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turnipmonster
11-01-2005, 11:41 AM
hi everyone,
I want to get a ~150GB (7200 RPM) external drive for recording music. questions:

1) where's the best place to get the best deal?
2) firewire or usb? I have ports for both.
3) any brands I should look for or stay away from?
4) are most ext drives bus powered or will I have a choice? if I have a choice, should I go with external power? I don't want to overload my laptops power supply.

thanks for your help. I don't buy hardware often and really don't keep up with this stuff.
FouTight
11-01-2005, 11:57 AM
You may want to consider getting an empty drive kit, so you can add your own drive.

This has come in handy for me because, I have many HDD's laying around, and can change them out on my laptop with relative ease, and if you need to back something up on a different drive, it's pretty easy to do.

You will almost definately need an external power supply for the drive.
turnipmonster
11-01-2005, 12:05 PM
will this be any louder than a "normal" external drive?
send_the_msg
11-01-2005, 01:41 PM
it won't be any louder, unless you buy a weird case, but i doubt that will happen. zoom on over to newegg.com (easily the best place on the internet for this stuff). pick up a case (i recommend one with both usb 2 and firewire), drop a drive in, and you're set.
Mackerel
11-01-2005, 01:42 PM
[ QUOTE ]
1) where's the best place to get the best deal?

[/ QUOTE ]

Try Pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com). Just make sure the site has lots of good reviews and do a google search on them before you buy.

[ QUOTE ]
2) firewire or usb? I have ports for both.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have both as well, and on my PC, firewire outperforms the USB 2 with my external HD.

[ QUOTE ]
3) any brands I should look for or stay away from?


[/ QUOTE ]

Opinions vary, but I personally am partial to Seagate and Western Digital drives, but definately not Maxtor, ever.

[ QUOTE ]
4) are most ext drives bus powered or will I have a choice? if I have a choice, should I go with external power? I don't want to overload my laptops power supply.


[/ QUOTE ]

On a laptop, I'd go with the external power.

Mack