External Hard Drives

[sampson]

I'm going to buy an external hard drive somewhere in the near future and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what to look for. I'm going to get probably 60/80 gig. I don't need the very best but I certainly don't want a future paperweight either. Can you tell me what specs to look for or anything helpful?

Thx

[lynx]

Inside the box of an 'external' drive, there is a normal ide drive. The box merely provides some protection (not much usually) and an interface, usually USB2.0. There have already been some threads on here about just buying the external case, I'm sure you can find them. All you need to do then is decide which drive you want to put inside it.

[zapjb]

Well put lynx. I just bought 2 mobile racks @newegg.com. $12 bucks each including USB & internal fan & s&h.

[leonidas]

Does a fanless external Hd exists? (at least with 80gb storage & usb2).

[zapjb]

Why? You want one?

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by leonidas@14 October 2003 - 11:54
Does a fanless external Hd exists? (at least with 80gb storage & usb2).

The fan is there for a reason.........

Because it gets hot, and u need to keep it cool. if it comes STANDARD, There is obviously some kind of need for it.

[leonidas]

I know that, but for example nowadays you can buy a fanless power supply, so why not a HD?

I'm really more & more thinking about removing all the fans from my computer, and put like some huge pieces of metal or copper instead to cool, so I can sleep while my computer is downloading. Do you think that could be done?

PS: Right now I've got a 1Ghz AMD Duron (I'll get an athlon 2700 soon), And a Hd seagate 120gb.

[james_bond_rulez]

Originally posted by leonidas@15 October 2003 - 08:47
I know that, but for example nowadays you can buy a fanless power supply, so why not a HD?

I'm really more & more thinking about removing all the fans from my computer, and put like some huge pieces of metal or copper instead to cool, so I can sleep while my computer is downloading. Do you think that could be done?

PS: Right now I've got a 1Ghz AMD Duron (I'll get an athlon 2700 soon), And a Hd seagate 120gb.

u dont really have to

just open up the case the temp usually drops 10-15 degrees

try that without the fans but your cpu might blow up with the motherboard which can be costly

[leonidas]

Originally posted by james_bond_rulez@15 October 2003 - 09:54
just open up the case the temp usually drops 10-15 degrees

wont it be too dusty and get noisier after all?

[sampson]

I dont think an external hard drive is what I thought it was

I thought it was simply a power cord, a usb cord, a simple installation disc, and it would basically be another drive on my computer, such as a: for floppies, d: for discs, and this would just be another drive just like c:. Am I way off base?? Is this something that a person with limited hardware experience can handle?