External Hard Drives in External Box

[soulandy]

I am running window XP home and been thinking of getting an external HD. I was told to go for the normal HD and get the USB 3.5" External Box. I do I set this up? Is it just plug and play or do I have to partition it? If I do, How do I go about doing that? the HD will be about 250gig
Cheers

[redwudz]

For an external hard drive, I wouldn't use USB, but that is my personal opinion. Firewire is much more dependable. And if you have a newer computer with a SATA interface, even better. External SATA drives operate at the same speed as internal SATA drives. You can also pick up a SATA PCI card to use for that purpose. SATA hard drives are usually close to the same price as a regular PATA hard drive.

For external drives, though, set the drive as master with the jumper on the back and plug it in. Then, unless the OS recognizes it and offers to format it, you would use Disk Management for formatting.

Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management. You should see your drive there. Right click on it and select 'format'. And you are done.

[waheed]

soulandy, you're from the same area as me (well im in Rochdale). In the UK, prices for PATA and SATA are very similar. So if your motherboard does support SATA (according to your comp spec and quick google, it does), go with SATA. As your from Manchester, id recommend Microdirect (on Upper Brook St or Stockport Road) and check out:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=9946&GroupID=0

with both USB2.0 and SATA connectivity for SATA drives. This is the exact one I also bought using SATA. The choice of drive is up to you.

[redwudz]

If you are interested in a SATA external drive, you might try to locate one of these. It makes a nice setup for internal SATA connectors. It connects to the internal SATA socket. It's about $12US.



If not, you can either find a PCI slot plate with a hole in it or drill a blank one and use a grommet around the hole. SATA cables can be up to 1 meter, so if you find a long cable, you could put the drive anywhere you want it.

[Prot]

I would have to go with a external drive. I do have SATA, but both connections are used with internal drives.
Redwuz,
You are correct about Firewire, altho you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at transfer speeds alone. USB 2.0 is slightly faster according to specs, but Firewire has a faster "burst transfer", making it a better choice overall for moving large files.