Suggestion on external harddrive

[jyeh74]

I am looking at some external harddrives and Western Digital caught my attention. The two I am looking at are:

1) Passport Essentials (500 GB)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=525
Serial Transfer Rate
USB 2.0
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 2.0) 480 Mb/s (Max)
5400 RPM

2) My Book Essential Edition (2 TB)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=580
Serial Transfer Rate
USB 2.0
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 2.0) 480 Mb/s (Max)
Not sure if 5400 or 7200 RPM???

I think there are pros and cons to both. For the passport essential, you are limited on size. They do not go bigger than 500 gigabyte. I think #1 is 5400 RPM, while #2 is 7200 RPM. I'm not too sure I understand what the ramifications of this means. I also want something that is reliable and does not crash. I read #2 crashes more often than #1 does. I want to run my music and movies off my external hard drive, so not sure if the RPM makes it faster or slower. Or am I looking for USB 3.0 for speed?

If someone has deeper insight, or suggestions on other brands like Seagate or Maxtor or others, please let me know.

[greymalkin]

to my knowledge usb 3.0 doesn't yet exist. You want to look for the right price/performance ratio...2gb is probably super expensive b/c it's at the higher end of the capacity spectrum. I would go with the 7200rpm over the 5400 as it should have faster read/write/access times.

Asking for a hard drive not to crash is sort of like wanting to not die. the hard drive has moving parts which will eventually fail. the idea with any digital media you'd like to hold on to is to have a backup. So determine how much space you need, then make sure you have a means of backing them up....so if you need 1tb of space, you'd probably be able to get 2 1tb drives for cheaper than a single 2tb and use one for backup.

check out www.slickdeals.net for good deals on external hard drives..i've seen some crazy deals at target lately.

[jyeh74]

Thanks for the reply. I dont understand what you mean by read and write and access times. I see how 7200 RPM is faster read and access, but defines "write"? When I think of write, I think of a dvd-r burning = writing.

[Krispy Kritter]

Writing is the process of putting data onto media (ie: hard drive, CD, DVD, USB drive, etc.).

For an external drive, 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM won't make any difference, especially when using USB. If it were eSATA or firewire, then it may be noticable depending on how it will be used.

[jyeh74]

Does 5400 RPM vs 7200 RPM really not matter on an external hard drive? Is it because it is limited by the USB 2.0?

I dont know what eSATA is.

[jagabo]

Does 5400 RPM vs 7200 RPM really not matter on an external hard drive? Is it because it is limited by the USB 2.0?

Yes. USB 2.0 has a maximium throughput around 30 MB/s. Most modern drives run from in excess of that (~30 to ~110 MB/s).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2tb-hdd-caviar,2261-7.html

The slowest parts of the smaller drive may have throughput a little lower than 30 MB/s.

Random access will still be slower on the slower drive because it takes longer for the platters to spin around to any particular random location to get the data. Overall drive speed is a mix of throughput and random access time. If you are simply copying a bunch of big video files from one drive to another you will get close to the maximim transfer rate. If you are using a database application that is accessing a very large database randomly you will be limited by the access time.

I dont know what eSATA is.

eSATA is an external version of the SATA interface used internally on modern hard drives. It is much faster (roughly 200 MB/s to 400 MB/s) than USB 2.0. When using SATA or eSATA, the drive will be the limiting factor, not the interface.

[jyeh74]

So you are saying if I get an eSATA external hard drive, it will transfer data faster than the standard 480 mbps ?

[jagabo]

Yes, an eSATA drive will give higher throughput than USB 2 with modern drives and large sequential transfers.

USB's raw throughput is 480 Mb/s (60 MB/s) but the overhead of the USB protocol reduces real world throughput to about 240 Mb/s (30 MB/s). SATA has raw throughput of 1500 to 3000 Mb/s (~200 to ~400 MB/s). Current hard drives, limited by the rotation rate of the drive and density of the data on the platters, run from about 30 to 110 MB/s.

Note:
b=bit
B=Byte
8b = 1B

[Eat Right]

EHD's have a high failure rate compared to any other piece of equipment I've ever seen. Spend one hour reading reviews at Newegg or Amazon and every few minutes you'll come across a reviewer who said, "My EHD crashed on month 6 or month 12."

Mine crashed right around month 6. I backup my data online.

[Krispy Kritter]

Typically because the cases suck. Both in actual quality and especially ventilation, so the drives slow-cook. I use a Blac-X ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071 ) for SATA drives and an external converter ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102 ) for IDE drives. The HDD's are then open to the air so you don't have to worry about heat.

I you need a HDD in a case, such as for transport from location to location, then I'd suggest doing a little research for a quality case and adding your own HDD.

[jyeh74]

What about the smaller EHD that Western Digital makes? They only go up to 500GB. Are these passport essentials still as likely to crash as the bigger 1TB ones?

[jagabo]

What about the smaller EHD that Western Digital makes? They only go up to 500GB. Are these passport essentials still as likely to crash as the bigger 1TB ones?

They use laptop drives which are lower power. Probably less likely to have heat issues.

[jyeh74]

Is eSATA the actual hard drive or just the cable? Does my computer have to have a special port to connect eSATA or just USB?
I found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822204083 but not sure if good.

Based on all the reviews, it seems like people like the smaller and more portable 5400rpm by Western Digital or Seagate. But these are limited to 500GB only. No such thing as eSATA on these for faster speeds.

[jagabo]

You need an eSATA port on your computer to use an eSATA drive. Some drives come with an adapter that will route a SATA port on the motherboard to an eSATA connector at the PCI slots. Here's an eSATA drive that includes the "eSATA bracket":
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822161021

[RabidDog]

I would suggest getting a Dual interface (esata and USb2). ESata for speed of filling it up, USb for general versatility.
Get the biggest HD you can afford.! (1.5tb is sweet ATM)
Get a caddy that has some shock protection. (for transport)
Get one with a very quiet fan or No fan for low noise levels. Media playback.
USb2 easily provides enough bandwidth for multiple HD streams
Get an enclosure that can take two disks and run in Raid mode. (upgradeability)
Get an enclosure that can take four disks and run in raid or JBOD mode.

Passport drives are good but are powered from the USB socket.. not all USB devices put out enough power to spin them up.

And then there's the DAS or NAS conundrum
http://wiki.emdstorage.com/Hardware/DirectAttachedStorage

[jyeh74]

rabidDog, thanks for the reply, but since I have a laptop with usb 2.0, will the eSATA work? How does the dual interface utilize eSATA thru a usb 2.0 output?
I'm thinking of getting a passport essentials from Western Digital since I've read that they have lower disk failure than the normal EHD, but not 100% certain.

[jagabo]

eSATA would be a completely separate connection from USB. It won't be of any use to you unless your laptop has an eSATA port, or you can install a PCCARD with an eSATA port.

[jyeh74]

Since my laptop doesnt have eSATA port, I have to get a regular EHD with usb 2.0. Anyone use the Western Digital Essentials, which have lower power, can comment if they have less power failures than the regular EHD?