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Thread ID: 81067 2007-07-14 20:55:00 External Hard Drives Cicero (40) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
569092 2007-07-15 00:49:00 How slow are external USB hd's? Time to backup 1 Gb?

My system does not have firewire which I believe is the fastest.
Morpheus1 (186)
569093 2007-07-15 03:12:00 Sorry PC,not made myself clear,

Why 209 for 20 and

399 for 500.

Seems out of kilter to me.

Yep.
But I'd buy the Seagate anyway instead of the who knows what dodgy brand is in the DSE one.
pctek (84)
569094 2007-07-28 13:09:00 Thanks Sally,good to see you girls are up with play.

Just to clear up any confusion, I'm a dude like you Cicero, lol.
sal (67)
569095 2007-07-28 21:43:00 How slow are external USB hd's? Time to backup 1 Gb?

My system does not have firewire which I believe is the fastest.

While USB2.0 is faster than firewire on paper ( 480 Mbps versus 400 Mbps ) its not in real world use - www.usb-ware.com

You could use the theoretical speed to work out a "theoretical" transfer time for 1GB
racepics (7812)
569096 2007-07-28 21:47:00 Firewire has a faster sustained transfer rate. USB 2.0 has a burst speed of 480 mbps after that it drops of a lot.
Firewire also comes in 400 and 800mbps.
winmacguy (3367)
569097 2007-07-28 21:56:00 Just a word of warning: if you intend to use a portable usb drive as a backup drive, make sure you ALSO do backups on CD DVD as well.
Why you ask? Well I just had a 200gb Seagate Barracuda backup drive fail with all my backups on it...
It runs nicely - humms along just like it always did except its not detectable by the PC - not even the bios sees it if I take it out of the USB case and put it in the PC itself.
So I assume its a problem with the circuitry on the drive rather than a mechanical failure.
I've lost 160gb of backups - but it doesn't matter as I also have the stuff backed up on DVD :) :)
racepics (7812)
569098 2007-07-28 22:20:00 Just to clear up any confusion, I'm a dude like you Cicero, lol.

Have you double checked Sal?
Cicero (40)
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