external hard drives

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Hello,

I want to purchase an external drive just for my photos.

My current laptop has a 35gb memory [dont laugh I can hear ya]

Can I buy any external hard drive and it will work or will I have to watch for certain specs.

I am running windows vista.



I only really need 100-200gb extra.
 
Gary Wood said:
I think you will find any external hard drive works with windows/mac , you also have several options ,for pure easy of use i would go for a USB powered one
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So I could buy anyone that has 160gb and it is a usb one

so its like plug and play?
 
Hi,
You will have to check if the laptop will have enough power for the ext hard drive, I have a laptop that will not run an external hard drive I have to use the ac adapter that came with the hard drive. You would be better off with a usb2 rather than a usb1 conection for the transfer speed. It depends how old the laptop is as to the spec.
John
 
John Marshall said:
Hi,
You will have to check if the laptop will have enough power for the ext hard drive, I have a laptop that will not run an external hard drive I have to use the ac adapter that came with the hard drive. You would be better off with a usb2 rather than a usb1 conection for the transfer speed. It depends how old the laptop is as to the spec.



John
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so i cant just buy anyone?

I am none the wiser now lol
 
Thanks for the help guys.

memory stick is good but I want more memory.

wil check it out further.
 
:Hi there

Have a look at www.staples.co.uk ( drives and storage ) section. They have some good deals usually running on external hard drives.

I've purchased two from them now, one which is a small portable one that is powered by the USB cable supplied with it and a larger one which you have to plug into the wall as well as USB.


Cheers

Dan
:)
 
Thanks for that link.

I have seen lots that are suitable for my storage needs but I amunsure which is going to be compatable with my laptop and I dont want to buy the wrong one.
 
They will able be usb2.0.......if your laptop is usb1 then you cant help that and it will still work. So just decide on bus powered or wall powered then pick which ever seems best value for money, they are all the same really.
 
most of the external drives should be compatible to you laptop, as you are only looking for up to 200G you are after some 2.5'' ones which are kind of plug and play things.
 
I think Tesco is doing Maxtor 500G 3.5'' for 49, can easily pick up in local store, more reliable than 2.5'' and cheaper as Defiance said
 
Most desktop ext. USB hard disk will come with a ext powersupply (normally based on the desktop 3.5" disk drive), the smaller ext USB hard drives that are based on the 2.5" hard disk tend to be the ones that are powered over USB, normally have two USB connections ones for data the other for power.

USB2 devices should be compatible with USB 1.1 (notice there is a difference between 1 and 1.1). If your Laptop does not have a USB port or you want more you can always get a PCIMIA card which normally outputs two USB2 ports but I don't think these are suitable for running the 2.5" type ext USB hard disks due to the power issue (PCIMIA card won't have the power).

I went into Maplins today and they had 500gb, 650gb and 1tb (1000gb) 3.5" ext hard disks all for £89.99, I think they were Seagate ones.

Tim
 
xendistar said:
Most desktop ext. USB hard disk will come with a ext powersupply (normally based on the desktop 3.5" disk drive), the smaller ext USB hard drives that are based on the 2.5" hard disk tend to be the ones that are powered over USB, normally have two USB connections ones for data the other for power.

USB2 devices should be compatible with USB 1.1 (notice there is a difference between 1 and 1.1). If your Laptop does not have a USB port or you want more you can always get a PCIMIA card which normally outputs two USB2 ports but I don't think these are suitable for running the 2.5" type ext USB hard disks due to the power issue (PCIMIA card won't have the power).

I went into Maplins today and they had 500gb, 650gb and 1tb (1000gb) 3.5" ext hard disks all for £89.99, I think they were Seagate ones.

Tim
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good answer, maplins are expensive but I think they are running an offer recently you can get 10 pound off ordring online if you pay through Paypal:thinking:
 
I will put my vote in for the Maxtor 500GB for £50 just got one and works a treat.

Can get one from Tescos, PC World and Currys I got mine from Currys and Im sure other places do it.
 
Get something with firewire if you aim to be archiving loads of stuff - just makes it far quicker. I use a Lacie D2, which is really good and never fails. Got a 16ogb one of ebay for £30 used
 
if you have more than one pooter consider NAS
Network Accessible Storage
self powered just sits on the network and everyone can see it
got mine from Iomega (500 Gb)
they seem to have different deals every week
 
Hard drives are not an area in which cheapest is best, I've always really rated Lacie stuff, especially the rugged drives.
 
Just a thought. If you put ALL of your photos on a single external hard drive, you create SPOF, or in English, single point of failure. i.e. WHEN the hard drive fails (hopefully years away, but could be next week), then you might lose everything.

If you're concerned about that, you could consider a NAS drive with RAID storage, however it's not that cheap, and I'm not that big a fan of RAID as if you lose the RAID controller, you could still lose ALL of your data, even though it's on separate drives.
My suggestion would be two external USB drives, then use MS Sync Toy (freeware) and schedule regular backups from one to the other. I know this might cost you £50 more, but bearing in mind the cost of your camera gear, surely it's worth it?
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
My suggestion would be two external USB drives, then use MS Sync Toy (freeware) and schedule regular backups from one to the other. I know this might cost you £50 more, but bearing in mind the cost of your camera gear, surely it's worth it?
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Getting the external drives out, plugging them in and backing up regularly is a hassle imo, and means you might not make backups as regularly. A NAS is the best solution so you can just dump stuff across the network daily.
 
I agree with Craikeybaby. Purchased two Lacie Firewire & USB 320GB rugged hard drives a while back. I dropped one of them onto a marble floor about 6 weeks ago. It is still performing with no problems (touch wood...)
 
Blue Eagle said:
Getting the external drives out, plugging them in and backing up regularly is a hassle imo, and means you might not make backups as regularly. A NAS is the best solution so you can just dump stuff across the network daily.
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why unplug them then.. nothing stopping you leaving them connected.

my 2x 750gb USB drives live at work permanently connected to my dock. i also have a portable 320gb drive that comes around with me, when i put my laptop in the dock, Allway Sync then syncs from the 320 onto one of the 750's then onto the other 750.
 
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