Looking for external harddrive

[icegod]

Im looking for an external hard drive, a portable one that only needs to plug in the computer.
1tb or 2tb preffered

 

[DHFF]

I have never had luck with pre-biult Externals, the connectors always fail on me so I started putting together my own. Just pick out the hard drive of your choice and buy a case for it. This is the one I use most often.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3743049
you can also get it in USB 3.0 if you want to use an SSD hard drive.

 

[icegod]

Can you teach me a bit of it?
Like the combinations, how everything works etc

And can you find those items in any pcpartpicker from europe?

 

[DHFF]

Yes assembly is very easy. you buy a case like the one I suggested and you find an propriate 2.5" hard drive. Traditional HDD will be very inexpensive and you could easly get a 1-2TB drive for under a hundred euros. The case will come with assembly instructions but basically you just take the screws off the case, put the hard drive in the rails then connect the SATA and power cables and then screw the case over the hard drive. Thats it. when you plug the USB cable into your computer it will see your new external automatically.

I could not find these on pcpartpicker.com so I am sending you the link to a supply store in the UK (I dont know whre in Europe you are) you can shop around on the site to see if there is one you like better.
http://www.misco.co.uk/product/199314/StarTech-com-2-5in-USB-3-0-SATA-Hard-Disk-Drive-Enclosure-for-SAT2510U3REM-Spare-USB-3-SATA-Enclosure-94V0-UL?fromProductList=Category+list

 

[icegod]

Just a question
I researched a bit, and wouldnt a Seagate backup plus slim (http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_backup_plus_slim_portable_drive_review) faster than an hdd like this one (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex)?

 

[DHFF]

Well that is certainly an option. I personally dont care for pre built externals because if anything goes wrong, fixing them is complicated. IF you build your own and say a year from now the USB connector fails, you can buy a new enclosure and pop your hard drive into it.

As for the seagate model you sent me, it looks like a very nice drive but it wouldnt be any faster then a regular hard drive. It has a USB 3.0 connection but the hard drive in that unit is just a standard Hard drive, it isnt any faster then any other regular hard drive. the only way you can take full advantage of a USB 3 port is to have a SSD inside the enclosure and that would be very expensive. A 1TB SSD will cost you around 250 pounds while a 1 TB standard HHD will cost you about 40 pounds.

 

[icegod]

I dont understand much about this. but usb 3.0 shouldnt be faster than a 2.0 one?

And another thing, that custom harddrive will be alot heavier and thicker than the prebuilted one i think

 

[andrewjcole]

I use the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1tb often, and I find it works very well for my gaming needs. I don't have any experience with any others.

Good luck!

 

[DHFF]

Terms like USB 3.0 and 2.0 only refer to how much data the connection is capable of. The actually speed of the device is determined by the hard drive itself. It doesnt matter how fast the connection is if the device is only accessing data at a fraction of that speed.

Lets say USB 3.0 is a road with 10 lanes. and USB is a road with only 3 lanes. It seems like the wider road would be faster because you can move more traffic across it. However if there is only one or two cars moving down the road, it doesn't matter which road they take, one wont be faster then the other.

SSD hard drives are MUCH faster then traditional HDD drives. they can access data 5x greater or more. it moves data much faster then a USB 2.0 connection would handle so USB 3.0 would seem faster because its "wider" and can handle the traffic as it were.

Regular hard drives on the other hand are very slow by comparison and most wont come close to maxing out even a USB 2.0 connection.

 

[icegod]

Thanks for the help, but i think i will stick with the Seagate Backup Plus Slim for a few time, because i really need mobility and its thin and reliable.
In the future i think i will get one of that little cases and buy a huge ssd for working needs

 

[DHFF]

Good luck Seagate is a very good brand, I am sure you will be happy.