[onvn]

Hi,
I am a laptop user -- as main entertainment center and as my source for aural pleasure.. Using an external DAC.

I am planning to buy online an external HDD to allow more storage for music, photos, videos, etc. because I have so much programs my laptop HD is nearly full.. Some questions on external HDDs..

1. When an external HDD is used, will the sound change or quality suffer?
2. What external HDD do you recommend? I wont need ridiculous amounts of storage capacity -- 120 or 250GB is far more than enough. Also, I am on a budget, so an affordable brand is preferred but will add some money if budget brands suck..
3. Any Australian online retailers? or ones that ships to Australia?

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

1.No
2.Any known brand such as Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital (Note there are several other brands like Fantom, which use one of the above drives as well, they are also safe bets)
3.I have no clue

 

[onvn]

I've found an online shop (expansys.com.au) and they have some great prices!! I am interested in the LaCie HDDs (250GB version) because they look damn good for one.. and two, they're designed by Porsche!!

Anyone had experiences with the LaCie?

 

[bonjonno]

I used LaCie's years ago with a mac. They're OK. Expensive, but even their prices have come way down. All of these usb 2.0 units seem to work great. I'm using a 250 GB maxtor that cost $30 AR and a $25 Metal Gear Box II case. Sound is great, operation flawless. It's a dream to have 350 CDs on this little removeable box that can plug into any computer. Tho I don't plan to move it.

 

[pedxing]

From the reviews I have read, Lacie seems to have a better than average reputation.

Sound quality should not change. However, it depends how your IDE/USB/FIRE wire or whatever external connection interacts. If your bus gets saturated, its all over and you may here stutters and skips.

Buying your own external case and buying your own drive is the most flexible thing to do, but it requires effort in choosing an external enclosure. I suggest sticking to Seagate (not Maxtor), Hitachi, or WD as for the HD. You can easily swap out multiple drives with the enclosure in the future if you ever going down that path. Otherwise buying an all-in-one premade solution is convenient.

But most of my friends who have purchased premade solutions from third-party companies or from the drive manufacturers have experienced a crash within two years. I have theory that those drives inside those premade solutions are bottom of the barrel grade or rejects, but I have no evidence.

 

[musicmind]

There was a similar thread recently.
There are many alternatives, either a pre-built external storage unit by Lacie ,Seagate or Western Digital etc, or the DIY way of getting an external HDD chassis and then installing a HDD yourself inside. The prebuilt offerings come with some backup software which you may find useful.

I've been using a Vantec Nexstar (USB + Firewire) with a Seagate 250gb with my notebook for 2 years now, and no issues with reliability or noise. There are really nice looking cases now, with SATA capability.
Brandwise, there isnt a massive difference between harddisks. I've personally prefer Seagate with the 5 year warranty.
I dont know what harddrive is in the Lacie, but I dont think you will be disappointed.

The external HDD definitely will not affect your sound quality

 

[epaludo]

I'm using a 320GB Maxtor and it's working perfectly up to now ...

 

[eyeteeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicmind /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been using a Vantec Nexstar (USB + Firewire) with a Seagate 250gb with my notebook for 2 years now, and no issues with reliability or noise.

Hi musicmind, how close do you have to get in order to hear the drive? I'm thinking of going this route and as long as I can't hear the drive from six feet or more I'll be OK.

 

[musicmind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeteeth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi musicmind, how close do you have to get in order to hear the drive? I'm thinking of going this route and as long as I can't hear the drive from six feet or more I'll be OK.

Hi eyeteeth

The case is thick plastic and has no fan to make any noise. Most importantly, the HDD inside rests on rubber washers which hold it tightly in place and dampen all noise and vibration.
I have the drive on right now, at about 2 feet from me, and it is absolutely silent. I can only tell the HDD is on because of the blue light in front. At about 15cm, I can hear the bearings at a whisper-level.
So for quietness, I can recommend this Vantec Nexstar to you without hesistation.

I think the newer ones have SATA capability, mine is the IDE version from 2 years ago.

 

[eyeteeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicmind /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi eyeteeth The case is thick plastic and has no fan to make any noise. Most importantly, the HDD inside rests on rubber washers which hold it tightly in place and dampen all noise and vibration. I have the drive on right now, at about 2 feet from me, and it is absolutely silent. I can only tell the HDD is on because of the blue light in front. At about 15cm, I can hear the bearings at a whisper-level. So for quietness, I can recommend this Vantec Nexstar to you without hesistation. I think the newer ones have SATA capability, mine is the IDE version from 2 years ago.

Sweet!
I'll put this at the top of my list.
Thanks a lot musicmind!

 

[KenW]

I keep a 350gb LaCie attached to my Mac and it's been solid. I've got several enclosures which are okay and I guess you can save some money by doing it that way, but I've found the reliability to be suspect from time to time.

Actually, once I max this one out, I'll be purchasing a 1TB version and pulling all my content onto one HD. You'd think 350 would be plenty, but it's easy to fill IMO.

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeteeth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi musicmind, how close do you have to get in order to hear the drive? I'm thinking of going this route and as long as I can't hear the drive from six feet or more I'll be OK.

You can gauge how loud a hard drive will be by downloading the manufacturer spec sheet for the drive, and looking at the two specs for:
Acoustics,Idle (bels—sound power)
Acoustics,Seek (bels—sound power)
The former is how loud the drive is all the time when it's spun up, the latter is how loud it is when you're accessing it. I recently got a new drive rated for 2.7 / 2.9 bels, and it's the quietest drive I've ever owned.

The other consideration related to noise with external enclosures is whether the enclosure spins down the drive when not in use. Some do, some don't, and it's hard to tell by looking at the brochure. Fanless enclosures that spin down the drive when not in use are absolutely silent when not being used, but there's a slight delay when you first access it after a period of inactivity. Fanless enclosures that don't spin down the drive emit the idle acoustic sound power of the drive all the time, but don't have the inactivity delay. Something to consider.

 

[eyeteeth]

I was looking at a 500GB Seagate and its data sheet shows 2.5 idle but no numbers for seek.

Thanks Wodgy, that is very good info to know.

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeteeth /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was looking at a 500GB Seagate and its data sheet shows 2.5 idle but no numbers for seek. Thanks Wodgy, that is very good info to know.

You can find full specs for that drive in the manual:
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/s...100424667b.pdf

 

[radz]

If you are in Australia try www.staticice.com.au to find the cheapest retailer.

The $500 Gb Samsung drives are selling cheap in Oz now and they are a nice cool running quite drive. The Seagates are faster (which doesn't really matter for a storage drive) but louder and hotter (I'm talking $500Gb). I've got 5 250 Gb Seagates but they are pretty loud. I can't really comment on any other drives.

Vantec and Coolmaster make a reasonably priced enclosure for hard drives pretty good enclosure for the hard drive that seem to be pretty popular at the moment.

Edit - I don't think the Vantec or Coolmaster spin down the drive but I could be wrong on this.