are portable hard drives good for media playback

biggebruv

like bluray quality files would they stutter from it only been usb powered

i need a replacement hard drive but duno if i should go with portable or external any thoughts from people who have/had both??

AndyBoBandy

They are fine, get a USB 3 capable HD (though USB 2 works fine as well), and you'll be all set

I have all my movies on a 2TD portable WD, and TV Shows on a 1TB portable WD,

just don't buy some cheap Chinese HD, in my opinion, you can't go wrong with Western Digital,

biggebruv

ok got my portable 2tb WD drive wont be able to transfer till later might start it tonight and leave it

the portable wd is 3.0 but the old WD external drive i have is only 2.0 so when im transfering these big files will i still be getting 2.0 speeds ??

i have 2 3.0usb ports on my laptop

AndyBoBandy

Maybe, it'll take a few hours, but it's a 1 time deal, and in my opinion, the slower the write the better the file quality

ED E

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

the slower the write the better the file quality

Yes, you will be USB2.0 capped.

USB2.0 is plenty for 1080 bluray rips so chances are you have a crappy enclosure if its not working.

enniscorthy

hi all while on the topic anybody know if you can use an older usb 2 hard drive on a brand new laptop with usb 3 slots without any issues

AlmightyCushion

enniscorthy wrote: »

hi all while on the topic anybody know if you can use an older usb 2 hard drive on a brand new laptop with usb 3 slots without any issues

Yeah it'll work fine. USB 2 and 3 are fully compatible, they'll just with at USB 2 speeds.

Digital Solitude

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

the slower the write the better the file quality

Lowers the change of stuff going wrong when writing to CD/DVD afaik, there's literally zero quality difference to CD/DVD or Hard Drives