Hard drives

[xDarkMaster]

I am looking for a hard drive to store all my anime and other junk like programs. However, I don't understand all the statistics and what is supposed to be good and bad. i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif

I am looking for about 300 GB at an affordable price, somewhere around $200

I am thinking about buying this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822140166) one but need some opinions.

I also want an enclosure. I am looking at this (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1723457&CatId=1204) but again other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

-Dark

[complich8]

looks like a decent choice to me.

[Deadfire]

Originally posted by: complich8
looks like a decent choice to me.

I concur.. both are good

[xDarkMaster]

I forgot to ask, will that hard drive fit in that enclosure? i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif


Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

[burnout]

Originally posted by: xDarkMaster
I forgot to ask, will that hard drive fit in that enclosure?


Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated


--------------------

yes it will fit perfectly

you just need to put it in and it'll work fine

i have 3 of those on my pc total of 600 gig out of the pc and 350 gig in my pc

if you have enoug USB outlets you can go up to 1 terabite with no probs

but make shore your ps can handel it all or you'll fry you mainboard

[xDarkMaster]

Okay, recently I have been searching for an internal hardrive and an enclosure. I have narrowed down the enclosures to two, and wanted to know which one you guys thought was better.

1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145656)
2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145161)

Also, could someone tell me if this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144392) HD is good?

Or, if you know a HD or enclosure I could get please tell me.

Thanks in advance, xDM

[complich8]

didn't you just ask this?

Dude ... just fuckin' buy it :p.

Whichever you think looks better. Just do it.

[xDarkMaster]

No, I asked about different stuff. And I'm going to get it, on th 16th. But thanks for your opinion. :p

[complich8]

"different stuff" sure ... but the same question.

I think I need to give you a little lecture to prevent this sort of thing :p.

Basically, there's 6 manufacturers making hard drives right now: Fujitsu, Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital. Fujitsu mainly (by which I mean only) makes scsi and sata stuff, and are generally enterprise-targetted, which generally means uncommon for home users. Hitachi is still fighting the "IBM DeathStar" name, but makes a quality product these days. Maxtor is everyone's favorite "my maxtor disk failed" anecdote, because they make so damned many disks that they're everywhere -- of course you'll find more failures in a larger sample. Samsung .... well, nobody has much to say about them. Seagate's well-trusted but makes slightly slower disks in general. Western digital is known for noisy but functional and reasonably fast disks.

So basically, of the 4 real choices (discounting fujitsu for not making IDE drives, and samsung for being memory-price-fixing sonsofbitches), there's not a whole lot of difference. Western digital drives may be noisier. Maxtors may be hit or miss. Seagates may be slower performers on average. Hitachis have an undeserved bad rep.

There's no real difference between any of them. Get one of those four brands, and your chances are as good as if you got any of the others. Just make sure the interface is the right type, and that it's got a decent buffer size (8 meg, 16 meg, not that it matters much in a storage-oriented disk like you'd normally use a usb2 disk for).

Now let's talk enclosures. They all have the same features ... pick the features you want... usb2, cooling, that's about it. Read the reviews ... are there lots of bad ones? Lots of common problems? If so, don't get that one.

Once you've narrowed it down to "has the features I want" and "doesn't have shit-tons of bad reviews", the products are generally all good. So then it comes down to aesthetics and cost.

Now, the cost difference is going to be small ... like, maybe a $10-$15 range between the cheaper ones and the more expensive ones. so that doesn't really matter much either ... what's 10 bucks? A footlong meal deal at subway, and wash/dry cycle at the laundromat? Half a used game at your local game store? A fourth of your monthly broadband bill, if that? Shipping?

So all that really matters there is what looks good. So ask yourself, "does this make me want to look at it". Ask yourself "does this fit with the general aesthetics of my desk/computer/room?" or "does this look good" in general. Choose based on that. You'll be happier that way.

If you keep coming back saying "is this one good" ... like we in the general support forum have encyclopedic knowledge of what usb2 enclosures are good or bad, you're going to be consistently disappointed. We don't really know... none of us have probably used the precise product you're shopping for, or the combination of product and drive. And even less likely that we've used that combination with your motherboard/usb2 controller.

I'd like to direct you to the "The Best" episode of Penn and Teller's "Bullshit". It's season 3, episode 13 or so, the last episode of the season. You should watch it ... and then pick what you want, they're all pretty dang good, and you'll be wasting a lot of your time searching for a better one than any of the ones you've already looked at.

So yeah, what I guess I'm saying is "don't be hung up on this". At worst, if you end up with a bad one (like, breaks just out of warranty, or doesn't work consistently), you're out the cost of an enclosure and shipping, and you get to find your enclosure and write it a bad review as a caution to others. Bite the bullet, buy one, and move on.

[Kraco]

Yes, listen to The complich8. The man knows what he's talking about (or is just a good writer).

I have one good advice for HD buying: If you have been happy with a particular brand, go and buy a new HD of the same brand (modern model obviously), unless it has got lots of bad reviews. That spares you of the useless period of indecisiveness. And also shows your support for the manufacturer, whose products have served you well.