Newbie to external drives

[PhilChamberlin]

Hi everyone! I feel a little silly asking this, because to most of you the answer will be so obvious, but what's the deal with external drives? I was looking at some of the cheap ones on pricewatch.com, but I quickly discovered that I didn't know what I was doing. Do I need to buy a drive plus some sort of a case or kit? How do I know if a drive comes with all the necessary stuff? Is there a better option than pricewatch.com?

Thanks, everyone.

Phil

[Force Flow]

Welcome to PCMech, PhilChamberlin :)

There are two ways you can go; get a whole external drive unit (more costly), or get the drive and the external bay seperately (less expensive).

What are you looking for? FireWire or USB? How large of a drive do you want?

[seagull]

Go to NewEgg.com and do a search for Bytecc. Then find a HD to put in it. I just did this.And it is great. 96.00 bucks for an external encloseure + a WD 80 gig HD 7200 RPM with 8 megs of catch. Free shippimg for the setup.

[PhilChamberlin]

Thank you! How much should I expect to spend on the enclosure? (I want a USB drive, by the way.) And when I buy a drive separately, how do I know if it'll be compatible with the enclosure?

All the best,
Phil

[Force Flow]

An enclosure costs roughly $30. So, what you would be looking for is a 3.5" USB enclosure and an IDE HDD. Check out what seagull suggested.

[PhilChamberlin]

This is all very interesting.

OK, so I saw this add on pricewatch.com:


Samsung - Samsung 80.0GB EIDE udma-ATA/100 5400 RPM Optional usb / firewire case
Details:
80.0GB sealed 2MB cache buffer - 1 year warranty included
Part - EKUU55HD80
Updated - 7/19/2004 12:44 PM


This was $57 and was in the DRIVES-HARD category and under the USB-80GB
subcategory.

So, since they say the usb/fireware case is optional, does that mean it doesn't come with it, and I'll need to spend $30 more (or whatever) for this to actually be, you know, an external hard drive? Is there any degree of false advertising going on here, since they chose to list this item in these categories? I guess I'm still a little confused. (But less so, thanks to your help!)

[Force Flow]

Do not get samsung. They have high failure rates. Take a look at a Western Digital 80GB 7200rpm 8MB cache drive. That comes with a 3 year warranty.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. External drive enclosures can come with either a USB connection or a firewire connection. The drive that you put in that enclosure is an IDE drive. The main purpose of the enclosure is to have the IDE to USB/firewire adaptor.

[PhilChamberlin]

You're right, I wasn't very clear. I think I'm getting it now.

I realize now that I need to buy both an IDE (or is it EIDE?) hard drive and an enclosure so I can connect to this drive via USB, unless I can buy them together. Fair enough.

So, when I go on Pricewatch.com, I click on DRIVES--HARD, then on USB 80GB. Presumably, the drives in this category should all be external, meaning that I'd get the case and enclosure together--right? Why else would they be advertised in the USB category and not in the IDE or EIDE cateogory?

Are these assumptions correct?

Thanks a lot!

All the best,
Phil

[glc]

Searching on Pricewatch can bite you - not all vendors there are reputable and if you are going for strictly price, you can wind up with junk - and you have to look at shipping costs.

I build my own externals, I use Bytecc housings and Western Digital IDE hard drives, and usually buy them from Newegg. Sure, I'm paying more than what you can find on Pricewatch, but I'm getting quality equipment from a quality vendor. If you want to buy a preassembled external, just buy a Western Digital or Maxtor external. I've seen third party preassembled (like from Buslink) and the quality is very questionable.

I just built one yesterday for a customer - I used a Western Digital WD800JB drive and a Bytecc ME-720U2F housing (combo USB2/Firewire, shockmounted hard drive tray) - and this cost me $113 total. I've got a fast 8mb cache quality hard drive with a 3 year warranty and a solid, quality housing. For $119, I could have bought a premade WD that's USB only, 2mb cache, and only has a 1 year warranty.

[PhilChamberlin]

I want to really thank you all for the advice, tips, and warnings. Yeah, maybe I'll stay away from Pricewatch. I should stop being so cheap!

Thanks again!

All the best,
Phil

[glc]

Pricewatch is very good for finding deals on specific items - if you know exactly what brand and model you are looking for. Doing generic searches will almost always turn up garbage at the bottom end of the price spectrum. Always research the vendor you are planning on using at resellerratings.com.

[PhilChamberlin]

I didn't know about that other website you mentioned. It sounds like a valuable resource.

All the best,
Phil