External Hard Drive

[coldcrush]

Hiya all

Thinking of buying a good external hard drive, maybe 250gb/300gb or up? For storage and just tobe on the safe side, backing up on Data files. MP3s using discs etc...

Any advice on a good one and also strong as it has to travel. Been unplugging my Seagate and travelling with it and feel that maybe beeing a cheap charlie should stop and I should invest!

Any good advice welcomed...

Edited August 14, 2005 by lopburiguy

[Vulture]

Not quite answering your question, but since you mentioned portability. I recently purchased two Lacie drives, one an 80gb and one a 40gb. The 80 was as backup and to stay at home. The 40 with a size of 13cm x 8cm x 1.5cm was bought with portability in mind. Howewver this little number packed in after 3 months much to my disgust and so now I have purchased a 40gb freecom (similar size). Maybe you can leave the seagate at home and buy something portable ?

[coldcrush]

Not quite answering your question,  but since you mentioned portability.  I recently purchased two Lacie drives, one an 80gb and one a 40gb. The 80 was as backup and to stay at home. The 40 with a size of 13cm x 8cm x 1.5cm was bought with portability in mind. Howewver this little number packed in after 3 months much to my disgust and so now I have purchased a 40gb freecom (similar size).  Maybe you can leave the seagate at home and buy something portable ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Vulture

Yes that is what I had in mind.

I am looking for a portable one. like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/250GB-External-Hard-...1QQcmdZViewItem

however, I thought maybe someone may know a more reputable name. Sorry to hear yours blew up on you. I lost an 80gb on a Bangkok trip. Not a nice feeling!

[Vulture]

Have a look at microdirect.co.uk. They have many to choose from. BTW the lacie ones are designed by Porsche (stick to cars eh).

Edited August 14, 2005 by Vulture

[Guest endure]

If you're in BKK or CM just go and buy an external box and hard drive of the size you require and put them together yourself. It's very simple. Choose a box that's solidly made out of aluminium. Last time I was in CM I bought a box for 1200bt.

[buksida]

Agree with the above, you can get a box for about a grand then stick in any standard sized hard disk you wish, plugs into USB so all simple. I have a 200gig in there that serves as a backup as I no longer trust DVD-Rs after losing a bunch of data to them.

[Tywais]

Same here. Bought a box and since I'm picky about my disk manufacturer it gave me a choice of buying any standard drive, in my case 200GByte. Should have an internal fan which was discussed in an earlier posting.

[coldcrush]

Agree with the above, you can get a box for about a grand then stick in any standard sized hard disk you wish, plugs into USB so all simple.  I have a 200gig in there that serves as a backup as I no longer trust DVD-Rs after losing a bunch of data to them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the guidance.

However prefer one with an internal fan. Which shop in CM would you recommend as I will be returning there soon?

Edited August 15, 2005 by lopburiguy

[Guest endure]

I got mine from the first little shop on the left hand side as you walk into Computer Plaza on the corner near Huaey Kaew. They had quite a range and the lady who served me was very helpful.

[britmaveric]

Buy a HD of w/your requirements then buy a case. Cheaper this way.

[kelv23]

can any or an internal drive be put in a box to be used as an external or is there anything to be aware of?

[lopburi3]

can any or an internal drive be put in a box to be used as an external or is there anything to be aware of?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The power supply capacity - some will not support larger drives. Seagate seems to be very power hungry from my reading of specs so would not mate it with a low amperage box.

Not all box will keep the drive cool and with 7200 drives (which most are these days) that could be a problem.

Some shops may be able to make good recommendations, and I do think the brand name portable units are overpriced, but you might want to check closely as if this drive fails with all your goodies you had best have some DVD or CD's to fall back on.

[monty]

Any parallel ata (ide) internal drive can be put in an external box.

Serial ata (sata) external boxes are not easily found over here...

In most cases this DIY way is a lot cheaper then the ready made external drives!

[paulfr]

I want to put an internal drive I have in an external box for connection to my laptop. Problem is every time I go to Pantip and ask, they do not know what I am talking about. Where in Pantip can I get an external box to put my internal HD in ??

Thanks

[lopburi3]

I want to put an internal drive I have in an external box for connection to my laptop.  Problem is every time I go to Pantip and ask, they do not know what I am talking about.  Where in Pantip can I get an external box to put my internal HD in ??

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know Pantip but if you write USB 2.0 box (either 2.5 or 3.5" depending on what you have) they would probably get the idea.

[siamesekitty]

Just recently thought about backing up a ton of data and have absolutely no idea how much a HD would cost. Could someone maybe give me an idea of the price range of these things? (Both external and internal-drive-in-external-box options) Thanks!

Edited October 14, 2005 by siamesekitty

[lomatopo]

I've been looking locally for this type of solution, for both a DVD-RW and a HDD. Part of the problem is that the shops that have the external boxes do not have the DVD-RW or HDD. Anyway, I saw a few shops in both Panthip and Fortune IT Mall this week that had decent external (5.25") cases. I think they ranged from 960 b ~ 1200 b. I cannot remember exactly where these shops are but I could find them again. I'll be hittng both again soon so will try to remember to post back. The cases I looked at/for had all the internal cables, AC/DC brick (110-240/50-60) and a fan. One thing I did not look closely at is how you secure the drive inside the case.

I may try to source one here but am also considering purchasing on-line in the U.S.A. and picking it up when I return for a short trip in a few weeks.

eidted to add:

A 200GB HDD should be ~ 5,000 b (ish)

Here is a link to a sample 5.25 " USB external enclosure .

Edited October 14, 2005 by lomatopo

[grahamb]

The power supply capacity - some will not support larger drives.  Seagate seems to be very power hungry from my reading of specs so would not mate it with a low amperage box.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When I bought my external case at Pantip, the box stated that it would only take up to 200 GB so would not have been suitable for the OP. After reading this, I assume the limit was because of the power supply but it's worth checking if you do want to get a 250GB+ drive.

The other problem I had at Pantip was finding a place to sell me a 200GB drive for it - they all had prices but the only places with stock were the places that wanted an arm and a leg for them! Got one in the end but it took quite a bit of searching. Maybe I was just unlucky...

[francois]

hi'

I bought a lacie 80gb long ago, and still working nice and smooth, looking for another one would be a maxtor one touch 250gb for storing, keeping the 80gb as a backup one

francois

[Kringle]

Found a 160 gig 7200 seagate at Pata for 3900 Baht and a 200/7200 SATA Seagate for 4850 Baht if this helps.

[lomatopo]

I noticed quite a few shops selling external enclosures today at Panthip.

Shop 445-6 had some nice enclosures, SINMAX (USB 2.0: 1,100 THB, USB 2.0 + 1394 {firewire}: 1,600). These enclosures seemed nuch nicer than others offered in shops 434, 401, 224, 228.

Matching up the power supply offered with the enclosure with the HDD or DVD-RW seems prudent. I did not check this level of detail. Also, matching ATA and SATA would be advised.

A internal 200GB HDD should be 4,500 -ish

http://www.hwhinter.com/price_list/price.asp?item=1

[siamesekitty]

Thanks guys Now I can estimate how much I'd have to cut down on the shoe shopping

[thohts]

Not quite answering your question,  but since you mentioned portability.  I recently purchased two Lacie drives, one an 80gb and one a 40gb. The 80 was as backup and to stay at home. The 40 with a size of 13cm x 8cm x 1.5cm was bought with portability in mind. Howewver this little number packed in after 3 months much to my disgust and so now I have purchased a 40gb freecom (similar size).  Maybe you can leave the seagate at home and buy something portable ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I bought a LaCie 20GB a few years ago and it works great. Where can I get a 40gb or 80 model in BKK or CM?

[Nickkbh]

Speaking of external cases,has anyone seen an external case for sata drives,and firewire.

I have searched panthip and fortune,and i've been close.......

The mac shop in fortune have one but it´s 4000.- way to much....

wont pay more than 2000.-

Edited October 16, 2005 by Nickkbh

[TizMe]

This is what I use. Dirt Cheap, I think mine was only about 300 baht (internal drive extra of course)

From PC Guide

Removable Hard Disk Trays

An interesting compromise between internal and external hard disks is the removable hard disk drive tray. A tray is installed into a standard PC case drive bay that allows regular internal hard disks to be placed into it. You then can swap the internal hard disk with another one without opening up the case, allowing you to use hard disks as a removable storage medium. In a way, the concept is similar to the way a removable car stereo is designed. These trays are also commonly called mobile racks, drive caddies and several other names.

Shown above is the Kingwin KF-21-IPF mobile rack system that I use on my

work desktop PC for backups and file archiving. The drive fits into the

removable tray (bottom) which fits into the stationary docking station (top). The

stationary portion is installed into a standard 5.25" drive bay and connected to

a regular IDE/ATA cable. On the right-hand side you can see the lock that

secures the tray in place, as well as indicator lights for power and drive activity.

For certain applications, this are the ideal removable storage device: it uses regular hard disks, which are very fast, highly reliable, very high capacity and very inexpensive in terms of dollars per byte of storage. They can be used for backup purposes (secondary to a regularly-installed standard internal hard disk)--see here for more information on this idea. Removable trays can also be used to allow the use of different operating systems on the same PC (though there are simpler ways to do this) and to allow different people to use the same PC while keeping their data and programs totally separate.

If you decide to use a mobile rack system, be sure to check out the specifications of the unit you are considering carefully. Different models come with support for different speed drives, some are made primarily of metal and others of plastic, and so on. Metal units will provide better cooling than plastic ones. Some also come with an integrated cooling fan, which is a good idea especially for higher-RPM drives.

Warning: If you decide to set up this sort of arrangement with your PC, remember that regular internal hard drives are designed under the assumption that they will be installed inside the PC and left there. Be sure to handle them properly, and especially, to observe ESD precautions.