlike 3 small HDD's.

USB2 will be much better but still not faster than IDE/SATA.

-Kevin

Does USB2 compare to IDE a little? Will I really notice a difference? Im going to buy it in an hour 😀

 

[Keyvan]

just curious if you bought it. i wanted to get your impressions of it.

 

[StageLeft]

That will be REALLY slow.

 

[halfadder]

USB 1.0 / 1.1 will be painfully slow for an external hard drive.

USB 2.0 works really well for an external hard drive.

"Firewire" IEEE-1394a is actually only rated 400 Mbit/sec, but it's significantly faster than USB 2.0 for external hard drive in real world testing. (Plus it's nice to have Firewire for DV video editing)

"Firewire 2" IEEE-1394b is twice as fast, at 800 Mbit/sec, it's overkill for an external hard drive, but it's great for those LaCie external RAIDs.