How good is external (USB) HDD?

[Deepak]

I am planning to get another HDD (160 or 80 GB), and I want an external (USB) drive this time. How good/reliable are they? How do they work, do they 'plug n play'? Can I use it as a backup drive?

Or should I get an internal HDD?

Will my ASUS A7N266-VM support it (160GB)?

 

[Fruitfrenzy]

I have been considering the same thing. I was planning to get a standard IDE 3.5" drive and a USB case for it.

I have used one previously and it worked perfectly well. I'm not sure about the performance though.

I have a feeling that this route will be the cheaper than buying a specific external hard drive.

 

[Frank]

First, make sure it's USB-2 High speed, and nothing else. Second, while Maxtor makes very nice ones, there are very many complaints about them losing their data all of a sudden (happened to me too), so I would advise against those.

I have a cheap aluminium DIY kit myself, and it has worked flawlessly so far for more than a year. Just be sure to have Windows stop the device before you disconnect it.

As for the speed: while it is slower than a build-in harddisk, it is faster than any other portable storage and very convenient. I wouldn't want to miss it anymore, even while I have a LAN at home.

Btw, some routers (like mine) allow you to plug one in, to host your own web server.

 

[Blazkowicz]

I have a USB2 HDD case, performance is bad for a HDD as I got only 12MB/s with a 7200 rpm IBM HDD. but that's more than enough for storing whatever video / mp3 / documents.
Get a Firewire case if you can, it's faster.

 

[Guden Oden]

Yeah, firewire enclosures are typically considerably faster than USB2, while consuming sometimes much less CPU while working. Oaktree firewire bridge chips are said to be very good. The 6-pin firewire port also supplies (a lot) more power than a USB port, so often an enclosure might not need any additional power either. This is particulary true of 2.5" enclosures.

However, there is a new SATA to USB2 bridge out that might be very good, but I know of no products yet that actually use it. Might be worth keeping an eye out for that one.

 

[_xxx_]

It's almost always just a normal IDE HD in a case with USB interface behind it. You can take any normal HD, buy a USB housing and plug it into your PC.

So it's just as good (or bad) as the HD working in there.

As for Maxtor, see HDD recomendations" thread.

 

[Guden Oden]

So it's just as good (or bad) as the HD working in there.

No, a lot depends on the bridge chip. Some USB2 bridges are very poor.

 

[RussSchultz]

I recommend a 2.5 (or 1.8") drive for external drives.

The performance isn't as good, but it can run off of USB bus power and not have to have its own power plug.

 

[_xxx_]

So it's just as good (or bad) as the HD working in there.

No, a lot depends on the bridge chip. Some USB2 bridges are very poor.

Yeah, that too.

But I'd also go for the 2.5", smaller and no need for external power.

Even the best USB2 external HD will be slow for gaming etc., so the speed doesn't matter that much since you'll be using it just as a storage anyway.

 

[Frank]

There are some very important differences between different USB 2.0 interfaces.

Most USB 2.0 devices are actually USB 1.1 devices, that are compatible with the USB 2.0 standard. Those only have a throughput of 12 Mbit/s. Some manufacturers even sell those as being Full-speed USB 2.0, meaning that they always do 12 Mbit...

Real USB 2.0 devices, USB 2.0 High speed (or Hi-speed) are capable of 480Mbit/s, which is comparable to regular FireWire, which is 400Mbit/s, although you have Firewire 800 as well, which does 800Mbit/s.

The USB 2.0 port in your computer supports all speeds up to 480Mbit/s. So, a High speed USB 2.0 interface is best, as it is comparable to FireWire for speed, and compatible with just about any computer and other device.

 

[AlNom]

I've got an 80GB 2.5" drive with me here. Works fine with USB2.

 

[Fruitfrenzy]

I recommend a 2.5 (or 1.8") drive for external drives.

The performance isn't as good, but it can run off of USB bus power and not have to have its own power plug.

2.5" drives are more expensive and smaller (storage capacity). If you want hundreds of gigabytes then 3.5" is your only option isn't it?

 

[RussSchultz]

I recommend a 2.5 (or 1.8") drive for external drives.

The performance isn't as good, but it can run off of USB bus power and not have to have its own power plug.

2.5" drives are more expensive and smaller (storage capacity). If you want hundreds of gigabytes then 3.5" is your only option isn't it?

Yes. The larger drives also create more heat, etc.

I bought a 3.5" enclosure that ended up damaging the drive because it was inadequately cooled, so I'm a bit leery of putting mega drives into cheap $20 enclosures.

 

[Frank]

I would recommend buying a metal enclosure, not a plastic one.

 

[Fruitfrenzy]

A guy I work with has a 2.5" drive that doesn't quite fit into his 2.5" case. The drive is abount 1mm too thick.

Does anyone know if that kind if problem is common ?

 

[Guden Oden]

The USB 2.0 port in your computer supports all speeds up to 480Mbit/s. So, a High speed USB 2.0 interface is best, as it is comparable to FireWire for speed, and compatible with just about any computer and other device.

That's just in theory though. Like I said, a lot depends on the bridge chip. Some hi-speed usb 2.0 bridges can be TERRIBLE, giving half the transfer rate of a good firewire bridge, if that much, and draw ten, twenty times as much CPU in the process. Firewire is really just SCSI in serial form - or so I've read anyway - and thus highly suited for storage-related data transfers. USB on the other hand seems to have a lot of protocol overhead in comparison, every review I've seen that compares USB enclosures with a firewire enclosure with a good bridge (oaktree chips seem to have good reputation), the USB product loses. Usually badly too.

 

[RussSchultz]

SCSI is a packet level protocol.

USB Mass storage (what is implemented by the USB bridge chips) is simply SCSI over USB.

ATAPI is simply SCSI over ATA.

And yes, there are great differences in performance with these USB/ATA adapters.

I haven't done any analysis of Firewire v. USB in terms of host CPU utilization, so I can't comment too much on that. I'd be somewhat surprised if it were too different.

 

[Diplo]

Even the best USB2 external HD will be slow for gaming etc., so the speed doesn't matter that much since you'll be using it just as a storage anyway.

USB has a bandwidth of 60 MB/sec. SATA has a bandwidth of around 150MB/sec. However, that is theoretical and is rarely ever reached. In practice you would see little difference between the two.

 

[zidane1strife]

I recently bought two hitachi 160GB 7200rpm 8MB cache for 69.99(after mail in rebate of course). $45 usb2.0 enclosure included for free!!! I bought it at compusa they've this special until saturday don't know if it's nationwide, though.

It's one of the reasons I've decided to build my own cheap pc. 320GB with two free enclosures for $140 is hard to beat, I've been thinking of getting a third one, but I'm not sure it's necessary given I've my dvd burner for backups(yeah I've multiple addresses.).

 

[RussSchultz]

I hope the enclosure isn't the fanless adaptec one. That's the one that ate my drive.