On 4 March 2010 15:35, Ken Schaefer <k...@adopenstatic.com> wrote: > The limitation is the speed of 5400 RPM drives. Neither FW nor eSATA in > common laptop (2.5” enclosures) supply power, so you have to carry extra > cables (power or USB) to power the thing, and you end up using a USB port as > well. > > I don't much care about the power issue. Good drives take more than USB can supply anyway, and a switchmode PSU is light and small. (I'm assuming you're going to be using 10k drives, if you limit it to 5400, you're just as well off increasing the internal laptop drive.
> > > Unless you want to run VMs off this thing, just stick to USB 2.0 – it’s > fine for copying typical office docs on/off and means you need just the one > cable. And buying spare cables is easy and cheap. > > > Office docs I'd use a flashdrive for. External drives I'm assuming running VMs and using as a compiler target drive. Just *try* doing this with USB. :) > Cheers > > Ken > > > > *From:* ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto: > ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] *On Behalf Of *mike smith > *Sent:* Thursday, 4 March 2010 11:57 AM > *To:* ozDotNet > *Subject:* Re: [OT] External hard drives > > > > On 4 March 2010 12:49, Greg Keogh <g...@mira.net> wrote: > > My wife needs an external hard drive for backing-up and carrying around her > couple of hundred MB of work files. I’ve never owned an ext HDD or looked at > them, so before I drive down to the local MSY (parts > list<http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf>) > to get one, I’d like to check first if there are any recommendations or > traps to be aware of. Friends have ext HDDs with USB connections, but I > suppose they are outdated now as our new office desktop machines have SATA > plugholes on the back ... is that right? > > > > > > USB has never been in vogue for hard-drives - firewire or esata. > > > > -- Meski "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. Sure, you'll get it, but it's going to be rough" - Adam Hills
