[rajacat]

Do these portable units stream fast enough to be used for the active hard drive for Squeezebox 3?
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0012GQZZU/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i
 
-Roy

[woodsyi]

Yes on one day that I tried.  I normally use this type of external USB drives (Dell mybook drives) as hard backup of all flac. files.  I am not sure how well they will fare on continuous use.  I don't see a big fan or thick heatsink. 

[rajacat]

Recently my external hard drive bit the dust. The USB powered hard drives seem so simple and convenient but, you're right, they may not be able to withstand 24/7 operation. Perhaps I should buy two units. One heavy duty, fan cooled stationary HD and one very portable USB powered unit. One would provide the backup for the other.

-Roy

[ricmon]

Recently my external hard drive bit the dust. The USB powered hard drives seem so simple and convenient but, you're right, they may not be able to withstand 24/7 operation. Perhaps I should buy two units. One heavy duty, fan cooled stationary HD and one very portable USB powered unit. One would provide the backup for the other.

-Roy

Whether or not the drive is internal or external they are the same device.  However the external dive should last longer than an internal drive do to heat.  Also all drives have a MTF value meaning it will fail one day.  Given that you should research drives that have the longest MTF and best reputation for durability then find a nice external case that you like and install you new drive in it.  Also what do you mean by continuous use?  Surely you don't listen to music 24/7.

[rajacat]

I'm dead in the water right now . My backup is DVDs that contain my music files. Soon I'll be purchasing a new computer so I'm not interested in an additional internal HD. Most of the time I leave the computer on 24/7 and don't bother to turn off the external hard drives so they accumulate a lot of hours. My future computer will have at least 250 gig HD and the backup will be an external HD of the same or greater capacity. I'd also like to have an USB powered unit to go with a laptop.

-Roy

[saisunil]

As I understand - portable HD are designed with intermittent usage in mind unlike larger external HD with more robust Power Supply. If a HD is not put in a sleep mode - they are always spinning hence are working even not playing music.

If you are buying a new drive - then it would be better to buy a more rubust (Western Digital makes good ones) a non-portable HD with external power supply instead of the portable one that gets powered via usb port.

my limited 2cents...

[whubbard]

Roy,

I will share what I know about computers to help you out here. Technically heat could affect the hard drive eventually, but that is really never what is going to fail first. So forget about the 'heat' issue.
I recommend, and it is what I have for all my portable drives, getting a very solid internal drive, and putting it in an external case. Most people don't understand it, but what do you think is inside the enclosure of any external hard drive (yes, an internal drive). That USB powered drive is just an internal drive in a case. For this reason it is cheaper and much better to get a reliable drive from seagate or western digital. Then you get a case from eagle (personal favorite) and you are good to go. You now have the best hard drive most most solid/reliable case (the seagate and WD ones aren't very good and are plastic.) and it will all be for less. The other huge factor is that you could always one day put in a bigger hard drive or put the hard drive in a computer if you wish. Its like an external drive that you can open. Nothing more, nothing less. (well...actually more...but you get the point).

If you would like I can give you my personally recommendations if you let me know how much size you would like and how much you care about the looks of the case.

-West

[rajacat]

West,

My last two Maxtor externals have failed and/or just won't function properly. The latest external i have is a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 in a Thermaltake case. It has now failed too. Ideally I'd like to find a plug and play solution but would be open to alternatives. Perhaps I should try something other than Maxtors.

Yes, I would appreciate your recommendations. 320 gigs should be enough. Cosmetics are not important.

Thanks,

Roy

[whubbard]

Roy,

First I will say that Maxtor and Thermaltake are not known for making reliable products at all. I personally avoid Thermaltake unless I’m buying a case, and I really don’t buy anything Maxtor.
For hard drives I only go with Seagate and WD as they are highly reliable and have extremely competitive OEM prices.

HARD DRIVES:
Seagate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140 $75 (out of stock right now, but it might be worth waiting. I would say it’s the best drive for the price, it's my personal drive...well I use two dedicated 10,000RPM drives for programs, but thats much different, these are my data drives. I've had a bunch of th 10,000RPMs fail, but these drives have never let me down)

Seagate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148215 $90 (Built to last… but 17% higher cost, and the seagates above don't fail anyways)

Western Digital: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074 $70 (Basically the same as the seagates, but cheaper pricewise.)

CASES:
This is my personal external case and I really like it. It’s very easy to switch drives. All you do is open the front and slide the drive in: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193030 $30

This case is basically the same as mine, but the hard drive much more secured in. I would get this if you don’t plan on changing drives very often. The drive will be safe from it getting tossed off the table or something like that: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193020 $30

Not sure why you would…but if you really wanted a fan you could get this: (it’s a very good case, just costs more for the fan which does basically nothing. As long as you give the case some breathing space a fan is useless.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042 $45 (p.s. It's UGLY)

Any combination of the choices above will lead you to a very reliable drive with great performance. If you need any more help deciding or need helping setting them up please let me know.

-West

p.s. Before I get someone thinking they caught me...yes I know what seagate owns Maxtor. They sell the drives as a very low level 'entry' drive. They don't use the wonderful technology for their personal drives in these.

[kbuzz3]

Great post on hard drives. Any suggestions on a reliable plug n play 1TB drive? WD ?  Any word on the eagle branded 1TB drive. Im not the DIY no matter how easy.

[rajacat]

West,

I have an older Compaq AMD 2.0 Ghz desktop. I don't believe that it supports the SATA interface. Is there a way that I could get one of these drives to support USB 2.0?

Thanks,

Roy

[satfrat]

I only use Seagate hard drives myself. I have 4 going now with 2 in my HTPC and 2 exterior hard drives, each having their own quiet fan, that I use strictly for backup. I only turn them on when I'm backing up files. You pay a little extra for Seagate but they are a solid hard drive with an excellent reputation.

Cheers,
Robin

[rajacat]

Maybe I should go ahead and spring for a new computer with a large internal hard drive instead of just adding on an external HD to an outdated computer? Later after I get my music playing again, add an external backup.

-Roy

[whubbard]

Roy,

The drive communicates with the enclosure via SATA the case then coverts it to USB. You could use an eSATA, but I doubt you have it. The USB 2.0 will work well.
The enclosure is also powered from a wall charger.

If your thinking of getting a another computer, it might be worth it...but I can tell you that the sound won't get any better  !
Personally I would wait until the dollar goes back up in value against the other currencies and things will probably see a drop in price, and then buy. I would also say there is a tiny bit of a ‘lul’ with the new devices coming out, so you again might want to wait to the next surge. It won’t be far off.  I will add however that if you really think you need a new P.C. you  should go ahead and buy one soon because you might otherwise get caught in the …well if I wait a little bit longer, and then you won’t have the P.C. you need. However if you can wait a bit, wait a tiny bit.
(Hopefully that made a ‘tiny’ bit of sense…)

-West

[rajacat]

Thanks West. I should have read more closely the info on the cases.

I think that I'll go with one of your suggested combos.

-Roy

[kbuzz3]

anyone tried eablebit drives. Sub 200 prices for 1 TB western digital drives in their own enclosure sounds almost too good.... http://www.EagleBit.com/External_Hard_Drive_Firewire_HDD_USB_Pocket_Hard_Drive_s

[rajacat]

anyone tried eablebit drives. Sub 200 prices for 1 TB western digital drives in their own enclosure sounds almost too good.... http://www.EagleBit.com/External_Hard_Drive_Firewire_HDD_USB_Pocket_Hard_Drive_s

At those prices buy twins. May be more breakdown time of individual drives due to cost cutting of parts quality. Cheap backup.

-Roy

[whubbard]

Kbuzz3,

Your link doesn't seem to bring you to any page that has a 1TB for under $200. The only way I see it possible would be with a refurb drive...and I can't recommend that.
EagleBit seems to be the same company as the one that makes the cases I recommended. The eagle cases are very good, and they probably offer a slight discount, but they won't be newegg on shipping unless the order is over $200. Also the prices for the drives are a bit more. NewEgg also has the best customer service of any big company I have used. I would stick with newegg.

-West

EDIT: Found the link and I see how they are doing it. http://www.eaglebit.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=EB-250-00374&Click=36647
They are using two of these drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136178 which are $75 each, then they tack on $20 for there enclosure. They enclosure is somewhat discounted as you have bought two drives I guess. You really only save about $20 I think max, but it is still a great buy. The hard drive they are using (or so it seems) is a pretty good drive (good, but WD cheapest and slowest), but it seems a bit fishy becuase they don't give the actually model number.

1TB sub 200 isn't very hard to do. I personally would put this seagate in: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148136 which is the exact same price as the WD.

Also, the drive I use is now back in stock! Although I just noticed the 500GB is only $5 more http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148136 so I would go with that then. the 180GB is worth the $5.