External hard drives

[JMT]

Since my home network IT guy (my son) moved out, I am on my own for all of the computer stuff. Unfortunately, I don't even know enough to be dangerous. So I apologize in advance for stupid questions.

Our home computer is old, around three years, and has a small internal hard drive (around 40GB) or so. Wasn't a problem until I started ripping most of my CD's to load onto my iPod. Couple that with our picture files and the fact that both my wife and I now have new digital cameras with humongous memory cards, I need another storage drive.

The current computer only has 512KB of memory, is an HP, only has a USB and is old. I was looking at a Calvary 500GB external from Newegg, but have no clue if it is any good. Any other suggestions?

[elrod-tom]

Hi Jon,

I don't know much about the Cavalry drive at all, so I won't be much help with that specific drive. I do, however, have a bunch of external HD's.

I've had very good luck with Seagate external HD's. I own 4 of them, 2 x 500gb drives, and 2 x 320gb drives, some of them I've had for nearly two years. I use the 500gb's for my music server, so they get a fair amount of use.

I'd recommend avoiding Western Digital, as I've had 3 of them and every single one started making "the click of death" within 3 months after acquisition.

How old is the computer? Do you know whether it has USB II capability? I'm assuming if it's 3 years old, that it does. If not, add a card to make it available for certain. If the computer has an external SATA port (it is diamond shaped, if memory serves), that's a great way to hook up an external HD (I'm thinking it may not, given the age of the PC). I'd also recommend maxing out the memory, as it will make managing large files that much easier.

Hope that helps...good luck.

[JMT]

Thanks Tom, I appreciate the reply. The computer does not have a SATA port, I am sure of that. It does have two USB ports on the front and two in the rear, if I recall correctly they are USB II ports. One is going to my Canon printer. How does the external get it's power? Is it directly through the USB connection? Am I going to need any other accessories or will I be good to go right out of the box?

[RYCeT]

Hi Jon, 512kb memory for a pc nowadays are really small. You'll better off with at least 1gb memory, I myself prefer to have 2gb ram. External hard drive is cheap nowadays.
For $20 more, I prefer to have this seagate external Newegg.com - Seagate FreeAgent Pro ST305004FPA1E3-RK 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394a / eSATA External Hard Drive - External Hard Drives

or if you don't like the seagate's external case (I have one, not quite fond of it) Buy the internal harddrive and an external case of your own.

Seagate 500GB IDE internal

Coolmax enclosure

[RYCeT]

Originally Posted by JMT

Thanks Tom, I appreciate the reply. The computer does not have a SATA port, I am sure of that. It does have two USB ports on the front and two in the rear, if I recall correctly they are USB II ports. One is going to my Canon printer. How does the external get it's power? Is it directly through the USB connection? Am I going to need any other accessories or will I be good to go right out of the box?

Hi Jon, the external harddrives you're looking for will be powered by its own power adapter. It should be included with the package. For external harddrives, you will need:
the external harddrives
the power adapter
the usb cable to connect to your pc

All of those should have been included so you should be good right out of the box.

[elrod-tom]

Originally Posted by JMT

Thanks Tom, I appreciate the reply. The computer does not have a SATA port, I am sure of that. It does have two USB ports on the front and two in the rear, if I recall correctly they are USB II ports. One is going to my Canon printer. How does the external get it's power? Is it directly through the USB connection? Am I going to need any other accessories or will I be good to go right out of the box?

Most of my Seagates have a wall-wart power supply. I'd forgotten about my portable 160gb (it has a TWO USB port cable that supplies data link and power), which is nice for going back and forth from place to place, but not practical for regular use. With the Seagate Free Agent drives (their external series), you should be ready to go right out of the box...plug and play with no further accessories required.

[dj_mocok]

I just bought a Lacie 750GB (Neil Poulton edition) for cheap. I paid AUS$165 for it.
I know it is cheaper by using external hard drive enclosure, but 'real' external hard drives are so cheap now.
Anyway, so far so good with the drive. I usually turn it off all the time unless I want to backup some important data. It has an On/Off which is very handy.

Setting it up was as easy as connecting cables, turn it on, click yes to format and voila!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by RYCeT

Hi Jon, 512kb memory for a pc nowadays are really small. You'll better off with at least 1gb memory, I myself prefer to have 2gb ram.

Thanks RYCet. I agree that the small amount of memory I have is an issue, and looking on Newegg memory is inexpensive. What I don't know is whether memory type is dependent on the age of the computer or not. Meaning that will the memory shown on Newegg (SDRAM DDR2) fit a computer that is 3-4 years old?

I saw that Seagate drive on there too, it looks like what I am looking for.

[xxbaker]

i'd go with seagate also. i've got a 320 and a 750, my dad currently has two 750s and a terabyte(in addition to older/smaller ones that he's given to my sisters) and we've never had a problem with any of them.

the drive that rycet links you to is a good one to go with. if i were in your situation it's the one that i would get

[RYCeT]

Originally Posted by JMT

Thanks RYCet. I agree that the small amount of memory I have is an issue, and looking on Newegg memory is inexpensive. What I don't know is whether memory type is dependent on the age of the computer or not. Meaning that will the memory shown on Newegg (SDRAM DDR2) fit a computer that is 3-4 years old?

I saw that Seagate drive on there too, it looks like what I am looking for.

Hi Jon, you'll need to know which memory type you should get. I'm not on my pc now but there should be a way to look into what type of memory are you using without opening up your pc. Well, opening up your pc shouldn't be that difficult either, you can take out your memory and see
1. what type of memory do you have and find the same one on newegg.
2. How many slots do you have for your memory? It's cheaper to buy 2x1gb memory instead of 1 2gb memory.