External HDD for Laptop Questions

[gran turismo]

I've set up my laptop as a kind of limited Media Center PC. After a lot of driver updates and codec tweaking, I've got it doing what I want. But now, I've got a storage problem. The notebook only has a 20 GB internal drive. This sucks. After installing Windows, I've got about 10 gigs left. I mostly watch DivX movies and TV shows and have to constantly copy over new material from a DVD, watch, delete and repeat. I need an external drive and I've got some questions.

I have USB 2.0 and a firewire connection. I am looking for a reasonably priced HDD in the $100-$150 range. Then I'll purchase an external enclosure for the HDD. The drive will be used almost exclusively for multimedia storage/playback (movies, music and pictures).

What are your suggestions for type of HDD? IDE or SATA? USB 2.0 or Firewire? Finally, is it possible to "permanently" map the external drive so everytime it's reconnected, it shows up as the same drive letter?

[djayz]

do you have another computer that is a desktop or has a bigger hardrive. If you do just network the two and watch movies and what not off that computer and just get an internet hardrive for that. Youll save some money have a network and your laptop can just be a media pc as you want it.

or you can get a network hardrive which is a little more pricey.

if you do go the route of the external for the laptop just get an ide and if they make firewire external enclosures get that but i think usb2.0 would be your best bet.

[Supa Dexta]

sata, usb

[CivicDXR]

I'm using a 320GB WD External Drive for my laptop...

http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=8628&SID=

Its damn fast using the firewire to my laptop... it takes less than 45 seconds to transfer a 1GB file between the laptop and drive... i also have it set up as a drive thats shared, so when I access it from the other PC's in the house, I can see the external drive and work with the files as if they were physically on the HD of the laptop...

I highly recommend it. :thumbsup:

[djayz]

^
thats one is actually pretty decently priced. But usually if you buy the HD seperate and the enclosure seperate you can save 20-30 dollars atleast.

Im still not sure if they make external enclosures with firewire that you can put a hd into...so check into that before buying things seperate

[gran turismo]

After reading some info regarding transfer speeds of usb 2.0 vs. firewire, I've decided I'm going to go with firewire. It appears that firewire's sustainable transfer rates are higher than those of usb 2.0. Anyways, I like this enclosure which supports both usb 2.0 and firewire. What are your opinions on it?

http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=7716&SID=

Now, for a HDD, I've been looking at these two. Again, what do you guys think?

http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=7989&SID=
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=8111&SID=

[djayz]

HD enclosure is great...i almost bought one but went with an internal harddrive.

as for the drives get a seagate 5 years warranty beats everything and they are great drives very quite.

check oemdepot for the harddrive as well to might save you a few more bucks.

[gran turismo]

Originally posted by djayz

as for the drives get a seagate 5 years warranty beats everything and they are great drives very quite.


Thanks for the advice. I'm going to go with the 320gb SATA Seagate from Memory Express. I might end up putting the drive into my desktop later on so I'd like the SATA vs. IDE.