New harddrive for Laptop

ubu

My laptop hdd is full so I need another one, afaik you can't add a second internal hdd to a laptop (Dell Inspiron 510m) so I guess I'll need to go down the external hdd route.
The price of external hdds is a bit steep though and I've read about using regular 3.5" IDE drives as external ones using enclosures connected to the pc via USB.
Would this be the better option to go for rather than shelling out on an external hdd?
How hard is it to set it all up? Does it need it's own fan? I take it, it will need a power supply? Also where can you get these enclosures?

I was looking at the Dell site for replacement HDDs for the laptop here , but that is damn expensive and I don't really want to have to replace the existing HDD as that will mean moving everything from it to the new one.

What is my best option? Thanks in advance.

NotMe

I bought this and this last Monday. They arrived today. The enclosure has it's own power supply and it has a fan. You can get cheaper ones without a fan. It really is the best option I think. I can store files that I don't need to keep on my laptop all the time plus I can connect it to my computer aswell.

ubu

What about something like this for an extra 35 odd euro?, would the fact that it doesnt have a fan take away from it?
I think ill invest in something along those lines anyway, dont really have any other viable options..

lomb

id go with a 35euro enclosure and a 200 gb desktop hard disk. firstly u get 3 year gaurantee with desktop hd and secondly when ur laptop is dead u can use that drive in a future desktop for ghosting and backing up. much better buy.

NotMe

Also if you have the enclosure you can connect any harddrive to your laptop. Could be handy if your desktop stops working... you can take out the harddrive put it in the enclosure and access the files on your laptop.

ubu

NotMe wrote:

Also if you have the enclosure you can connect any harddrive to your laptop. Could be handy if your desktop stops working... you can take out the harddrive put it in the enclosure and access the files on your laptop.

Good point, ill have a bit more of a look around and make a decision, seems like the best option tho, 34megs of memory left, and the thing keeps reminding me of it aswell!

sceptre

ubu wrote:

here , but that is damn expensive

Indeed and it is. Any of these would be considerably cheaper. The odds are reasonable that the hard drive available from Dell is a travelstar as well (see the price diference between komplett and your link with that in mind) though it could be a Fujitsu or summat else. The drive on the 510m is pretty easy to swap out (two screws on the outside, just pull it out, and four on the drive cage IIRC - it's not like the X300 where you actually have to completely take the machine apart to even see the hard drive). Assuming that you currently have a drive of a reasonable size (say 30GB or up) you'll end up with the same problem though - if you're the type who can fill 30GB you can probably just as easily fill 60. NotMe's suggestion sounds best then (easiest, potentially cheapest and with the greatest potential for further upgrades), though as you're aware you'll be carrying some extra weight when you travel.

ubu

Yea Sceptre 'tis a 40gig hard drive, and with the joys of broadband your prob right, theres not much point in getting a 60 or even 80 gig hdd and filling that up in a few months coz ill be back to the same problem again.
The only thing thats putting me off is the extra weight as you say, but i guess its something i can live with, especially when it'll leave me with 200 gigs of extra space!

Capt'n Midnight

use spacemonger to see what is using up your drive.

also in the past I've seen dell laptop upgrades from 40GB to 80GB cost more than buying an extra 80GB drive elsewhere - a no brainer.

only thing about a 3.5" drive is that it would need a power adaptor since it can't just run off USB like 2.5" drive.

sceptre

To save on the weight you could go for one of these (edit: the 2.5s listed on the page, just noticed the 3.5s are there too) instead and put a laptop hard drive in it. Rather lighter as it'd weigh about the same as an ipod. Considerably smaller too. Downside is that the hard drive that goes in it will be more expensive than getting a 3.5 incher. And the available capacity will be smaller (Fujitsu do a 100GB notebook drive but it'll cost you (about 150 sterling) and I don't know if they get any bigger than that at the moment).

To be honest in addition to a hard drive solution (which I'd personally go for in either the 2.5 or 3.5 solutions (probably the 2.5 due to the weight)) you could do worse than to invest in a DVD writer, assuming you haven't already, and at least back some of your stuff up in a decent way as well as organising what you have and having it to hand. Guessing that the modular Dell drive available for your laptop isn't your ideal solution due to cost (few hundred euros if I recall rightly) you'd be going with a full-size writer drive (I got a nice NEC3520 for 55 UKP including delivery from overclockers lately) in the same size enclosure you'd be putting a 3.5 inch drive in.

Makaveli

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

use spacemonger to see what is using up your drive.

About 8,000 mp3s are using up his hard drive.

ubu

Makaveli wrote:

About 8,000 mp3s are using up his hard drive.

Yeah, not far off!

the dvd writer is something i want to get but again your right Sceptre, the Dell option is just a small bit on the expensive side :rolleyes:
So if i bought a full size dvd writer would i have to use that in an enclosure aswell? sorry for the stupid questions, i have a limited knowledge but overall im fairly clueless on the whole subject so all your help so far is really appreciated

sceptre

ubu wrote:

So if i bought a full size dvd writer would i have to use that in an enclosure aswell?

Yeah. The same enclosure as for a 3.5 IDE hard drive would almost certainly work (can someone say for definite whether I'm right on this?)

sorry for the stupid questions

They're not stupid questions. And in any case they're leading you towards a long-term solution so who cares if they are (heh, which they're not)

I've been putting my mp3s on CDs nicely organised into folders and with a nice database so I can find the relevant disc quickly. So I've got a few hundred of the things (just shy of a thousand discs) and I'm running with a hundred or so DVDs instead when I can get them organised some time in the next few months (though obviously I'll be backing them all up twice out of slight paranoia (I'm darned if I'm going to rip everything again, even the good percentage that I can rip again). See, that's the bleak future that eventually awaits you - being stuck in a situation where they don't make a hard drive big enough. Even worse if unlike me you've a penchant for divx as well.

Occidental

sceptre wrote:

Yeah. The same enclosure as for a 3.5 IDE hard drive would almost certainly work (can someone say for definite whether I'm right on this?)

Not always. There are both 3.5" and 5.25" external enclosures available. As long as you get a 5.25" enclosure you're fine.

Pat

Chalk

get a cheap drive and one of these
http://www.cwol.com/usb/usb-2-ide-adapter-ud200.htm

that site is well overpriced
they go on ebay for about a tenner, but its blocked in work so that link is the best i could find
then just put your hdd or dvd drive in a drawer

NotMe

sceptre wrote:

Yeah. The same enclosure as for a 3.5 IDE hard drive would almost certainly work (can someone say for definite whether I'm right on this?)

No, the hard drive enclosures are completely sealed. You need a 5.25" optical drive enclosure for a dvd drive. Something like this.
http://www.cooldrives.com/al5ideopdrce.html

So I've got a few hundred of the things (just shy of a thousand discs)

:eek: Why don't you get an mp3 player? When my computer harddrive got wiped and I lost all my mp3s I just copied them back from my mp3-player and the software put them in artist/album folders.

chalk wrote:

get a cheap drive and one of these
http://www.cwol.com/usb/usb-2-ide-adapter-ud200.htm

That looks handy for quickly attaching drives but if you're going to be carrying the drive around in a bag you'd be better off having a case.

sceptre

NotMe wrote:

No, the hard drive enclosures are completely sealed. You need a 5.25" optical drive enclosure for a dvd drive.

Gah, I'm not thinking straight at all. Thanks for the correction (and to Occidental), I'm mixing apples and pears a bit.

:eek: Why don't you get an mp3 player? When my computer harddrive got wiped and I lost all my mp3s I just copied them back from my mp3-player and the software put them in artist/album folders.

Aye, there's something coming in the post at the moment but strictly for playing rather than as an archive solution. They don't make mp3 players with 4-500GB drives yet unfortunately.

RicardoSmith

I have a couple of external USB2 desktop 3.5" drives, and I use them with my laptop and any other machine I have. I have all my files on one drive and an exact copy of that drive on the other. No need to mess about with DVD's, CD's or MP3 players. I mean how easy is it lose or damage an MP3 player? At the moment I have 1x80 and 1x120 but I'll probably upgrade them both to bigger drives. When you can get 200GB for about €100 and 250GB for not much more. You'd be mad to do it any other way. I run my games, music and movies from the external drive as its quick than the internal drive in the laptop.

ubu

Thanks to everyone for their input, it has really helped,
I think ive come to a decision, the 3.5 hard drive is prob the best option, the 2.5 would be nice but the biggest would be 80/100GB as you say so theres not much point really. if im gonna do it i might as well do it properly and get a 200gig one!
As for the DVD/RW, the one sceptre mentioned seems good, so that and a 5.25 enclosure and that should be all my probs solved, for now at least!
so im looking at getting these so:
200GB Hard Drive : €107
3.5 Case: €55
Plus Delivery from komplett = €172

This DVD/RW: £58(including delivery) so about €83
5.25 Case from komplett:€39

Total overall: €172 for hdd & Case + €122 for DVD/RW & Case = €294

What do you all think?, is that the correct/best/cheapest things to get? im fairly close to ordering all this stuff so any last advise before i do would be great!

RicardoSmith

Looks good. Only think I'd do different would get two 5.25 enclosures so that they look the same. That said I have two of the maplins 3.5 HD enclosures and they are very neat. They take a 30m fan rather than a 40mm fan of the 5.25 enclosures. One of them has got very noisey and it nigh on impossible to get a 30mm fan. 40mm are much easer to find. If you get an enclosure that supports Firewire and USB2 you have the option to use Firewire aswell which is better then USB2. But its not that big a differece to be honest.

Occidental

ubu,

Looks fine. As Ricardo said, I'd go with 2 x 5.25 enclosures to keep them the same.

ubu

tbh it wouldnt bother me if they were different, but i take it its no prob to put the 3.5 hdd into the 5.25 enclosure then.
just saw this NEC DVD/RW on komplett so i think ill just get it all from komplett
so if i get that NEC and the two 5.25's the total including delivery would be 261.40, not bad
ricardo, i have firewire on the laptop, but yea theres not that much a difference so it doesnt bother me that much if its not on the enclosure

On the enclosure, i just noticed that the 5.25 one doesnt get very good reviews on komplett, the only other 5.25 case is this one for €60, would i be better off with this one?

sceptre

ubu wrote:

just saw this NEC DVD/RW on komplett

I don't think they sell it any more. You probably want this one instead (also in silver and white). Only out since about three weeks ago.