Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cmr]

I want to get myself an external hard drive. My laptop's HDD isn't big enough anymore (and I thought it was wayyyy too big when I got it!), but I don't know what to look for.

I mean, I read about 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm and other things, but I don't know what really matters and what makes it worth spending a little more or a little less.

Anyone can give me some info or a link where I can learn a little (ok, a lot!) more on the subject?

Thanks in advance.

[blackjack]

First thing you got to do is decide, do i need to carry the external around alot or will it mainly be left at home. will I need access to that data on the run (bus/train/plan/park).

If the answer is yes

you will need a 2.5" drive standard size is about 120gb (but you can get up to 500gb) with speed of 5400rpm (I have heard of 7200rpm drives tho).

If the answer is no

if you are going to be using it only at home and work get a 3.5" drive at 7200rpm (don't worry about the 10,000rpm ones). standard size of a 3.5" is now about 500gb (but range in size from around 40gb to 1tb).

a 3.5" gets you more bang for your buck but some people don't like the external power unit and extra weight.

Other things to be aware of

SATA and IDE are two other things you might notice, for an external imo it makes no difference, just get the cheaper one, however if you are buying the case seperate from the harddrive make sure the case supports the drive.

USB 2, firewire and e sata

your laptop probably does not have e sata so do not worry about it, unless you are running a mac don't worry about firewire,
make sure it is usb 2 (standard now anyway)

always get a bigger drive than you think you will need and go with a good brand i.e. seagate/WD.

I would recommend a 500gb 3.5" 7200rpm (either ide or sata the usb is going to be the bottleneck). If you need extra space for data you need to carry around alot get an 8gb thumbdrive.

sorry bit long winded and probably raised more questions than answered

[cmr]

Thank you, blackjack!

I'll most likely use it at home and take it to work once in a while, but not that often, so I guess the 3.5" is what I need.

My laptop is a Toshiba. Since you said it probably doesn't have an "e sata"... what is that anyway and how do I know if I have one or not?

What's the difference between buying a set or buying a case and a drive separately? Any difference in quality or price, or simply the trouble to put things together?

One last question: why did you say "don't worry about the 10,000rpm ones"? Are they too expensive? Isn't faster better? Are they too fast for the USB port?

[spliff]

USB has a bottlenck so a 10,000 would be a waste, your laptop won't have an e-sata port. Just buy a 500gig sata-2 7200 external drive. You can pick one up for around 115,000 cheapest.

http://pc.danawa.com/price.html?defSite=PC&cate1=862&cate2=10620

[blackjack]

[blackjack]

Just to complicate things abit, if you are going to be using it for media (TV and music) have you considered a media player?

They are a bit like an external but a little bigger with ports for the TV so you can watch TV straight from the hard drive without going through the laptop. Generally cost an extra 50-100,000 won more than a standard external case. can play avi, mp3s, jpgs and the new ones mp4 and mkvs.

I love mine (even tho it is very outdated), I have about 400 movies on mine, all my photos and music and a bunch of TV.

They are also know as divx players

[cmr]

[spliff]

[blackjack]

[cmr]

[JustJohn]

Hard drives aren't much more fragile than most computer parts, just keep them away from strong magnets.

Seriously though, there should be no problem with shipping.