External Hard disk recommendation - 160-200GB

[thecenter]

hi !

I'm interested in buying an external HD - somewhere around 160-200GB.
I know of two products: Maxtor one-touch 200GB and Western Digital 160Gb.
Someone has any idea or experience with either one of them ?
Any other product ?

Thanks.

[ViRaL1]

I have an older model, the Personal Storage 5000DV (120GB) and I haven't had any problems with it at all. Although, you may be able to find a good price on an internal drive and choose your own external case for the same price or less.

[Dr. DOS]

sometimes you can find a lower price on USB2 only models. I would like to also find a exernal but with firewire. But... if the price is cheaper for USB I may lean that way... but are they slower than Fwire? Is Fwire a better xfer channel for HD data transfer?

[HatchetMan]

I have a 250GB 7200rpm Hitachi HDD (from zipzoomfly) in an external usb2.0 Bytecc enclosure (from newegg) and am VERY pleased with it and yes - usb2.0 (480mb/s) is faster than firewire 1394a (400mb/s).

[stiltman]

I have the maxtor 160gb external one touch with USB2 and Firewire. Got a screaming deal on it at Office Max for $99. Their sales ad was showing it and the scew was for an internal Anyway, I like it. I didn't install all their stuff, I just use it as a firewire device. I also have a usb2/firewire enclosure that I can put HDDs and DVD/CDs in, and it's been real good

[Dr. DOS]

@Stilt... who makes your enclosure?

[stiltman]

@Stilt... who makes your enclosure?

can't remember off hand. do a search on external enclosures in this forum and you will see my links to what I bought and links to my combo card

[Soopafresh]

Even though the USB 2.0 spec is faster than 1394 Firewire, the data transfer is faster with Firewire. Also, the PC CPU utilization is lower when you transfer data through Firewire.

It's terrific that most new motherboards these days have both choices, but for an external HD, look for Firewire capability.

[Capmaster]

Even though the USB 2.0 spec is faster than 1394 Firewire, the data transfer is faster with Firewire. Also, the PC CPU utilization is lower when you transfer data through Firewire.

It's terrific that most new motherboards these days have both choices, but for an external HD, look for Firewire capability.

I'll chime in and say I agree. Firewire is better for moving large amounts of data quickly

[vitualis]

In Australia at least, getting an enclosure and buying a HDD is MUCH cheaper than getting a "premade" product.

And I concur with the above. Firewire is quite a bit faster than USB 2.0 for things like external HDD. The "peak" transfer rate of USB2.0 may be faster than Firewire, but it is almost irrelevant in the real world.

Regards.

[hech54]

I've got a Maxtor 120GB One Touch. Haven't set up the One Touch feature yet. It works perfectly.....so far...