USB Portable Hard Drives

[edro]

I have been wanting a portable USB hard drive for a while.
I need it to back up my digital images and MP3 collection.

I have been leaning towards:
Western Digital My Passport Essential WDMES4000TN 400GB 5400 RPM USB 2.0 Cool Silver External Hard Drive
because of the storage size and the physical size.
I also like that it is self powered (USB).

What kind of transfer times am I look at though?

USB2.0 = 60MBps, correct?
I am assuming the real speed (effective) is more like 40MBps.

For simplicity, lets assume the 400GB formats to 400GB.

That is 10,000sec. which equals 2.77 hours

Does that sound right to you guys?
2.77 hours to fill up a 400GB USB2.0 hard drive?

That's a long time...

Maybe I should look at eSATA external hard drives.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

If you are worried about the speed, get this one then: Acomdata 500gb 2.5' drive (USB/eSATA, although you need a separate eSATA cable.

 

[edro]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
If you are worried about the speed, get this one then: Acomdata 500gb 2.5' drive (USB/eSATA, although you need a separate eSATA cable.

Whoa, sweet! 100gb more, and eSATA to boot!

What are the reviewers talking about when they say that it uses 2 USB cables?
1 to power the drive and an extra for data? Does it have a Y adapter or something?
Or do they mean it has a USB connector to power it and an eSATA for data?
Can I use a single USB cable, just at a slower speed?

Edit: Their datasheet explains it. Here (pdf)