The Cellar - View Single Post - I just bought a new external drive

BigV · 05-07-2007, 09:13 AM

rich, I recently (six months-sih) got a standalone 400 GB sata drive from WD. I paid 129.00 and was happy to do so. I deliberately paid a premium at the local Mom and Pop computer store (Hard Drives Northwest, not really mom and pop, but compared to Fry's and CDW, they're small potatoes) to spread my business around and because I didn't want to wait for, say, overnight shipping. I've about 130 GB free. Time to go shopping again.

I got the drive bare because I already had an enclosure and that dictated the drive interface in this example. But I really don't need the backup or encryption software you described. I have tools that take care of those functions when I need them. I was primarily looking for a place to hold my music library (libraries actually, as I'm trying to merge the multiple islands of music scattered everywhere into one coherent library. A big portable drive is ideal for such a quest) and my pictures. The picture situation is the same but even more scattered and potentially more voluminous. They're *everywhere* and I don't have a very good tool for weeding out the duplicates and of course the naming conventions established by the cameras are not especially helpful in this task.

Eventually, I'll get a handle on it, and then I'll be able to use the drive for image backups of the boot volumes of the systems at home. Or, maybe I'll have graduated to an additional drive by that time.

As to your original question, the issue of speed is secondary for me, since I can't always count on the fastest connections (Firewire, USB 2.0, USB 1.0, morse code, etc). Portability, capacity first, speed later for my preferences. YMMV.

05-07-2007, 09:13 AM	#7
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	rich, I recently (six months-sih) got a standalone 400 GB sata drive from WD. I paid 129.00 and was happy to do so. I deliberately paid a premium at the local Mom and Pop computer store (Hard Drives Northwest, not really mom and pop, but compared to Fry's and CDW, they're small potatoes) to spread my business around and because I didn't want to wait for, say, overnight shipping. I've about 130 GB free. Time to go shopping again. I got the drive bare because I already had an enclosure and that dictated the drive interface in this example. But I really don't need the backup or encryption software you described. I have tools that take care of those functions when I need them. I was primarily looking for a place to hold my music library (libraries actually, as I'm trying to merge the multiple islands of music scattered everywhere into one coherent library. A big portable drive is ideal for such a quest) and my pictures. The picture situation is the same but even more scattered and potentially more voluminous. They're everywhere and I don't have a very good tool for weeding out the duplicates and of course the naming conventions established by the cameras are not especially helpful in this task. Eventually, I'll get a handle on it, and then I'll be able to use the drive for image backups of the boot volumes of the systems at home. Or, maybe I'll have graduated to an additional drive by that time. As to your original question, the issue of speed is secondary for me, since I can't always count on the fastest connections (Firewire, USB 2.0, USB 1.0, morse code, etc). Portability, capacity first, speed later for my preferences. YMMV. __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.