Wondering about USB External Hard Drives

[Daftpanzer]

I was thinking of getting one of these for use as a backup, and for transferring all my junk between computers without needing a huge CD collection or having to unscrew anything (im not afraid of basic fiddling with hardware, ive swapped HD's and installed modems and graphics cards myself, but id rather avoid it ). It would also be nice to be able to copy complete game installs and big stuff like that. Even a smaller HD like 30 Gig would be cool. BUT I don’t know anybody who has one of these drives, and don’t know much about them…

Anyone had any experience with USB hard drives? Any drawbacks with them?

I could live with slower access times if it works as a reliable backup.

Well, thanks very much for any info/replies

 

[Abaddon]

I made one VERY cheaply.

take one "normal" harddrive
take one case which inculdes HD-->USB connections +power

And simply swich it on when ur computer is on and it acts as a huge reservoir for anything, music to porn

NO installation of software
Turn it on when you want
Buy any size HD to suit your budget

I have an 80GB external, and doing me proud

 

[lost_civantares]

How hard is it to install linux onto a usb hard drive? I've heard that it takes some extra steps then if you were doing it on an internal one, is that true? I know it will be much slower than it would be if it was internal but that wouldn't really bother me too much.

 

[marioh]

I made one VERY cheaply.

take one "normal" harddrive
take one case which inculdes HD-->USB connections +power

And simply swich it on when ur computer is on and it acts as a huge reservoir for anything, music to porn

NO installation of software
Turn it on when you want
Buy any size HD to suit your budget

I have an 80GB external, and doing me proud

IMO, the best way to do it.
I actually went the smaller route. I bought a laptop hard drive enclosure, and used the 30GB hard drive that I took out of my dead Sony MP3 player. The great thing with the laptop ones are they get powered by the USB port (don't need an external power source like most USB desktop hard drive enclosures) and it's small. It's usually cheaper to go with the desktop versions though, especially if you don't have a laptop hard drive laying around.

 

[Daftpanzer]

Hmm thanks, that sounds cool, except i dont have any spare hard drives or any kind of USB storage at the moment. Since i really need to get something new anyway, im still looking at getting one of these compact USB drives...

 

[Scratcher]

My computer is now quite dated, but still good enough to play the games I enjoy (civ3, HOMM3). My problem was severe lack of memory space. I now use a 40GB external drive to store all of my photos, music and other odds and ends. It just plugs into the back of the computer. For me it is a cheap solution to keep my computer going.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

A 40 gig hard drive is pretty cheap nowadays, and you might as well go with something like an 80 gig. In the end itll probably cost you around 100-120$ quite cheaper than an equivalent Company made external

 

[Daftpanzer]

Well, ive seen a 250 GB external USB drive selling on amazon.co.uk for £66 (i guess thats about $110). Seems to get good reviews. My internal drive is only 120 GB, so i could back it up twice over with this thing

Strangely, seems to be little price difference between 50 GB and 300 GB drives?

I could probably still work it out much cheaper with the do-it-yourself method, but since im not too experienced with hardware stuff, i think im just going to go with the company made one.