External Harddrives

Cem · June-4th-2004, 01:21 AM

I'll be going to Turkey in July for an indefinite period & want to load up all my music onto an external drive for easy transport of large amount of music. I know there are 300G ones now. Any type, brand, deal recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Should I be concerned about compatibility, power source, etc.? I may sell all my stuff here & get a laptop or use my dad's computer there.

I would also like to get an ipod, but I think they're still too spendy. I remember Ron put a link up at one point to some deal in Holland (was it $299??). Anyone go for that?

Nefertiti · June-4th-2004, 03:22 AM

With USB 2.0 there is no compatibility issue (connects to any USB-compatible PC, although with a USB 1 connection it will be very slow).

Some PC mainboards based on VIA chipsets are known to have problems with intense USB data transfers, but this can often be solved with tweaking of bios settings.

Most external USB 2.0 cases (you can get them seperately and install any hard drive) are based on the same IDE-to-USB chip, so performance is mostly similar.

For normal 3.5" desktop PC drives the case will need a power unit, which is either external (in the power cable) or built into the case.

There are differences as to the cooling of the drive. A 2.5" notebook drives in an external case doesn't need a cooling fan, but with a big and fast 3.5" drive cooling is essential. Some fans are noisy and run all the time, others are quiet or just run at a certain temperature.

Pete C · June-5th-2004, 10:47 AM

Cem, does it have to be an ipod? J&R (jandr.com) has a CREATIVE LABS Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 30GB Digital Audio Player for $220.

Edit: So does Amazon.

Cem · June-5th-2004, 12:45 PM

Thank you for the info folks. I'm looking at getting an external case & a regular 200G drive. It'll run me about $350 CAD. I've been looking at the Nomad, too, but not clear on whether it functions with ipods AAC compression format, which sounds better than mp3's, I gather. I could get the biggest capacity possible in both cases (external drive & portable player) & keep my music in WAV format...?

Nefertiti · June-5th-2004, 06:28 PM

The file format is not the most limiting factor with portable player. There is the headphone (throw the stock earbuds away immediately) and the headphone amp section.

I bet that with 256 kbit/s MP3s you will not hear a difference to uncompressed wavs.

Pete C · June-5th-2004, 09:21 PM

I don't think you want to store wav files--they're something like 1410 kbps, right?

Cem · June-6th-2004, 03:23 PM

Yeah, you guys are right. I may go with AAC files at 192 or something. Also, if I have mp3 files, does it make sense to transfer them to AAC or have they already lost some irretrievable info? May be a dumb question, but my computer knowledge is rather spotty.

Can't decide whether to go with an external harddrive or casing & internal harddrive still.

Pete C · June-24th-2004, 08:03 PM

I was just checking out hard drives on J&R. There's a 250gig Maxtor for $259 that's both firewire & USB 2.0.

Pete C · June-24th-2004, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cem

Also, if I have mp3 files, does it make sense to transfer them to AAC or have they already lost some irretrievable info?

You can't get back what you lost. You can't spend what you ain't got, can't lose what you ain't never had. You can't go home again. You can't rollerskate in a buffalo herd.

Cem · June-24th-2004, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete C

You can't go home again.

Say it ain't so! Exactly what I'm tryin' to do...

Seriously, I understand that the copy can only be as good as the original. What I'm not clear on is the *type* of loss in mp3 vs. AAC. If I have some mp3's at 256bps, does it make sense to transfer them to AAC in 192, for example? Do they lose the same type of info or not? May be silly to combine 2 types of lossiness...?

I did buy a 200 gig hd which I got installed into an external casing that supports USB 2.0 & Firewire ($250CAD all told). Been transferring my cds at 192 in AAC. So far so good. Way too time consuming though. I need to transfer 1200-1300 discs & I got almost 250 done so far! eeek! 2 weeks before I fly! I need a secretary, an unselfish lover, or both.

Pete C · September-27th-2004, 02:04 PM

I just got a 160 gig Seagate external, with both USB & firewire connections. It's a little pricer than Maxtor & LaCie, but after checking user reviews it seemed like a good choice--it runs very cool & quiet--some of the others have big problems in those areas.

jaka · September-27th-2004, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete C

I just got a 160 gig Seagate external, with both USB & firewire connections. It's a little pricer than Maxtor & LaCie, but after checking user reviews it seemed like a good choice--it runs very cool & quiet--some of the others have big problems in those areas.

And you did well from what I'm told.
Maxtor products are top-notch, except for reliability.
It seems that they encounter high return rates lately.

mke · September-27th-2004, 04:33 PM

The sheer quantity of technology and processing power we accumulate in our homes is awe-inspiring.

Pete C · September-27th-2004, 05:31 PM

When I was studying programming in 1984, my teacher said, "I have a colleague, an old timer, who says he remembers when there wasn't 8k in the entire country."