DVD burner or External HD

norbert64

Hey ppl, need your advice. I bought a Laptop @ the start of 2004, with only a 40 GB HD. Subseqently got BB which opened up a whole new land of opportunity 4 me. Unfortunately as you can imagine, my HD gets used up pretty quickly. So i've had to burn all my data to CD. Currently @ 60 GB of movies, pix etc on CD-R's with another 20 GB to burn @ the moment.

So i ask you, would it be better to buy a DVD burner to store all my data, or should I buy an Xternal HD to store everything.I wouldn't nessecarily want to make playable DVD's with the DVD burner, but i might get into it so it is a possibility. I did some shopping and & i found a 120 GB Iomega Xternal HD for 169 euro. Does that sound good or would the DVD burner still be the better option.

Thanx in advance.

RobertFoster

Why not get yourself an internal HDD? komplett have a 200GB one for ~€95.

norbert64

Cheers Rob for the suggestion. Sorry though, i should've specified it's a laptop, with an Xtra 2 years warranty so i'd rather not go putting anything inside it. Thanx again.

iganokage

i think robert meant something along the lines of buying the 200GB IDE 3.5" drive for under €100 and then buying an external case for it like so:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=123721&cks=PRL

thisll turn the internal HDD into an external HDD, for €45 extra. 200GB external drive for €145 aint bad also u can always swap out the drive for upgrading etc, something you can't do with dedicated external drives.

Tech Overhaul

I have an external 80gb HD for my laptop and it is great. So handy. The only thing was, my laptop didn't have usb 2. But I just got a usb 2 pc card from komplett.

Lenny

iganokage,
so anyoen could just buy an internal drive, and buy that thing you linked too, slot the drive in and you can connect it by usb then?
I never knew there was such a way of doing this

norbert64

Wow, that looks like a pretty sweet set up, thanx Rob & iganokage. I guess it shouldn't matter about the make of Laptop or Internal drive, should it, as would that HD be compatible with my HP Pavillion.
So most of you guys think, my best bet would be to get the big HD then?

Cheers
norbert

RobertFoster

well, it works out cheaper than getting an external one - plus, you get morse space for the money...;)

iganokage

Lenny wrote:

iganokage,
so anyoen could just buy an internal drive, and buy that thing you linked too, slot the drive in and you can connect it by usb then?

indeed. its very handy: more space, less money and upgradeable the case i linked to is one i have, its great cos its the most compact 3.5" IDE external case i could find, but it is quite fiddly to put the drive into it, tiny screws, lil bit of force, etc but alls well once ur done. btw theres also a USB2+Firewire version of the one i linked to, its about €20 more but if u really wanna go thru firewire the option is there then.

np norbert, nope doesnt matter about the make of the laptop or drives or anything in it, as long as u have a free USB(v2.0 recommended) port.

also a quick note: when u have an external case for an 3.5"[standard desktop size HDD] internal drive, you need to plug it into a power outlet also. however with a lot of 2.5"[laptop size HDD] external drives and external cases they can just take power from the USB port (or a 2nd USB port). depends what ur needs are.... 3.5 = cheaper, more storage, fast, but bigger dimensions and needs external power.... 2.5 = quite expensive, less storage, but very small dimensions and often bus powered.

hope some of that helps

RicardoSmith

I have two external USB2 drives a 80gb and a 120gb. Both 7200rpm. I bought two encloures in Maplins and put desktop drives in them. I run my MP3's, Movies, graphics and games from them. Just leave work and business stuff on the laptops drive. I also have all the important data copied from one drive to the other as a backup. I got fed up with archiving to DVD and CD. Too much work and ended up with too many disks. This way is just soooo much easier. For really important stuff I still burn it to a DVD or CD as another backup.

A 3.5 (7200) drive is fast and cheap. Using a 2.5 (7200) drive is better but a lot more expensive. With 200GB disks getting so cheap it makes so much sense. I've about a 20gb mp3 collection. There simple no easier way to manage abd backup this size of data except by using a couple of HD's. Same with digital photos and movies and graphics etc.

I'll probably upgrade to a couple of 160gb drives soon enough too. If you are planning to run the drives for long periods of time, its worth getting an enclosure that cools well and even has a fan in it.

NotMe

iganokage wrote:

i think robert meant something along the lines of buying the 200GB IDE 3.5" drive for under €100 and then buying an external case for it like so:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=123721&cks=PRL

thisll turn the internal HDD into an external HDD, for €45 extra. 200GB external drive for €145 aint bad also u can always swap out the drive for upgrading etc, something you can't do with dedicated external drives.

That's great! I've been trying to decide between getting an internal hd or an external one and I was gonna go for external so I can connect it to my computer or laptop. But internal + case ... much better. More memory and cheaper too.

*edit*
Would you recommend this one:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=301928&cks=PRL

It's €11 more and it has a built in fan.

RicardoSmith

The only problem with fans is that sometimes they are noisy. I have one thats noisy and one that isn't. Trying to find a replacment for the noisy one at the moment. Its 30mm and they are hard to find. Most of them are 40mm. Some of the aluminium enclosures claim they are better at cooling. Not convinced myself.

Lenny

Does it come with the plug for the power supply I'm asuming?
Thats great, if i had of known this a few weeks ago..
Because I want to get rid of my 2 80gig drives but wasn't looking forward to backing all the stuff up to dvd... but might transfare it to the 200gig and then remove one of the 80s and sell it off

iganokage

notme, yea that one seems cool (literally! hehe), its aluminium AND has a fan, mines just aluminium cooled... so thats got the best of both worlds, altho like ricardo said some fans can be noisy, coupled with the sound of the drive might be annoying...

yup lenny, the case i linked to earlier (the one i have) comes with both european 2pin and the UK 3 pin leads so you pick whichever u want and plug into the AC adapter.

NotMe

Well I've just ordered my internal drive and case from Komplett.