external storage

Can anyone recommend a good external USB hard drive?

I'm basically looking for something with about 4 or 5 gb storage. Most important is that it won't require installation of drivers or software as I want to use it with college computers where I dont have admin rights.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

jesus_thats_gre

maybe you would be better off buying a casing online and scamming a cheapo hard disk from somewhere. will save u a a fortune.

I'm not familiar what you're saying....a casing? could you elaborate? I'm afraid im a bit of a noob in this area...

rymus

you can buy an enclosure that you put a standard 3.5" hard drive into. Et viola! you've given birth to an external hard drive.

What he's saying is, get one of these enclosures (they can be gotten muchos cheapos from the likes of ebay) and whack any ol' hard drive into it. Try searching around ebay or some of the more popular irish retailers. You're bound to find one.

Ah I see...and I can connect this up to a public computer without any problems?

leeroybrown

Whatever you get, just make sure it's a USB2.0 Mass Storage Device. Basically it's the same way that a USB Pen Drive works, so if people can use them in your college then you can use a USB hard drive.

3.5" (Normal PC) hard drives can't be powered over USB and the enclosure will need a power adaptor/cable.
2.5" (Laptop) hard drives don't require an external power source and are very light and compact. They are also a lot dearer per gig.

RicardoSmith

Bargain Alerts > [Request] External HD Case

Not sure if you can lock out a USB port with the normal Windows grants and permissions. I suspect not. But you can do it with third party software if the Administrator wants to do that.

This article says you can't and gives a link to the 3rd party software.
http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/usbflashdrives.htm and heres some more
http://www.pcworlddownload.com/system-utilities/access-control/DeviceLock.htm

Crikey there are so many different casings/enclosures available...I'd like to go for a 2.5" one for the size and not needing an ac adaptor reasons...

I checked ebay and komplett. For example is this on eBay any good?

eBay

RicardoSmith

That gadget shop on georges st had those. I thought it was a little bit cheap and flimsy myself.

Explosive_Cornflake

I'd nearly offer you mine. Its a 3.5in caddie, and it does usb2.0 and firewire. Supports up to 250 GB HD iirc. Won't need anymore as i have a 40gb iriver in the post. I'd throw you a 4gb HD with also.
I have to think weather it'll be use to me anymore.
But, if your like me, and don't like buying second hand, i think maplin have someting like what i mentioned for €50-60.

RicardoSmith

Maplins have a plastic one like I have which is nothing fancy, but does the job. Its 64 when its on special, otherwise its about 80 euro I think.

This is what it looks like photo Its quite small and neat. Maplins also do another one which is Aluminium and personally I think it looks very cheap, even though its a lot more expensive. Somehting like 120-130 something like that.

The one qBot got of Komplett looked very nice. Photo But it had no internal fan. Which depending on your planned usage you may or maynot want. Personally I wanted one with a fan it. As I use it all day hooked up to a laptop. Often for the whole day.

Have a look at that thread though. Theres links to a whole range of them on Komplett.

Thanks Ricardo I did have a look at that thread earlier and it was very informative...basically I won't be using it for long periods....just moving large files from college computers to my home.

I don't care what it looks like either. I'm kinda confused because there are some very cheap 2.5" casings and small (10Gb) drives going on eBay. But then there are some external USB hd's in my local PCWorld going for around 180...surely there's some catch? Thanks for everyone's help so far....very interesting

Explosive Cornflake: I'd take you up on that but i'd prefer a 2.5" to try an get away without using an AC adaptor

Explosive_Cornflake

Yeah, thats cool. I'd say stick with the 2.5's.
A few lads in my class got some 2.5's, and they are tiny, looked very cool.
My 3.5in is very annoying, it's like a brick(aluminiumn), so it weighs a bit, but the bit thats pisses me off is the need for AC.
The only use i can see my self for is just using the front to hot swap HS's, which is handy for partioniong and crap like that when messing with old computers.
Looking forward to my iriver though, i'll have a lot more room in my bag anyway .

RicardoSmith

If portability is your one priority then get the 2.5" disk & enclosure. No contest.

How ever if capacity, speed and value for money is your priority then get a 3.5" unit.

PCWorld is very expensive. You can always buy cheaper online. Generally external disks that are already assembled with disk an enclosure are a lot more expensive than buying the enclosure and HD seperately and putting them together yourself. Its a job that takes about 5-10 mins max with a screwdriver. If your not confident of doing that then lots of people on the boards would help you out. If you get stuck jsut PM me if you like. But doing it yourself you'll definately save some money.

If I was travelling a lot I'd get a 2.5". A guy at work had a 80gb one that cost about €400 about 2 years back. But it was tiny. Lovely unit. Whereas I have a 3.5" enclosure 80gb 3.5" and it cost me about €140. So thats a big difference. The 3.5" needs AC power but it is a lot faster than a 2.5" drive.

I have 2xUSB2, 3.5" disks hooked up to my laptop and I keep all my MP3's, graphics, photos, movies, and games installed on them. One drive is a 120gb the other a 80gb. The 80gb is just a back up of the 120gb drive. The internal laptop disk is a 60gb drive and is a lot slower than the external drives. So games load and run faster from the external drives. Any graphics work is alot faster running from the external drives too. I only install work stuff, coding projects, office stuff and essentials on the internal drive. I'll copy across anything I need from the externals before I head off. I don't move about that much, but if I need to the 3.5" enclosures I have are pretty small. So its not a problem.

I also have a 256mb flash disk for everyday bits and bobs you might want to copy. When I have funds I'd probably replace that with a MP3 HD player like the iRiver. But I'll keep the external 3.5" disks for storage and backup.

Hmmm I don't really have the option of 3.5" because of the difficulty of finding free sockets for an ac adaptor in my college clusters....

I know it depends on the HD but can you give a rough idea of how long it might take to transfer 100mb to a 2.5" external drive by USB 1.1?

RicardoSmith

No idea. It would be slow. Probably 15-20mins. Thats just a guess though.

Mutant_Fruit

get USB2, you'll regret it in the end if you go with USB1, i know i did.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
get USB2, you'll regret it in the end if you go with USB1, i know i did.

Pretty much all the enclosures are USB 2.0. I'd say the problem is that the college PC's are USB 1.1. Nothing you can do about that. USB2 is a lot faster.

Stephen

how much would a USB-powered 2.5" enclosure cost? I happen to have a 6GB laptop hard drive lying idle

how much would a USB-powered 2.5" enclosure cost? I happen to have a 6GB laptop hard drive lying idle

There's two available on

komplett

One for €37 and one for €42

It would be slow. Probably 15-20mins

If thats the case then it would be pointless...I was hoping to transfer a few gigs withing an hour or two....:(

Explosive_Cornflake

USB 1.1 licks balls.
I think USB 2.0 is about 40 times quicker.

Fabritzo

I'll say this again because of the problem with boards and it being rolled back the other day. I think you might be interested in a mini ipod, if indeed it is a mini-ipod and has the same features as regular ipod.

cormie

stay away from ipod, they are a rip off for what they do.

Are administrator rights necessary to connect an external USB HD ??

Fabritzo

No, it should be plug and go on 2000 and xp, the same as a pen drive.

splendid ! thanks

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Fabritzo
No, it should be plug and go on 2000 and xp, the same as a pen drive.

Unless the admin has installed some 3rd party software to lock out the USB ports. I've seen that in a few places, but usually the admins forget about the USB ports.