Since nowadays, the price of notebook hard disk (HDD) is getting cheaper and the price is even nearest to USB Thumbdrive, a lot of peoples had bought or planing to get a 2.5" notebook HDD+ext casing to used as removable storage device, I had searched through all the other thread, seem like there is no one discuss about it yet , so i just open a thread for discussion, hopefully those user who planing to get / or already got can give some feedback on it and take it as a references. Thanks.

For those who are going to get a new 2.5" HDD+external casing combo, here are some issues that we need to know before we get it:

1st issues to be considered --> Pricing

After we look at the pricing, we can easily categories three range of user, which are budget, mainstream and extreme.
Normally for the combination that they are going to take most likely will be:




2nd issues to be considered --> Ext 2.5" HDD vs Thumbdrive
As most of us are aiming for portable storage, is it worth for our $$$ to self configure an external 2.5" HDD compare with just get a thumbdrive?

Different user with different need will be easily categorized them either to get a thumbdrive or an external 2.5" HDD+casing. But for those who just so happened that they are going to get a portable storage device, they need to spent some time to crack their head to figure out which is more suitable to their current and future needs.



3rd issues to be considered --> Brand/Quality
After getting know our budget and settle down our mind, now is time to chose the best combination for 2.5" HDD and a suitable external casing.

Here are some of the important point to think about it:
So now I need some HELP from:

1.Those who are going to get an external 2.5" HDD + casing:
- can you please share with us what combination(brand+model) are you going to get?
- reason?

2. Those who already got their 2.5" HDD + casing:
- Can you kindly please share with us the feedback of your combination? Recommendation?
- Can you attached a print screen of any benchmark result(e.g. si-soft sandra), so that we can compile a lists to get more information on which is better?
- Any photo?
- Where did you got it from? Price?

Thanks in advance.



PS¹:If anyone got any information to be shared with other, please let me know(PM/Reply), so that I can include it into this post.(will be given credit)
PS²:Kindly inform me on any typo/error information that I had include in this post.
PS³:Please don't quote this message/post when you intend to reply on this thread, you will regret, as the coding is damn messy, even me myself also need to spent a lot of time to make sure the coding will not going wrong when i edit anything.

(C)StupidZ

This post has been edited by StupidZ: Apr 17 2008, 06:51 PM

Mine would be a 120gig or even a 160gig plus a 2.5" sarotech casing as i've been using it for quite some time and found that its reliable and rugged for my use hehehe...

160Gig? May i know what brand of 2.5" HDD you used?

Do it need external power supply?

Possible to benchmark it?

Take a picture?

1) I use WD120G 2.5 PATA HDD, no need external power.
2) Speed? i choose PATA over SATA... Since USB2 only allow theoritically 480Mbits/s, useless to buy SATA over PATA
FYI: PATA 100 = 100Mbytes/s while SATA 150 = 150MBytes/s, USB cannnot support these high speed transfer, USB actually limited to average 380Mbits/s
FYI: SATA case RM30 more, HDD price on both sata and pata same
FYI: Buy SATA IF u have a laptop and thinking to replace your laptop HDD in the future... Just my 2 cents...
3) U can buy WD (quiet but only 1 year warranty) or buy Seagate ( a bit noisy and 5 years warranty, normally RM20 more)

This post has been edited by Ree73: May 26 2007, 12:07 AM

Well for me myself, my current plan is to get the combination of:

WD 80GB SATA + Cooler Master RX250ST (eSATA)

Reason:
1. Due to my daily job, I need to transfer quite a lot of Video/data, so getting a faster transfer speed (eSATA) will be better. Initially was planing to get IEE1394, but since now the package of RX250ST come with an eSATA PCI bracket, I might mod it to my casing front panel for easy access.

2. SATA 2.5" HDD can be used for me in future if I want to assembly it into any system (SATA compatible with desktop motherboard), getting a 2.5" IDE will limit me to use only for portable usage

3.BUT IT IS HARD FOR ME TO SEARCH AT MY NEARBY PC SHOP, THEY DUN HAVE STOCK

Maybe end up, will getting WD 80GB IDE + Vantec NST260U2, due to the stock availability.

----------------------------
Any user using Vantec NST260U2/SU or Cooler Master RX250ST? Need some feedback on it.

By the way, is it most of the shop that selling Notebook HDD, the warranty is how long? Because i had ask a few shop, they only provide 1 year warranty, and IT IS NOT MANUFACTURER WARRANTY, which mean anything go wrong, direct deal with the shop, i was wondering the source of the stock is legitimate or not. I though for desktop HDD, we can direct claim from manufacturer, notebook HDD is different case?

my friend using 160gb nb hdd with her casing,no need extra power supply.

May i know what brand/model of the ext casing that your friend is using? cos i had search through some of the site online, there got some user feedback that certain ext casing is incompatible with those >160GB notebook HDD.

---

Added on May 26, 2007, 9:42 amWhich model/brand of ext casing you used?

For the warranty, is it manufacturer warranty or shop warranty? can check the serial number of the HDD online to verify it is legitimate stock?

This post has been edited by StupidZ: May 26 2007, 09:42 AM

I read accross the post,
and wondering the meaning of "2.5" HDD.
Can any one tell me what does it stand for?
Because i saw "3.5" HDD before in some other place.

Well, one of my friend brought a HDD last year, and i saw his HDD casing using up to two USB port.
is there any problem using more then one USB port?

abt the performence,
can anyone tell me which of those brand is better?

well, after all,
i'm planning to get one HDD for transferring Movie from my frined comp to mine and back up some important file, or even setup,
can anyone suggest me a combination?
my planning is to get up to 160GB HDD.

Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by Nyckl3z: May 27 2007, 03:35 AM

Those 2.5" and 3.5" is their size. 2.5" means 2.5 inch. 2.5" HDD is meant for Laptop usage while the 3.5" is meant for desktop. Of course, you could always add an external casing and then, it becomes external drive..lol...

for movies and songs better get 250GB and above... for temp backups or juz file transfer... then use 2nd hand 40GB or 30GB from damage laptop + OEM casings enough...

Got my 80gb + vantec casing for -> 160 + 45 = 205 ^^

Seagate is my choice as well.

Seagate Momentus 5400 data sheet

seagate and western digital will be great choice la... im currently using western digital 80gb pata n ROCK HD1-Series-RB external 2.5casing full aluminum and made in taiwan...not bad la wei... and my laptop currently using fujitsu sata2 100gb... oso okie la... no problem at all... xD

how about external case with own power sourse & memory card slots? so i can back up my photos from the cam

Nice thread here

Im interested to get external HDD as well ....

Should i get 2.5 notebook hdd + enclosure ? Or should i just buy the ready stock external HDD ?

some i see the price about rm400~rm500

I'm currently got one 40GB Fujitsu(SATA) 2.5" HDD for quite sometimes, and really looking for XCraft Sata Enclosure. Mind sharing where to get those stuff?
Just use my hdd for transfering big size video or files from other pc to mine...

wd 60gb 8mb ide + 2.5" tomata casing = rm 178 pcfair price last month.
warantty : hd 5 years, casing 3 month
wd have 2 model 2mb & 8mb. make sure get corect model. Mine is WD600VE. WD give 3 years warranty.

Main used : cybercafe. dont have screamyx @ home.
- no benchmark no picture. i can say take about 10 second (more or less) copy 700mb linux iso.
- run directly opera, firefox portable, eudora, forte agent, greatnews rss reader, filezilla, flashget all in the same time from portable hard disk.

problem : some pc have detect problem. detect but with warning or not detect al all.

This post has been edited by pcbase: May 28 2007, 01:48 PM

eh, i have one mroe question,
if for external HDD,
can they make a mix usage on Notebook and Desktop?

Yes why not ?