What storage system would serve me better?

2009-02-26 01:02:49

#1

baggs: Member; +732|6468

Good morning!

As i'm now starting to load up music and pictures onto my PC i thought i should consider how i'm going to store it all. I currently have started loading a small amount of music on to my system drive, a 160gb SATA drive. I have another 160gb SATA from my old machine that i still need to copy data from and format.

So obv i could use the other 160gb drive for storage etc...but am i better off using an external caddy rather than fitting the drive inside the case. So i can just remove it if its not being used for prolonged periods for safety etc...

But in that situation, should i just buy an external USB drive? So then i have the freedom of what i want to plug it in to? I.e. the laptop we have at home or maybe Antonia's laptop?

I know i won't get as fast a transfer using an external USB drive, but thats not a big issue to me as it's just for storage and syncing music to an 8GB iPod touch. So it shouldn't be transfering massive amounts of data in one sitting, but i do want to load my entire CD collection on to this drive so i would like to make the storage process as safe as possible. Cos fucked if i'll load all these cd's on again! (Also should i be thinking backup of this storage also?)

~ Ben.

2009-02-26 01:09:19

#2

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6717|The Twilight Zone

Morning Ben.
I really like my WD My Books. Silent, cheap, good looking and they turn on/off with the PC. You can pick your version-USB 2.0, firewire,e-sata. Mine are both USB 2.0 and they do the job nicely for storage.

https://www.shrani.si/f/3H/7h/45GTw71U/untitled-1.png

2009-02-26 01:17:35

#3

Little BaBy JESUS: m8; +394|6412|'straya

I use a Western Digital My Passport 320GB for similar purposes (back up all my music, pics, videos) i also use it to be able to use various programs at school (we arnt allowed to install onto the computers) so the very small size is handy. its USB 2.0, the transfer rate is decent (for what it is) but not very fast. i transfered 80GB of music onto it straight away and was actually surprised how quickly it transfered.

really it comes down to what you want out of it. you have basically listed the pros and cons yourself. the 160GB internal will (probably, depending one what it is) be faster than an external one. also turning it into an external hard drive does limit your options (as u stated). something very small (like the passport) is very handy to just have in your bag or pocket whenever u might need it.

The choice is yours young one.

2009-02-26 02:58:28

#4

baggs: Member; +732|6468

Ok cool, WD seems to be the most relevant solution. Any one in particular I should have been looking at? I looked at a 500gb My Book Express II.

Incidently how hard/easy is it to caddy my old 160gb SATA? Say i was looking to save some cash.

2009-02-26 03:39:17

#5

mcminty: Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.; +879|6985|Sydney, Australia

baggs wrote:
Ok cool, WD seems to be the most relevant solution. Any one in particular I should have been looking at? I looked at a 500gb My Book Express II.

Incidently how hard/easy is it to caddy my old 160gb SATA? Say i was looking to save some cash.

I'm using two WD My Book Studio Edition HDDs - a 500GB and a 1TB one - for photo and music storage. They work very nicely for me. The one you've looked at there should be fine. The main differences with the more expensive versions is connectivity (mine have FireWire 400 and 800 as well as USB2).

2009-02-26 03:49:12

#6

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6052|Catherine Black

Sup, I've always wondered, what's faster: USB 2.0 or Firewire?

2009-02-26 04:18:11

#7

baggs: Member; +732|6468

mcminty wrote:
I'm using two WD My Book Studio Edition HDDs - a 500GB and a 1TB one - for photo and music storage. They work very nicely for me. The one you've looked at there should be fine. The main differences with the more expensive versions is connectivity (mine have FireWire 400 and 800 as well as USB2).

Yeah i looked at FireWire versions but i'm not sure i have that connectivity on my PC, i will look in to that. I would love to keep as fast data transfer as i can, but it's not paramount to the exercise. Simplicity is tho!

2009-02-26 07:17:21

#8

JoshP: Banned; +176|5953|Notts, UK

Caddies are really easy to use and a great option if you have a drive already - you can use the 160GB drive now, and if you feel the need for a larger drive later on, you can take out the 160GB and replace it with a higher capacity one, which is really easy too.

Personally, I would say buy a caddy. It's also helpful if you have drives doing funky things which you need to recover data off

2009-02-26 12:43:30

#9

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6717|The Twilight Zone

Finray wrote:
Sup, I've always wondered, what's faster: USB 2.0 or Firewire?

in this order from fastest to slowest: e-sata>firewire>usb 2.0
But I always choose USB 2.0 cos of its popularity of integration in almost every PC and other devices. Its good enough for storage, not so good for games but I have a 150GB Raptor for Windows and games, the rest goes on my My Books.

2009-02-26 15:14:33

#10

baggs: Member; +732|6468

I got home, thought about it, and just whacked my other 160gb SATA back in the case (took literally 3 minutes), copied across the files i wanted and then formatted. There was an old 6gb recovery partition on it too, couldn't be arsed to remove it. Will find a use for that i'm sure!

I copied across my music and pictures etc and after 2 hours of arguing with iTunes it's all working now.

But i do think i'm going to a WD My Book to back up my data, really should start to do this, esp all the music i'll be loading on. I karma'd those who helped with the karma i had left, will endeavour to garnish the others when i get some more. (I even posthumously karma'd JoshP)

Many thanks indeed

Last edited by baggs (2009-02-26 15:15:47)

2009-02-26 19:57:37

#11

mcminty: Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.; +879|6985|Sydney, Australia

Finray wrote:
Sup, I've always wondered, what's faster: USB 2.0 or Firewire?

Lol, I had an argument with a mate about this a while ago. IIRC, Firewire400 is about the same as USB2.0, while Firewire800 (what I use on my My Book's) is kick ass faster

2009-02-26 19:59:12

#12

Gooners: Wiki Contributor; +2,700|6896

mcminty wrote:
Finray wrote:
Sup, I've always wondered, what's faster: USB 2.0 or Firewire?
Lol, I had an argument with a mate about this a while ago. IIRC, Firewire400 is about the same as USB2.0, while Firewire800 (what I use on my My Book's) is kick ass faster

eSata > all

too bad it's hard to find on drives

2009-02-26 20:04:02

#13

mcminty: Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.; +879|6985|Sydney, Australia

Gooners wrote:
too bad it's hard to find on drives

Both my external HDDs have eSata ports

2009-02-26 20:37:05

#14

Gooners: Wiki Contributor; +2,700|6896

mcminty wrote:
Gooners wrote:
too bad it's hard to find on drives
Both my external HDDs have eSata ports

Same! Seagate Freeagent Pro

BF2S Forums What storage system would serve me better?

baggs wrote:

mcminty wrote:

Finray wrote:

Finray wrote:

mcminty wrote:

Finray wrote:

Gooners wrote:

mcminty wrote:

Gooners wrote:

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