Eternal 500GB
- Thread starter LunarMist
- Start date
ddrueding
Fixture
I'm waiting for the next capacity of Buffalo Terastation. Right now they have 2TB (4x 500GB), and 3TB would be enough for a (very portable) backup of my main array.
ddrueding
Fixture
If you don't need NAS support, they also have a 2x750GB model that supports RAID-1 and JBOD internally.
ddrueding
Fixture
I've had good luck with the Seagate external drives.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
For a second there I thought you were waxing philisophical, LM (see title of post).
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
Lunar, the drive itself is the important part. The rest of the package is just a box with disposable electronics in it, readily replacable.
Pre-made external drives are either (a) a rip-off way of selling a perfectly ordinary, stock-standard external box, and a perfectly ordinary, stock-standard 3.5 inch hard drive, or (b) a rip-off way of packaging a non-standard and difficult-to-repair or replace external box with no practical advantages over a proper standard unit, and a perfectly ordinary, stock-standard 3.5 inch hard drive.
Buy whatever external boxes you like. In them, put the best, most reliable drives you can buy. This means Samsung. First, last, and always.
(Er, that's "always until further notice". If Samsung start shipping drives of lesser quality than has been their habit over the last five years or so, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, they are not just the best, but the best by quite a margin. There is no choice. Samsung is the answer.) (Well, I'd consider a Hitachi if pressed to it. But not if I could buy Samsung.)
Pre-made external drives are either (a) a rip-off way of selling a perfectly ordinary, stock-standard external box, and a perfectly ordinary, stock-standard 3.5 inch hard drive, or (b) a rip-off way of packaging a non-standard and difficult-to-repair or replace external box with no practical advantages over a proper standard unit, and a perfectly ordinary, stock-standard 3.5 inch hard drive.
Buy whatever external boxes you like. In them, put the best, most reliable drives you can buy. This means Samsung. First, last, and always.
(Er, that's "always until further notice". If Samsung start shipping drives of lesser quality than has been their habit over the last five years or so, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, they are not just the best, but the best by quite a margin. There is no choice. Samsung is the answer.) (Well, I'd consider a Hitachi if pressed to it. But not if I could buy Samsung.)
Thanks Lunar. I wasn't specific enough when I mentioned SATA. I should have said I wanted eSATA. I just ordered a vantec NST-360SU-BK 3.5" eSATA + USB2.0 Aluminum External Enclosure from newegg. I've been wanting a dual format external so that I can backup quickly at home (eSATA), yet still bring it to a friends place to share content (USB).
paugie
Storage is cool
question please. how does one connect an external SATA drive to a PC? USB, I can understand.
paugie
Storage is cool
Allow me, please, to express a sentiment here.
I lament the fact that the largest Samsung available here is a 80Gb P-ATA drive.
Maybe, I will ask a friend from the US to purchase a larger Samsung for me.
I lament the fact that the largest Samsung available here is a 80Gb P-ATA drive.
Maybe, I will ask a friend from the US to purchase a larger Samsung for me.
Tea
Storage? I am Storage!
No worries, Mate. I'll purchase a Samsung 500GB drive for you. Not a problem. In fact, I'll even install it in my system for you. No worries at all.
(Though looking at the price list, I'd nearly get two 400GB Spinpoints for the same price. Not quite, but near enough for hyperbolic puroposes.)
(Though looking at the price list, I'd nearly get two 400GB Spinpoints for the same price. Not quite, but near enough for hyperbolic puroposes.)
Tea
Storage? I am Storage!
There are two ways: there is a proper external SATA spec the details of which escape me at present. And then you can get an adaptor of some kind (in the worst case, just dangle a cable out through a hole in the case) to use ordinary internal SATA for an external drive.
Merc or P5 or Coug will have the details at their fingertips, no doubt.
The external case I bought has one of the metal L brackets that go in the back of your case. The bracket has a normal SATA connector to plug into the motherboard on one end and on the other is the eSATA connector which sticks out the back of the case.
The external case also has an eSATA connection and using the provided eSATA cable you simple connect both together just like you would with a USB cable. To see what I'm talking about, look at this picture.
Sol
Storage is cool
Ah nice to know that enclosure comes with an eSata cable. I wasn't able to figure it out before I ordered one today. Hopefully my enclosure and drive will arrive in the next couple of days allowing me to attach an external drive that will ironically be faster than my laptops internal drive. (Via a Sata2 express card)
paugie
Storage is cool
Team, Eherm, what does your pricelist say about 400gb samsungs?
paugie
Storage is cool
90USD is a good price
I think I can save up for that.
I think I can save up for that.
Either the price went up, or I was mistaken, but I looked it up on newegg now (over a month later) and it is $109. Again, it was a gift and I thought it was around $90 back in early december.
I received the Vantec external case last night and I really like it. The case is made of aluminum and the end cap is plastic. The drive went in within 5 minutes and I had it working in another 2 minutes after plugging it in via USB. The performance seemed fine with no real benchmarking. I simply copied files and defragged.
Later in the evening I opened up my PC and installed the back "L" shapped plate and connected it to an internal SATA port. I found that I need to have the drive connected and powered on before turning the PC on. If I turn it on after, windows does like that very much and I have to force a reset. I thought SATA was hot swappable, but I don't know for sure. Once I figured that out, the SATA performance seemed to be on par with the drive being inside the machine directly connected. I'll try to dig up some simple benchmarks to compare the USB vs eSATA if you are interested.
In terms of noise, the Samsung is very quiet. With the drive sitting on my desk about 1 foot away from my head I can barely hear it running. Seeks are very quiet also and after running for about 30-40 minutes the external case was only slightly warm to the touch with an ambient temperature around 70 degrees F in my house. I'll play around with it some more this evening after I get home from work.
Overall the case + the drive cost about $145. I looked up comparable sizes and you could probably buy an unknown brand for less (ever hear of Cavalry?) but it doesn't have eSATA. WD has a 400GB for $213 but I wouldn't buy it.
I received the Vantec external case last night and I really like it. The case is made of aluminum and the end cap is plastic. The drive went in within 5 minutes and I had it working in another 2 minutes after plugging it in via USB. The performance seemed fine with no real benchmarking. I simply copied files and defragged.
Later in the evening I opened up my PC and installed the back "L" shapped plate and connected it to an internal SATA port. I found that I need to have the drive connected and powered on before turning the PC on. If I turn it on after, windows does like that very much and I have to force a reset. I thought SATA was hot swappable, but I don't know for sure. Once I figured that out, the SATA performance seemed to be on par with the drive being inside the machine directly connected. I'll try to dig up some simple benchmarks to compare the USB vs eSATA if you are interested.
In terms of noise, the Samsung is very quiet. With the drive sitting on my desk about 1 foot away from my head I can barely hear it running. Seeks are very quiet also and after running for about 30-40 minutes the external case was only slightly warm to the touch with an ambient temperature around 70 degrees F in my house. I'll play around with it some more this evening after I get home from work.
Overall the case + the drive cost about $145. I looked up comparable sizes and you could probably buy an unknown brand for less (ever hear of Cavalry?) but it doesn't have eSATA. WD has a 400GB for $213 but I wouldn't buy it.
Stereodude
Not really a
I don't think I've seen a 400GB drive at $90 yet without rebates or some coupon scheming... Cheapest I've seen was $99 from Outpost.com a while back.
ddrueding
Fixture
IIRC, 320GB is still the biggest you can get really cheap, with 500GB being the best $/GB.
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
I'm starting to think that this thread is indeed "eternal" ... 
Paugie, my price list says 400GB Samsungs are ... um .. can't remember - I'm not at work. And my common sense says that shipping overseas is a major pain in the unmentionables (unless you are set up for it and do it regularly, which we aren't and don't). In any case, you'd find buying via Australia surprisingly expensive by world standards.
Paugie, my price list says 400GB Samsungs are ... um .. can't remember - I'm not at work. And my common sense says that shipping overseas is a major pain in the unmentionables (unless you are set up for it and do it regularly, which we aren't and don't). In any case, you'd find buying via Australia surprisingly expensive by world standards.
I have one of thes but I don;t realy like it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148154
Mostly the ESATA Seagato has a puchbutton pwer swtich that must be held in to satrt and then it spins dowen constantly, clogging up the whole sysetm. It is fien for backup use only. Of couerse performanance is nice since ESAAT runs at the sata speeds. If conptoller suppoerts hot swap then it is fine. All eSsat ports shoudl, but some interbnal to external setps do and otehrs do not. It is dependent of the internal controller.
Mostly the ESATA Seagato has a puchbutton pwer swtich that must be held in to satrt and then it spins dowen constantly, clogging up the whole sysetm. It is fien for backup use only. Of couerse performanance is nice since ESAAT runs at the sata speeds. If conptoller suppoerts hot swap then it is fine. All eSsat ports shoudl, but some interbnal to external setps do and otehrs do not. It is dependent of the internal controller.
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I forgot to ask, how well does the enclosure work and what is the drive temperature? I am leery of enclosures without fans and therefore avoided that one.
What would be the best way for me to relay drive temperatures to you? Is there a drive temperature software you prefer? Since everything is subjective I don't know how to tell you other than it will become warm to the touch after 30-45 minutes of use, but it hasn't alarmed me yet. I also haven't had it on for several days at a time.
I seem to think the case works very well, but if you had a drive that runs on the warm side, I'd also agree it should have a fan. I plan to put the drive case on top of my P180 computer case and use the upward blowing fan to sit below this case. I figured it might be kind of handy to have some active cooling even if it is just on the case itself.
I seem to think the case works very well, but if you had a drive that runs on the warm side, I'd also agree it should have a fan. I plan to put the drive case on top of my P180 computer case and use the upward blowing fan to sit below this case. I figured it might be kind of handy to have some active cooling even if it is just on the case itself.