I'm looking into getting a bigger, external hard drive for my laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook S-4510) and I have little to no experience with computer hardware. Is this possible? If it is, what sort of things should I know or look for?

8/3/2006 4:40:58 PM

I have had great luck with the Seagate external drives.

8/3/2006 4:47:44 PM

seagate makes quality drives...if you want to save money, buy the enclosure and hard drive separately

8/3/2006 4:49:35 PM

all you do is plug it in the side of your computer

8/3/2006 8:22:46 PM

so if i'm getting an enclosure which will make it connect by USB, how much difference is there between SATA and IDE?

9/5/2006 4:47:00 PM

usb 2.0 runs (theoretically) at 480mbps...i have never experienced usb running anywhere NEAR that (though 2.0 is markedly faster than 1.1)...SATA can (theoretically) go as fast as 3gb/s, but since your limiting factor is the usb, there's really no point in getting a drive that fast unless you're planning on putting it into a capable desktop in the near future

that said, i have a 60gb IDE drive (seagate) and an external aluminum enclosure i'll sell you if you're interested

[Edited on September 5, 2006 at 5:31 PM. Reason : seagate]

9/5/2006 5:31:15 PM

Quote :

"seagate makes quality drives...if you want to save money, buy the enclosure and hard drive separately"

I don't know about that. The last enclosure I bought was around $45. The last external drive I bought was a 250GB 7200RPM WD from Sam's Club for $90. I think it would be hard to beat a deal like that.

9/5/2006 5:51:30 PM

^i got an enclosure from new egg for 23 bucks after shipping in april of 2005

it worked great and i only had 1.1 at the time

there was a 400 gb seagate sata drive for 84 less than a week ago

total cost after shipping would be around 107

thats pretty good in my opinion

[Edited on September 5, 2006 at 6:01 PM. Reason : ^lol you spent too much money on that 250gb harddrive]

9/5/2006 6:00:48 PM

$90 to walk into a store and walk out with a 7200RPM 250GB external drive is too much? Nerd plz.

9/5/2006 6:11:38 PM

lol, yes, actually it is

shit i could get a 320 gb harddrive for 75 today, out the door if i felt like it

9/5/2006 6:19:36 PM

Office Max has Western Digital 320GB IDE Internal Drives for 59.99 in store (haven't checked any in the area yet). I've heard bad reviews about WD. People say they don't last very long. Does this sound like it might be a good deal, or should I keep waiting for something better?

9/5/2006 6:31:09 PM

i would wait for something better

only thing i usually find myself getting are maxtor(3 year warrenties, not the 1 year ones) and seagate(5 year)

never been a fan of WD though

[Edited on September 5, 2006 at 6:48 PM. Reason : .]

9/5/2006 6:48:40 PM

i guess it depends on what deal you get when...i have a 400gb seagate in an aluminum enclosure with e.sata and usb2.0 that cost me less than $100 shipped and after $20 rebate (which i received in less than a month)...it's about 3 months old...bought the enclosure and drive both from newegg on one of their combo deals

EDIT: let me make clear, though, that when dealing with external hard drives, my experience has been that 16mb caches are imperative for me (i use the drives to back up my hard drives), and that much data tends to overwhelm my 8mb cache drives if i'm doing more than about 60gb

*shrug*

[Edited on September 5, 2006 at 7:03 PM. Reason : s]

9/5/2006 7:01:35 PM