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Thread ID: 68539 2006-05-02 10:54:00 I want to buy an External Hard Drive ~ Appreciate your Advice... Princess (7275) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
451488 2006-05-04 10:48:00 Thanks for your :2cents: ...I had made the assumption that the 5 yr wty only applied to the internal IDE HDD if this was enclosed in a PC... :D no problem :thumbs: I believe that it is a 5 yr warranty no matter what it is put in...
Caution. Product warranty is void if any seal or label is removed, or if the drive experiences shock in excessof 350Gs That is what it says on the top of my Seagate IDE so... I guess using it as a removable HDD is fine :)
The_End_Of_Reality (334)
451489 2006-05-16 09:46:00 :rolleyes:

Have since been doing further research into HDD's . I'm still stuck between the choice of buying a HDD and an Enclosure seperately . An already existing External HDD . I realise the 5 yr wty with Seagate internal drives is very good, but what would it take to actually put your own HDD together? Do you need to purchase software seperately and such?

Also, when it comes to buying a HDD . . . further explanation with all the terminology is appreciated . . . . SATA? IDE? RPM? Driverless (despite the obvious of course) . . . DMA? PIO? Mmmmm . . . . . need I get into what is referred to backing up the 'image' . . . . . . !!!!

Thanks in advance all :thumbs:
Princess (7275)
451490 2006-05-16 10:27:00 The only BUT for me with the external USB drives is they are formated in FAT32 which has a 4Gb file limited, therefore storage of DVD's is only thru backup software which means double storage when the file is required.

If it wasnt for that, they are the ultimate backup / storage medium.
SolMiester (139)
451491 2006-05-16 11:10:00 The only BUT for me with the external USB drives is they are formated in FAT32 which has a 4Gb file limited, therefore storage of DVD's is only thru backup software which means double storage when the file is required.

If it wasnt for that, they are the ultimate backup / storage medium.


Do you recommend other alternatives? What is the 4Gb file limit in a little bit more detail - sorry :confused:
Princess (7275)
451492 2006-05-16 12:04:00 in fat32 filesystem
if you try to copy a single file that is over 4Gb by itself
window will tell you that the drive is full and can't copy stuff onto it
the error message is miss leading and in actual fact it is the 4Gb file size limit that's screwing things up
DVD is over 4Gb so backing that up will cause problems
but if that 4Gb image is split then it works

my ext hdd..i can format and use ntfs too
don't see why you can't format it to ntfs which doesn't have the 4Gb limit
heni72847 (1166)
451493 2006-05-16 12:13:00 I formatted mine ntfs, move dvd ISO's over to it all the time,
I got the enclosure and added 80 gig seagate to it.

Cheap backup and storage, If i get the right media extender (USB2) i may even be able to plug it into the TV. :)

Kelem
Kelem (10339)
451494 2006-05-16 21:04:00 I have an 80GB IDE 7200 rpm HDD in an enclosure off USB 2.0. It's the way to go. Less than $150 all up if you're starting from scratch.

It's NTFS and I was considering changing it to FAT32 (for Linux access), thanks for the info about the 4GB limit - I'll scrap that idea.

XP wouldn't give me a formatting choice other than NTFS and Partition Magic loses USB drives on reboot. I'd have had to remove the drive from the enlosure and install it in my desktop.

Now I find that Ubuntu Linux reads the disc anyway without even having to mount it. Go Ubuntu.

A 40GB portable USB drive will set you back the best part of $400 and if you reformat it you'll end up with about 32GB.
Vallis (8886)
451495 2006-05-16 21:11:00 It's NTFS and I was considering changing it to FAT32 (for Linux access), thanks for the info about the 4GB limit - I'll scrap that idea .
.
Why? How many bigger than 4Gb files do you have?
pctek (84)
451496 2006-05-16 21:21:00 None at the moment.
But in the last few days I've downloaded a couple of Linux iso files over 3GB and bloat is alive and kicking.
Vallis (8886)
451497 2006-05-16 22:35:00 for my ext hdd
i split it into 2 partitions
one fat32 one ntfs

so..when i use my kubuntu i can write to fat32 part if i want
but it reads ntfs fine anywayz

also it kinda leaves an area where i can use on unfortunate computers that still got win98 or something..or when i lend it to my mac using friends
heni72847 (1166)
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