Need help buying external HDD!

[theMan]

I am going to get a 500gb external for backups and to install games on (my laptop HDD is only 120gb, not enough for games and other files together). I will probably store large files on it also like movies, shows, etc.

So it needs to be a pretty fast drive. I am pretty sure I want a firewire drive, but my options seem to be limited and more expensive compared to USB.

I don't have much to spend so I am trying to keep it below $150 if possible...

My question is basically what will generally perform better from the options I have, being:

1. A firewire external drive (these are kind of too pricey, mostly in the $200 range...)

2. A SATA internal drive with a firewire enclosure (for some reason, i can find only 1-2 of this type of enclosure, 3.5", SATA, Firewire. They cost $60-$70. So I can get an internal SATA 500gb for $89. The total would be over $160, not too bad.

3. An IDE internal drive with a firewire enclosure. These enclosures are way cheaper, and there are lots of them. I can get it for $24. The IDE drives are a bit more expensive so that would be $105. So total would be about $130. So that's definitely cheaper, but would the performance of the IDE drive hurt me? Both the SATA and IDE are seagate drives BTW.

4. USB external - i think i can get it for $120. not sure how it will perform though, in games... firewire should be a lot faster for things like games, no?

Basically, i am just not sure what the performance benefits are for the prices... does it really matter if I get a SATA or IDE drive? would IDE+firewire be slower than USB? Is there really that much of a difference between IDE and SATA if I use an enclosure?

just offer me some words of wisdom...

 

[Old Hippie]

No sense in even screwing around with PATA drives any longer. Definately get an internal SATA drive of your choosing, and buy the enclosure seperately. I would definately get a USB + Firewire enclosure to make it compatable with more machines.
Now your down to choosing Firewire 400, 800, or both. Stroll down to CoolDrives, and take your pick.

 

[theMan]

Any other suggestions? Those Cooldrives are all really expensive, except for the PATA ones, which are $50. But I can get a PATA/Firewire enclosure for $25. Why are the SATA enclosures so much more expensive? And why does it matter if I have a PATA drive?

 

[0roo0roo]

games?
egads, your only option is esata
usb/firewire are both slow. firewire is only marginally faster.


sata enclosures are more expensive because they can get away with it.

 

[esquared]

I can't see any SATA drive enclosures that are exclusively firewire. There are four external interfaces now, Firewire 400 firewire 800, USB 2.0 and eSATA. The way I see it is if you want a SATA external drive, you need to get an eSATA enclosure, or a combination of all of them. See below.

You can get a case like this SATA drive with 4 interfaces

SATA stuff
firewire stuff

I bought this Ultra USB/Firewire several months back and threw an IDE drive in it. I get around 20% faster transfer speeds with the firewire over the USB 2.0.

 

[0roo0roo]

well the other thing is that the interface of the drive itself doesn't matter. both pata/sata will saturate usb/firewire with ease because its so slow.
if you really want speed get an express card esata interface then get an esata external drive/enclosure. then you get ful speed. all other solutions are slow. cheap alternative is to put media on usb/firewire external and games on your internal. if you get usb external don't build your own. on sale these days usb 2.0 external drive+enclsure runs 109-120bucks total. and including warrantee. esp seagate with 5 year warrantee. look out for sales, they pretty much are always on sale at some store. drives themselves come at 99bucks on sale so unless the enclosure only costs less than20 dollars theres no moneyt o be saved.

 

[esquared]

Here are a couple of inexpensive eSATA enclosures.
Nexstar
EagleTech

He can get a 400 or 500 GB SATA drive with this and he's within his 150.00. Plus his eSATA adapter.

 

[Old Hippie]

if you get usb external don't build your own. on sale these days usb 2.0 external drive+enclsure runs 109-120bucks total. and including warrantee. esp seagate with 5 year warrantee.

The problem here, is when the drive fails under waranty you can't remove the drive for troubleshooting without voiding the warranty. Send the drive in for replacement, and you lose all the data. I call that lose, lose.

I guess it all boils down to two things....how lucky do ya feel, and how much is your data worth.

Good Luck!

 

[corkyg]

Get a Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA/USB external. Add to that the HDD (SATA) of your choice.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Get a Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA/USB external. Add to that the HDD (SATA) of your choice.

Firewire seems to be the interface of his choice.

 

[corkyg]

Firewire used to be mine as well - until I got eSATA - it eats Firewire snoot raw.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

if you get usb external don't build your own. on sale these days usb 2.0 external drive+enclsure runs 109-120bucks total. and including warrantee. esp seagate with 5 year warrantee.

The problem here, is when the drive fails under waranty you can't remove the drive for troubleshooting without voiding the warranty. Send the drive in for replacement, and you lose all the data. I call that lose, lose.

I guess it all boils down to two things....how lucky do ya feel, and how much is your data worth.

Good Luck!

well you use the drive as a backup, not as the only copy of a file obviously. i dont think theres much risk of your desktop drive and your usb going down at the same time after all. thats double failure situation. yes its a disadvantage, but really only applies to the first few years where you think its worth it to rma. an external you put together yourself still has possibility of hardware failure anyways. theres only so much trouble shooting you can do with a dead drive either way.

 

[Old Hippie]

it eats Firewire snoot raw.

LMAO, that's great! I'm gonna try to remember that one! :beer:

I'm not a Firewire lover either, but he must have a connection on his lappy for it.

 

[theMan]

Hey guys, I'm back thanks for all the help...

anyways, this looks to be a pretty good deal: http://www.eaglebit.com/Eagle_...ive_p/eb-250-00156.htm

anyone bought anything from this company before? is it reliable? now any recommendations on a Expresscard/34 esata card? cheap please?

thanks tons

 

[corkyg]

There aren't many in Express 34, but this should be OK. $40 is reasonable - Newegg has one for $60 but Synchrotech is a better brand.

eSATA

I was very lucky - my new Thinkpad has a dual slot - takes either Cardbus or Express. I went with a Carbus by Vantec from ZZZ.