Korean Job Discussion Forums

twg · Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Location: Getting some fresh air...

excellent, I was just going to ask about this...

I'm going home a few months and I need to move my images with me. Any suggestions on a tough external drive that is compact enough to slip into my backpack? Unfortunately, my iPod isn't big enough. Very Happy

Looking at it right now, I only need to move about 60 GB of material, but that may go up depending upon how fond I am of the episodes of Dr. Who I'm feeling as it gets closer to go time

Dome Vans · Guest

twg, the one I mentioned from Yongsan was probably about 15cm by 10 cm and only a 1cm in height, so small enough to not make any baggage issues and it's a tough case as well. Thats 80gb and cost 65 000 won, but the buy the drive and case separately, the cases range from 5 000won up to 40 000 won.

It was from the shop next to the train station but you need to go through the overpass to get to it. I'm crap with directions.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Poemer · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Location: Mullae

What are the basic features I should look for when buying an external hard drive? How do I know I'm not buying a piece of crap? Can anyone give me some basic buying guidelines? I just need something in the 250 GB range that I can use as a back-up device in case my computer gets a virus or has software problems and I need to wipe it and start over.

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

poem it depends on what you want: USB or FIREWIRE

Then it depends if you want a 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM drive...essentially, do you want it portable or sitting on your desktop?

For portable, the western digital make a good drive. You don't need an external power supply or two USB plugs, just 1 USB plug and away you go.

For 7200RPM Maxtor makes a 1 click backup drive. The 500GB FIREWIRE one was around 160,000...you can get the USB version for like 130-140,000 (500gb)

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

Poemer · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Location: Mullae

thanks for the responses.

I'm not too concerned about portability, I just need to be able to move it with me when I leave Korea. I'm not going to tote it everywhere I take my laptop.

I assume firewire is faster when transferring data to the drive? I have USB and firewire, but I have never used my firewire connection for anything. Is firewire a better choice, or does it not really matter?

I don't know exactly what the RPM ratings translate into when I'm using the drive. Why does the rating matter?

Thanks for the tip on the 500 gigs Spliff. Might as well get more space if it doesn't cost much more.

JustJohn · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Location: Your computer screen

Firewire is always better. If it's the old firewire and usb 2.0 hi-speed then they're almost the same, but firewire is always better.

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

I suggest you might want to check out the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus. It has a 1 button press backup and some very decent software. If you are running a windows system it will make life very easy for you in terms of backing up. Also it has its own case/fan and USB/Firewire 400.

Not many drives have Firewire 800 (only seen 1 tbh and it was pricey as hell) With Firewire 400 and a 7200RPM 16/32MB cache HD you can move files pretty fast.

Only drawback with the Maxtor is it is noisy. If you use it for torrents, get something quieter. For a pure backup drive (what I use mine for atm) it has auto power saving feature so you can have it plugged in but powered down.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Poemer · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Location: Mullae

Thanks again guys.

I don't do torrents or anything else, pure back-up drive. I'll check out the Maxtor, Mr. Pink. Is it available in Korea?

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China