VideoHelp Forum
+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2
1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 30 of 51
Thread
  1. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    I've never bought one of these before but my son needs a bigger harddrive than what came with his Dell desktop so I'm trying to find a good deal on a 500GB external drive. He will strictly use this for putting on all his cds and backing up some dvds. I'm looking at three drives at newegg but would like an opinion on which would be best:

    1. Fantom Titanium-II TFD500U16 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $120 plus shipping with a 1 year warranty. Actually this has a $25 rebate until June 30th which gets it down to $95.

    2 Seagate FreeAgent Desktop ST305004FDA1E1-RK 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $135 plus shipping with a 5 year warranty.

    3. Western Digital
    Western Digital My Book Essential WDG1U5000N 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $125 plus shipping with a 1 year warranty.

    I've never heard of Fantom before, do you think it's any good or should I stay with a name brand like the Seagate or Western Digital? It doesn't matter how cheap it is if it turns out to be crap.

    I believe the Seagate is formatted to NTFS while the Fantom and Western Digital are fat32, my son's computer is running XP Pro.

    Which brands would be the most reliable or is there such a thing when dealing with harddrives?

    So which is the best drive? Do I go with the cheapest (Fantom for $95 plus ship) or Seagate because it has a 5 year warranty or Western Digital which I've heard makes pretty good drives?
    Quote Quote  
  2. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    666th portal
    Search Comp PM
    i use one of these adaptors -
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102

    and any drive i wish. i've used it many times to retrieve data off of hard drives removed from dead laptops and desktops also.
    --
    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
    Quote Quote  
  3. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    USA
    Search Comp PM
    I didn't see what brand drive that Phantom had internally. But the WD or the Seagate would be good choices. I don't have any experience with the 500GB Seagates, but I've used quite a few of the 320GB drives. Now that Maxtor is a part of Seagate their reliability has been questioned by some. WDs seem to be popular.

    The format, NTFS or FAT32 is not a big deal because you can do a quick format within Windows to convert them to the preferred NTFS format. FAT32 is commonly used with some Macs, so that may be why they used it, for better compatibility. I would convert to NTFS as FAT32 is limited on file size to about 4GB, which can be a problem with video files.

    JMO, but I'd probably go with the WD and reformat to NTFS.

    But if I had the option, I would greatly prefer to install a second internal hard drive in the computer. It will operate much quicker and you won't have to worry about USB problems if you have other USB devices on the bus.
    Quote Quote  
  4. Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Ireland
    Search Comp PM
    I've been using Western Digital My Book Essential WDG1U5000N 500GB for a couple of months now and I'm very happy with it. Re-formated it to NTFS and never had a problem with it. Don't know about the others but would definitely recommend this one.
    Quote Quote  
  5. Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    U.S.A.
    Search Comp PM
    I wouldn't use one of those adapters on a permanent basis (it leaves your drive vulnerable to bumps). I would look for a metal external case that has a fan in it. Hard drives can run pretty hot if they aren't fanned and a hot-running drive usually dies prematurely.

    Another alternative is to make your own external drive by using an internal drive and putting it inside a 3.5" external case. This way you can choose which brand of drive and what style of case you like. If you can connect a couple cables and tighten a few screws that's all there is to putting together your own. See the external enclosures at NewEgg:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090092+1053807123&name=3.5%22
    Quote Quote  
  6. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    I believe the Fantom has a WD drive but not sure how good of one. Okay I guess it's between the Seagate and WD then. So the Seagate having a 5 year warranty verse the WD only having a 1 year really doesn't mean much, I mean don't they stand behind them?

    I'm afraid I don't know how to reformat from fat32 to NTFS how complicated is this? If I'm not able to do that I'll probably have to go with the Seagate even though I'm getting the impression you guys feel the WD might be the best way to go.

    I'd probably prefer an internal harddrive but I don't know how to install it.



    Mike
    Quote Quote  
  7. Originally Posted by mccoady
    I'm afraid I don't know how to reformat from fat32 to NTFS how complicated is this?
    Open My Computer, right click on drive, select format, select NTFS, press Start, answer yes when asked if your sure, wait, done.
    Quote Quote  
  8. I would stay away from any enclosure without fans. A lot of people like the Nexstar 3 aluminum enclosures, but I'll tell you now that they run hot. I had a drive reaching 55c-60c, which is hot. The WD MyBook I would stay away from. Do a search and you'll find many people getting Delayed Write Failures when transferring large files over USB2. I had one of these and had the same problem. I couldn't copy my DV-AVI files over to it.

    Antec MX-1
    Here is a good single drive enclosure. It is quiet, has USB2 & eSATA, and a good fan. Just put your own drive in it.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371008

    Sans Digital MS2UT
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111006
    I recently bought this at Fry's and it works great. I put two 500GB Maxtor drives in it for RAID1. Includes built-in Hardware RAID, auto-rebuild, and has eSATA. Fans are a little small though and don't push too much air. Enclosure temp is 45c while operating. eSATA is the way to go for transferring large files and working with video. USB2/Firewire400/800 are too slow for my needs.
    Quote Quote  
  9. Member classfour's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    The Heartland, United States
    Search Comp PM
    I have a Fantom - got it at a great price.

    It's already been back once.

    It's out of warranty.

    The thing drops the USB connection. I've had similar behaviour with external enclosures with bad boards (the cheap ones).

    It doesn't have a fan. If I were betting, I'd say Fantom picked up all the Maxtor's that were on sale when Seagate bought them out.

    I wouldn't buy another one - even at a barn burner price: And the price you have isn't for one of these.
    ;/ l ,[____], Its a Jeep thing,
    l---L---o||||||o- you wouldn't understand.
    (.)_) (.)_)-----)_) "Only In A Jeep"
    Quote Quote  
  10. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    USA
    Search Comp PM
    If you want to consider installing a internal hard drive, here's a couple of guides. The first one is a video and the second is an illustrated guide:

    http://video.about.com/pcsupport/SecondIDEharddrive.htm

    http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYSecHD.htm

    There are quite a few more guides available with a Google search for ' installing a second hard drive '

    Most any computer case has the mounts for a additional hard drive. And it's common that the connectors are already available in the case. You just need to set the jumpers and plug it in. If you have SATA hard drives, even easier, no jumpers. But before purchasing a bare hard drive, you should open your computer case and see what might be needed.

    And even if you do go with a external drive, you can usually extract the drive out of the external case at some point in the future and install it into the computer case if wanted. So you are covered both ways. The usual downside of USB or even FireWire hard drives is that they are slower than internal drives and can be problematic at times. But if you are just using them for file storage and don't need high speed, they work fine.
    Quote Quote  
  11. Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Australia
    Search Comp PM
    If you going to use externals , then get your son to follow the correct procedure on disconnecting the device .

    Close windows explore
    Close any program that is running that is linked to file from external device
    Click little green arrow icon in system tray
    Sellect correct device to disconnect
    Wait till windows says ok
    Turn power off to device
    Remove attached cable .

    Beware :

    External devices should not be powered up before connecting or short may result .
    Camcorders , connect power , set to correct mode , connected to pc , then pc switched on .

    ----

    I have an avlink (320gig seagate) + Jvc gr-dvl520ea (hell ... dose whats needed)
    Quote Quote  
  12. ...C O P Y L E F T JohnnyBob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Earth
    Search PM
    I've had an external 250G WD USB drive for a few months and haven't had any problems with it. Picked it up on sale at Staples for about $80. I use it constantly for ripping DVD movies. It came with fat32 but reformatting to ntfs was quick & easy. Installation was automatic, just follow the instructions. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another but this one is big enough for my purposes. My only suggestion is to make sure you get the right kind. There are SATA and ATA versions. Most older computers use ATA (IDE), while many newer computers use SATA. SATA is faster.

    There are spinup delays with any external USB drive. It spins down automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity. You have to wait 10-15 seconds for the darned thing to spinup at various times, such as if you open Windows Explorer. It's an annoyance, but that's built into the op system and there's no way to fix it. There is also an unnecessary little green icon in systray whenever you install a USB device, and there's no way to get rid of it either. On the positive side, I find that I can rip DVD movies to the external drive while multitasking on my internal drives with no apparent slowdown or interference. I can also burn DVDs from the external USB drive while programs are running/multitasking on my internal drives, but I'm careful not to manually open/close any programs or perform any mouse operations while burning. I also turn off network activity such as antivirus updating and email polling while burning. Speed of data transfer to/from the external USB drive and an internal drive is OK, about the same as between my internal IDE drives. However there is a slowdown (about 50%) if transferring data between two files/folders on the external drive itself. Overall I'm happy with the external drive.
    Quote Quote  
  13. Originally Posted by JohnnyBob
    an external 250G WD USB drive... My only suggestion is to make sure you get the right kind. There are SATA and ATA versions. Most older computers use ATA (IDE), while many newer computers use SATA. SATA is faster.
    It doesn't matter if the drive in the USB enclosure is PATA or SATA -- it's a USB device to the computer. If one is buying a drive and enclosure separately the drive has to match what the enclosure was designed for.

    There is no significant difference in speed between PATA and SATA when it comes to external USB. USB throughput is the limiting factor.
    Quote Quote  
  14. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Okay will consider an internal drive but still not ruling out an external. Just opened up my son's Dell E520 and what I'm seeing are two cartridge slots that hold the harddrive. I'm not sure but they may just pop out and you put your drive inside it and then pop the cartridge back in or you just slide the drive in while it's in the case (there's no screws or nothing). There appears to be two small plugs going to his current harddrive but not an IDE cable, can that be? One of the cables goes ahead and extends down (with a plug) to the slot for a second drive, but not the other cable.


    From what I've described above does that mean that there is a SATA drive inside my son's computer? If so are there only two cables going to it or am I not seeing all of them? And is it possible that when adding a second drive it will only have one cable going to it as described above?
    Quote Quote  
  15. It sounds like you have a SATA (serial ATA) drive. PATA uses a wide ribbon cable. For example:



    PATA on top, SATA on the bottom. Both drives will have power cables in addition to the data cables.

    You can also get external SATA drives (eSATA). This would be your fastest option for an external drive.

    Basic SATA and PATA info:

    http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/23/pc_interfaces_101/page14.html
    http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/23/pc_interfaces_101/page15.html
    Quote Quote  
  16. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Confirmed that I have a SATA drive just looked inside his Dell again.

    His internal drive has a blue two wire cable (as Above) plus a 5 wire (different colored wires) also going to it, but only the 5 wire extends down for a second drive.

    So does that mean to hook up a second drive I only will have the 5 wire plug connection?
    Quote Quote  
  17. The 5 wire cable is the power cable and you can probably connect the new drive to the second connector. Some SATA drives use the same old molex connector that PATA drives use. If that's the case you can use a spare molex cable from the power supply or a Y splitter.

    You will need a new data cable for the new drive. Boxed retail drives usually include a cable. One end will plug into the drive, the other into the motherboard -- probably right next to the existing drive's cable.
    Quote Quote  
  18. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Just got off the phone with Dell trying to find out what drive would work with my son's E520 and she said there was only one that would work with it Part Number 341-4295. It a Dell for $200 plus $11 for a data cable, another $11 for a bracket I guess is needed plus $12 in tax, doesn't this seem like a ripoff? And of course I get the pleasure of speaking with someone who can barely talk english.

    Are 500GB internal drives just that more expensive than an external one? Is there another internal drive that would be compatible with the Dell one or am I stuck with buying theirs?
    Quote Quote  
  19. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    USA
    Search Comp PM
    This may be similar to what you have:



    If so, it already has the power connection. You just need a drive and a SATA cable.

    Maybe something like these:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812104150

    That listed drive is a OEM, which means it comes with no accessories, including cables or software. If you want those, select a retail drive.

    If you follow the existing SATA cable (Blue in the screen shot) you should see a second SATA socket. Just connect the SATA cable between the drive and the socket. The cable I listed is a straight cable, you may have a angle cable, but they both work the same.

    The angle cables have left and right versions and it looks like the drive in the screen shot is mounted upside down as the power connector is usually to the left. I've ended up with the wrong angle for the cable before, but with a straight cable, you just turn the connector over. Using a straight cable is much easier that trying to figure which angle you need. Both the power and the SATA cable only go in one way, so no problem on getting them wrong. Some cables have a metal clip to hold them in place, which may be a good idea, but they rarely come loose.

    After you get it all plugged in and powered up the computer, go to:

    Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management (local) Scroll down to your new drive and right click on it, select partition and format it and you are done. Most likely a window will come up before this offering to partition and format the drive and lead you through the process.

    EDIT: Just saw your last post. The mounting system is the only thing I'm not sure about. Maybe they use some sort of bracket that is needed to mount a drive? Most drives use four screws, but that doesn't look like the system with Dell. If it does have a odd mount, you might need their OEM bracket, but all the rest can likely be 'off the shelf.' parts. I'm also going to assume the Dell BIOS will see the drive and you won't have to deal with that.

    I guess, to add: If this all seems too 'adventurous' for you, don't hesitate to go with your original idea of a external USB drive. Or optionally, get the SATA drive and the cable and possibly the mounting bracket if needed and give it a try. If it can't be done easily enough, just pick up a external USB enclosure that can use a SATA drive and put your new drive in there. Even with that method, you really haven't lost anything, just the price of the bracket and the SATA cable. It's nice to have options.
    Quote Quote  
  20. Puting the SATA in the computer will be much faster. That model Dell should have a couple of free SATA ports on the Motherboard.

    With SATA one drive per cable.

    Segate honors their warranty but how does that help when it dies in a year or two and takes your data with it.

    Hard Drives: It is only when they die not if! Back it up and avoid a drive to the local computer store asking can you get my data back? They come in all the time at work. If the drives till spin then usually the data can be recovered.

    Keep in mind also that no warranty covers your data on the drive. You send it in and they give a newly refrubed drive returned to like new condition and no partitons or formatting on Internal drives.

    Warranty won't protect you against OOPS, I didn't mean to erase that. Nor ptotect against corrupted drive data due to power outages or viruses.

    Back it up. Back it up. Back it up. I can't say that often enough.
    Quote Quote  
  21. redwudz, if you look at that picture you'll see the two blue plastic clips that are designed to be squeezed to remove the drive. No Screws on that Dell. If it is missing then you need to find one, Via Dell or The internet or A store that has a duff Dell.

    If the OP was in Central Jersey I could sell them one cheap but Kansas is a no go. We don't seel via shipping. So they need to try the stores locally. They may also have a spare bracket in their. Some Dells do, some don't.

    Also take note of the non standard size power supply, That Dells is larger than a standard ATX.

    We just parted one out that had a bad Mobo. Dell being Dell you'd need a Dell Mobo. For $40 we got P4 3Ghz, 512 ddr2, PS, Two Opticals, & PCIe video.
    Quote Quote  
  22. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Boy what great pictures! Yes it looks exactly like your computer picture. I traced the blue SATA back to the board and beside it is another socket but it's being used for the dvd drive. There are a couple more sockets kind of in the middle of the circuit board, would these be for more SATA connections (I would hate to plug in the wrong place)?

    Your picture shows only one blue bracket holding the drive but mine already has another one there so maybe I don't need to buy one.

    So bottom line you're saying I don't have to buy the expensive Dell drive I can use the one from your link. You mentioned the Dell BIOS maybe not recognizing the off the shelf parts, how big a chance is that?
    Quote Quote  
  23. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    USA
    Search Comp PM
    I've only worked on a few Dells, and not in the BIOS at all. Most computers are set by default to check for new drives on boot up. Some can be set not to, but that would be uncommon. Does your motherboard have connectors similar to these?'



    Those are eight SATA sockets, which is a little unusual, but that's from a upper end MB. SATA drives don't usually care which socket they are plugged into, the BIOS handles that.

    If you have the mounting bracket already, great.

    As mentioned, worst case, the MB doesn't detect the drive, you look into BIOS settings. If it all fails, you can still fall back on a external USB case. And even that will usually be cheaper than a pre-assembled USB drive. I would get one with a fan if you go with a external case.
    Quote Quote  
  24. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Called Dell tech support this time and he said most drives should work with the E520 as long as it's a SATA. Also said you could check the voltages to see if they match up but he didn't know what the dell's voltage was.

    He said there should be other sockets scattered about the circuit board which I guess is what I've found. Just to be sure if it's the right socket to plug into, if the plug fits then that to be it right? I just unplugged the cable going from dvd drive to one of the extra SATA and it fit so I guess I answered my own question.

    I took out my current drive and it is a Samsung HD160 JJ/P SATA 7200 RPM.

    So you're saying that if I get a new drive and the MB doesn't detect it, then that same drive can still be used with a USB connection?

    Going to order the drive and cable you listed>
    Quote Quote  
  25. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Before I forget, when I get the new drive won't it already be formatted? Or will it be formatted to fat32 and you're saying I need to reformat to NTFS?

    I've never formatted before so hopefully I can follow your instructions and it won't ask me something along the way I won't know how to answer. How long should this take?

    Just to be sure (never had an extra drive) my son should be able to drag and drop all of his music files from his current drive to the new one? Also when burning cds he should be able to select any of the music files (on the new drive) from within nero and burn them?
    Quote Quote  
  26. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    USA
    Search Comp PM
    Yes, you could always use the drive in a external USB drive enclosure that accepts SATA drives.

    I'm not sure what the guy meant about voltages. All drives use the standard 5VDC and 12VDC. I'd just ignore that. If you added too many drives or PCI cards, you might run low on power, but SATA drives don't use much power compared to DVD drives, for instance. At least you got some useful info otherwise.

    Here's an illustration of the drive connections:



    EDIT: To answer your last questions:

    Bare drives aren't formatted or partitioned normally. It only takes a second or two to partition. But to format that large of drive would take probably an hour or so. Or you can quick format in a few minutes. The longer way is preferable, especially with a large drive as it does error checking on the drive. Use NTFS format.

    When you are done, it should perform just like the other drive. The OS will assign it a drive letter.
    Quote Quote  
  27. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    kansas
    Search Comp PM
    Okay before I let you go, about the reformatting process[/quote]Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management (local) Scroll down to your new drive and right click on it, select partition and format it and you are done. Most likely a window will come up before this offering to partition and format the drive and lead you through the process.

    Since I've never done this before is there any specific questions it might ask me I might not know how to answer?
    Quote Quote  
  28. Originally Posted by mccoady
    Just to be sure (never had an extra drive) my son should be able to drag and drop all of his music files from his current drive to the new one?
    Drag and drop with the left mouse button will copy the files from one drive to the other. If you drag and drop with the right button you will have the choice of copying, moving, or creating a shortcut. You can drag and drop entire folders and trees.

    Originally Posted by mccoady
    Also when burning cds he should be able to select any of the music files (on the new drive) from within nero and burn them?
    Yes.

    Another thing: Your current hard drive is probably C and your DVD burner D. After installing and formatting your new drive the drive letter for the DVD burner could change. The new drive might become D and the DVD burner E. You can use the Disk Management utility to assign drive letters.
    Quote Quote  
  29. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    USA
    Search Comp PM
    It will probably show as a 'Wizard' window to say it found a new drive and do you want to partition and format it? You want to use the Basic, not dynamic setting. For partitions, you want to choose Primary, not extended. It will ask how many partitions. I always use only one and use folders to divide the drive.

    Some people like partitions and it does help if you need to do searches or run a antivirus program on the drive. When you have multiple partitions, each one shows up as a separate hard drive in 'My Computer'.

    Then it may ask you which format you want to use. I only use NTFS. FAT32 has file size limitations, as mentioned.

    There's not much more to it than that. Formating creates a file system for the drive.

    If the the hard drive is a retail version it may come with a format and utility disc. Or you can go to the drive manufacturer's site and download the program. I just use the Windows partition and format utilities.

    As jagabo mentioned about drive letters. You might want to assign a drive letter to your new drive when you partition and format it. Maybe call it 'M'. , for music. That way your DVD drive letters won't change. Your programs may look to a certain DVD drive for storage, if it changes it might cause some problems.
    Quote Quote  
  30. Member buttzilla's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Deep Space Nine
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by mccoady
    I've never bought one of these before but my son needs a bigger harddrive than what came with his Dell desktop so I'm trying to find a good deal on a 500GB external drive. He will strictly use this for putting on all his cds and backing up some dvds. I'm looking at three drives at newegg but would like an opinion on which would be best:

    1. Fantom Titanium-II TFD500U16 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $120 plus shipping with a 1 year warranty. Actually this has a $25 rebate until June 30th which gets it down to $95.

    2 Seagate FreeAgent Desktop ST305004FDA1E1-RK 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $135 plus shipping with a 5 year warranty.

    3. Western Digital
    Western Digital My Book Essential WDG1U5000N 500GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $125 plus shipping with a 1 year warranty.

    I've never heard of Fantom before, do you think it's any good or should I stay with a name brand like the Seagate or Western Digital? It doesn't matter how cheap it is if it turns out to be crap.

    I believe the Seagate is formatted to NTFS while the Fantom and Western Digital are fat32, my son's computer is running XP Pro.

    Which brands would be the most reliable or is there such a thing when dealing with harddrives?

    So which is the best drive? Do I go with the cheapest (Fantom for $95 plus ship) or Seagate because it has a 5 year warranty or Western Digital which I've heard makes pretty good drives?
    I would stick to the western digital or seagate. As for the fat32 you can reformat to ntfs as i did with my western digital my book. I think western digital makes better drives my self.
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

Visit our sponsor! Try DVDFab and backup Blu-rays!