Inexpensive laptop with large storage

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
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I'm thinking of buying a laptop that will host compressed system images, so I need a large hard drive, memory and CPU speed isnt as important. Looks like I can get the Inspiron M1330 with up to a 500GB drive.
 

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
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Get a laptop with an eSATA port (or add an eSATA card) and use a 1.5 TB HD.

The bigger question is why you need a laptop to host something. What exactly are you doing and trying to achieve?
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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I have on file over 15,000 images taken over the past 12 years. I have them stored on three external drives - all sync'd. That is triple redundancy.

I do have a laptop with two HDDs (one in the optical Ultrabay) totalling 570GB, but that is only for field collection work. Laptops are not designed to be used as servers (a server runs normally 24/7.)

Looking ahead, the next step will probably be to use a NAS.

For now, suggest using Rottie's external USB and grow from there. Also, it is somewhat of a waste of time to try and compress .JPG images. They are already that way.
 

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
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Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Get a laptop with an eSATA port (or add an eSATA card) and use a 1.5 TB HD.

The bigger question is why you need a laptop to host something. What exactly are you doing and trying to achieve?

I want to take an image of my current system and save it, then I might try out a different OS. If that dosent work out, I'd like to revert back to exactly what I had before. It also would help if my hard drives were going bad. One of my hard drives recently was on its way out, if I had my system imaged, it would have made restoration a lot easier. The laptop would just be a passive storage medium. Guess an external HD makes sense. How much do 1.5TB drives go for these days?
 

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
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You can get a 1.5TB drive for around $115 or so and then get an external case for under $25. Better to simply build your own and it's cheaper.
 

Rottie

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2002
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if you have extra 3.5 hard drive lay around in your closet you could just buy external enclosure for less than 30 buck. I have two hard drives in the closet i am thinking of getting two pata enclosure next month to store images. I also have WD Lighted combo firewire/usb ext hdd for only 50 at computer show.