[Req] 500GB HD

cormie

In the market for a 500GB external HD and came across this. You can't really argue with 5/5 reviews giving it a 5/5 rating:) Just wondering if it's definitely the best option to go for or would it be better to get a drive and enclosure separately? Is that brand reliable? Also, how much is komplett delivery and is Komplett the cheapest, most reliable place to get one? Wasn't there a new website for Irish customers that beats Komplett on most prices? I forget the name of it though:o

Any feedback appreciated:)

Popeleo

You might be talking about Dabs.ie
They have the same for 142.78 plus delivery.

http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?quicklinx=41XG&CategorySelectedId=11026&PageMode=1&InMerch=1

cormie

Cool, I think that was the one alright.

So would that be my best bet in terms of getting 500GB storage? Are western digital ok or would Hitachi/Seagate or others be better?

kjt

IMO Cormie, Western Digital are one of the best hard drive manufacturers, if not the best. So you've nothing to worry about

formatman

when that drive fails though where is the backup?

you should buy 2 drives unless the data is not important

cormie

I'll be buying 2;)

I wonder is it best to buy at seperate times, if they are part of the same batch, if they do fail, they may fail at the same time?

kjt wrote:

IMO Cormie, Western Digital are one of the best hard drive manufacturers, if not the best. So you've nothing to worry about

Cool:)

GerardKeating

sugarman wrote:

Yeah there good, but i went for a seperate enclosure & hdd.

These two:

Enclosure:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97124&source=1&C=HomeBasketFillers&T=97124&DOY=22m4

You can pick this up while its on offer in maplin in Dubin for €60

&

Hdd:

http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=314041

€100 + delivery of €10 i think

So €160/170 in total for a media play with a 500gd hdd.

I found these much better than a simple plug & play as you can view all the hdd's content on a tv (e.g) Video, audio & images etc.....

The only down side iv had is that the hdd cant be powered just from the usb, it needs its power supply.

Have you bought this combination, you list a 500GB SATA drive, but the media player supports "3.5 inch IDE hard drives up to 400GB"

cormie

sugarman wrote:

The only down side iv had is that the hdd cant be powered just from the usb, it needs its power supply.

The Western Digital one I had my eyes on also requires a power adaptor:(

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll think about it but I don't think I'd really get use out of it. I don't even have a tv:P

The_Conductor

If you're buying the Western Digital- I'd seriously advise spending the extra 30 quid and getting the one with the Firewire connections too. Particularly when transferring large volumes of data, and they are 500Gb drives, firewire gives a constant data stream, whereas USB 2.0 starts very fast and then slows right down......

I have a pair of the Pro drives (both connections) from Komplett: (179.95- down about 70 quid since when I bought them).

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322613

Its worth getting the pro drive over and above the manilla one.

Ruu_Old

Most of the bigger external drives are going to have a power adaptor so there is no getting away from that unfortunately. I also highly recommend the Western Digital MyBook range as mentioned.

cormie

I don't have a firewire connection and I'll only be doing one initial transfer so I think I'll just stick to the one on Dabs for 142:)

cormie

smccarrick wrote:

Its worth getting the pro drive over and above the manilla one.

what's manilla?:)

The_Conductor

cormie wrote:

what's manilla?:)

Lol....
For peace of mind how about spending an extra tenner then and getting a PCI firewire card as well! God, I should be on commission for Komplett......

Sad Professor

Yup, the WD Mybooks are great. I already have a 250gb firewire and I'm planning to buy another very shortly. May go for 500gb this time

btw does anyone have any experience with the My Book "World"/Ethernet version? Link. You can connect it (I assume) to your router and access it from any computer. Might be handy for use with XBMC.

The_Conductor

Tried it. Its not Mac/Linux compatible. I nearly went into a rage trying to configure a share for my Laptop (running Ubuntu). Its not worth the hassle. Very few home users need a NAS device.

cormie

smccarrick wrote:

Lol....
For peace of mind how about spending an extra tenner then and getting a PCI firewire card as well! God, I should be on commission for Komplett......

I only have a laptop:p

The_Conductor

cormie wrote:

I only have a laptop:p

PCMCIA firewire card for a laptop? They're cheap enough.
Maybe your laptop already has firewire? Most modern ones do?

cormie

Maybe I do have one:o

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2491

That's my laptop there, it says something about a 4 pin firewire port, which looks like this:


but not the standard ones like this:


Are they both the same and just a matter of using a different cable or will some devices be incompatible with each?

Still not sure if I want to bother to spend the extra bit just for sake of speed. Exactly how much faster would it be to transfer say 500GB onto using firewire over usb 2 would you know?

mickoneill30

cormie wrote:

Are they both the same and just a matter of using a different cable or will some devices be incompatible with each?

Your pictures show one firewire port and the second is USB. So they're not the same. You can't just use a different cable. You're device needs to support the relevant interface.

Sad Professor

smccarrick wrote:

Tried it. Its not Mac/Linux compatible. I nearly went into a rage trying to configure a share for my Laptop (running Ubuntu). Its not worth the hassle. Very few home users need a NAS device.

Cheers, smccarrick. Good thing you told me that.

kdouglas

mickoneill30 wrote:

Your pictures show one firewire port and the second is USB. So they're not the same. You can't just use a different cable. You're device needs to support the relevant interface.

????

both the pictures cormie posted are firewire ports, one is a 4-pin (mini) and the other is a standard firewire connection, its like the difference between usb and mini-usb ports used on digital camera's

not completely sure you can use a 4-pin firewire with a normal firewire port though

The_Conductor

kdouglas wrote:

????

both the pictures cormie posted are firewire ports, one is a 4-pin (mini) and the other is a standard firewire connection, its like the difference between usb and mini-usb ports used on digital camera's

not completely sure you can use a 4-pin firewire with a normal firewire port though

The two firewire ports can be used interchangeably- one is 400Mbps the other 800 and the smaller 4 pin port is unpowered (some firewire devices are port powered).

Shane

cormie

Ok thanks, so how would the 4 pin compare to USB-2 for speed? To be honest, I think I'll just go for the USB one, not too bothered if I have to wait another few mins each time I transfer:)

The_Conductor

cormie wrote:

Ok thanks, so how would the 4 pin compare to USB-2 for speed? To be honest, I think I'll just go for the USB one, not too bothered if I have to wait another few mins each time I transfer:)

USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire 400 for small transfers. For large transfers though even Firewire 400 could be a half and hour faster than USB 2.0 (depending on file sizes and quantities).

Firewire is asychronous- it maintains a constant data stream during transfers. USB does not- it starts off fast and then tapers off.

Shane

cormie

Ok thanks, well I'll just be making one initial large transfer and then barely be using it after that so I think I'll just go for the USB only one:) Thanks for all the info!

Jess11

I love computers but don't know enough about adding new hardware. I have a 6 year old computer that a friend built for me. It has give us great service. Never a problem. My 60GB hard Drive is nearly full and am wondering if that 500 GB could be used effectivly with my old computer. It has just a 1000Mhz processor . Jess

cormie

It could indeed Jess. Using this hard drive wouldn't necessarily mean adding new hardware, you'd simply need to plug it into a usb port and away you go (and you may need to install some drivers, which will take 2 minutes). If you've only managed to fill 60GB in 6 years, you may not really need a 500GB HD so a smaller/cheaper one could be a better choice?

Ruu_Old

Any idea if the USB ports are USB 2.0 or 1.1, Jess11? That can make a difference with the transfer speeds.

cormie

yeah it would, 6 years old could be either 1 or 2, but with 1, as far as I know, you'd have no problems playing music or videos direct from the drive without need to transfer

Jess11

Thanks for that info Cormie and Ruu. It had USB 1 ports and I put in a few USB 2 ports. With my sons playing the latest games, which seem to take up so much space, I probably will need the 500Gb drive. Thanks again. Jess

cormie

Hmm.. somebody else could probably advise better on this, but I don't think games would work too well being played from an external HD on USB 1, or even 2

But if you could arrange everything so that only the games stay on the C drive and everything else (movies or whatever) go on the external then it should be fine:)

BostonB

cormie wrote:

Hmm.. somebody else could probably advise better on this, but I don't think games would work too well being played from an external HD on USB 1, or even 2

But if you could arrange everything so that only the games stay on the C drive and everything else (movies or whatever) go on the external then it should be fine:)

I used to play games no problem from a USB2 external drive.

BostonB

smccarrick wrote:

The two firewire ports can be used interchangeably- one is 400Mbps the other 800 and the smaller 4 pin port is unpowered (some firewire devices are port powered).Shane

How do you know that 2nd port is a FW800? It could as easily be a FW400 9 pin. They look the same. AFAIK. I could be wrong though.

First port is a IEEE-1394a 4 pin (FW400)
Second is either a IEEE-1394a 9 pin (FW400) or IEEE-1394b 9 pin (FW800)

FireWire 800 (Apple's name for the 9-pin "S800 bilingual" version of the IEEE 1394b standard) was introduced commercially by Apple in 2003. This newer 1394 specification and corresponding products allow a transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s with backwards compatibility to the slower rates and 6-pin connectors of FireWire 400.

http://en.wikipedia.org/?title=IEEE_1394

The full IEEE 1394b specification connector is different
http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200310/GAk8NNAP_1394b.jpg
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/assets/combogb5.jpg
http://www.avastor.com/images/hdx800lg.jpg

There seems plenty of converter cables to connect different types of FW together. They seem to be called bilingual cables.
http://www.provantage.com/~55APFWR_TRPA.htm

Lord Oz

Does the firewire drive need a powered connection? My laptop has a 4pin connector, if I used a 6pin to 4pin adapter and the power supply would the drive work?

The_Conductor

Lord Oz wrote:

Does the firewire drive need a powered connection? My laptop has a 4pin connector, if I used a 6pin to 4pin adapter and the power supply would the drive work?

The drive needs a power supply, regardless of which connection you use.

Lord Oz

So it would work with a 4pin firewire port?

The_Conductor

Lord Oz wrote:

So it would work with a 4pin firewire port?

Yes, certainly. You may however require a different cable (the large connection at one end, the small at the other.)

colmranger

Just thought i would throw this offer in,

Looks very good value to me;)

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=115248&DOY=25m4&c=dow

cormie

iBood have a 500GB on offer for the next 22 hours. Same network idea, are treckstor any good?

The_Conductor

cormie wrote:

are treckstor any good?

I've never heard of them, but from googling them- its one hell of a nice looking device. Reviews from previous purchasers all seem to be favourable (all the reviews I could find were in German though).

cormie

smccarrick wrote:

I've never heard of them, but from googling them- its one hell of a nice looking device. Reviews from previous purchasers all seem to be favourable (all the reviews I could find were in German though).

Reviews of Treckstor or this item in particular?

The_Conductor

cormie wrote:

Reviews of Treckstor or this item in particular?

Lol. Unfortunately Treckstor, not the product in particular.
I wasn't able to find it at all

daveg

http://www.ibood.com/site/eu/ibood.php?affiliate=iboodmail

Lord Derpington

judging by the price of the product here and here i think this could be a pretty good offer. One im gonna seriously consider.
Although i like the idea of the media player that was on here earlier, hooking the hdd straight up to the tv could really save on dvd's.
Anyone andea if i could use the network port on this to transfer data instead of the usb cos thats 100 MBit so were talkin serious speed for transfers.

cormie

just noticed komplett have reduced the HD in my original post to €129+delivery. Anyone remember what it was when I first linked it?