External Disk Roundup

A while back I snagged a quartet of external hard disks to represent the broadest target markets, took them for a 600GB spin around the block and came up with this.

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There's something for everyone in the four disks on test, I'm just more tempted to add other disk to an ATX chassis, rather than hang it externally. Like everything, you'll know instantly if external disk storage is for you. I guess the whole point is that it's doable without breaking the bank these days.

As for a winner? For me, it's the Freecom for the reasons I outlined above. It was geniunely useful, I loved it, despite the snail's pace. I think I might even pick one up, USB bus power is godlike.

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Check it out in full here.

Rys

Interesting article; I actually use a 500GB Lacie Big Disk FireWire 800 drive (w/Firewire 800 PCI card) as part of our backup strategy at work, and that's pretty quick. Costs a bit, though (£44 ex VAT for the FW 800 card and £336 ex VAT for a 500GB Big Disk drive).

The only snag with Bus powered drives is that they can be a little fussy about power.

Murphys law ensures the one time you haven't got a power adaptor is the one time the PC fails to supply enough juice.

Great article, but one quick question: what is the hard-drive size of the "Maxtor Personal Storage 3000DV?" The title says 800Gb, but the box says 80Gb. Were you referring to the usage of FW800? Or, is it just a typo?

Typo, that should be 80GB :) Thanks for spotting, will fix.

Rys

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Rys
Official Eejit


Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: HEXUS Review Dungeon
Posts: 388

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A good article but I cant help wonder why you did not include the WD range of external drives in your roundup?

Nikumba

We didn't approach disk makers for samples, it was a retailer who loaned the drives. They don't stock WD's disks, simple as that :) I'll endeavour to get some in and evaluate them if I can.

Rys

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Originally Posted by Rys

We didn't approach disk makers for samples, it was a retailer who loaned the drives. They don't stock WD's disks, simple as that :) I'll endeavour to get some in and evaluate them if I can.

Rys

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Ah fair enough, thanks for letting me know

Cheers

Nikumba