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GorroXXII
02-05-2007, 02:14 PM
I am in the market for a new one, I have smaller ones at home 120 gig to 160 gig, but I would like to get a nice 500 gig Ext. HDD. I have been looking at the Western Digital My book, but really am not sure, what do you guys like and recommend.
Smurf
02-05-2007, 02:22 PM
If I was buying one, I would go with what you suggested, a WD My Book.
Lord ALF
02-05-2007, 02:28 PM
are you looking for portability or just some large storage you don't have to install internally?

-alf
Drayu
02-05-2007, 02:50 PM
network standalone hard drive :D
GorroXXII
02-05-2007, 03:24 PM
are you looking for portability or just some large storage you don't have to install internally?

-alf


what you said... I have my portables that I use, but I am looking for something big, as I want to put all my music in one place... I also like to keep atleast 2 copies in 2 different places, so yes not concerned about portable.
wihadmin
02-05-2007, 04:13 PM
I have a 160GB WD MyBook. No problems.
Lord ALF
02-05-2007, 04:32 PM
then i'd build an external RAID array that connects to your external SATA or SAS port (assuming you have one or the other on your mobo). don't even go high-end with hot swappable bays... just low end it and spend the cash on the drives.

-alf
GorroXXII
02-06-2007, 02:54 PM
then i'd build an external RAID array that connects to your external SATA or SAS port (assuming you have one or the other on your mobo). don't even go high-end with hot swappable bays... just low end it and spend the cash on the drives.

-alf

links / recommendations on what to get? this actually might do well for me
Lord ALF
02-06-2007, 11:39 PM
well, on one end you have devices like this:
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Storage/USBnSATA/n0003us/n0003us.asp
which has eSATA and USB to give you flexibility in connections.

what i was referring to earlier is something along this line:
http://www.cooldrives.com/qusahadrrera.html
the issue with this is it has separate eSATA ports for each drive, so you'll need enough eSATA ports on your backplane or pass-through brackets so that you can use unused SATA ports on your mobo. then you can configure for RAID.

just as and FYI here are the speeds for the various interfaces:
USB 1.1 – 15 Mbps
FireWire (1394a) – 400 Mbps
USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps
FireWire 800 (1394b) – 800 Mpbs
SATA 1.5 – 1.5 Gbps
SATA 3.0 (sometimes wrongly called SATA II) – 3.0 Gbps
-alf