How To Build A Portable Usb Hard Drive

[Sushubh]

mere ko bijli, broadband aur mountain dew chahiye survival ke liye. 😛

 

[waterloo_sunset]

QUOTE(Raptor @ May 12 2006, 10:03 AM) [snapback]51053[/snapback]
I thought western digital was supposed to be the best.
[/b]

That maybe true for desktop hard drives (only coz of the stellar Raptor line). Western Digital are sort of unknown as far as laptop hard drives are concerned. Hitachi rules the 2.5" notebook hard disk segment currently with Seagate not far behind.

 

[leomax]

yes indeed WD raptor is the drive to beat,but i found thisSeagate's Big Kahuna: The 750GB 7200.10 Hard Drive

This drive is a monster when its raid 0'ed. Its close to a single raptor :blink:

 

[blr_p]

RAID 0 is dangerous, lose one drive and everything is lost.If all you care bout is speed and no concern for data, you are right.

 

[yogi]

I just enquired about prices at an Andheri store here. A 40 GB 2.5" hdd costs 3000 for both Hitachi and seagate; while a 100 GB version costs 7500. The casing is 900 bucks with a 1 year warranty, or one with no warranty is 250 bucks. Can waterloo_sunset let me know if the above prices are ok ?? And I assume I should go for a hitachi rather than seagate??thanks!🙂

 

[leomax]

hey why dont u try with 3.5" rather than 2.5"?u can get more size for less money,only disadvantage is you need a seperate adaptor which will be supplied if u buy a 3.5" to usb adaptor.

 

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[waterloo_sunset]

Would be helpful if u could tell me the model numbers of the drives. Can safely assume they're both 5400rpm drives (40GB ones). And in this segment the both Hitachi and Seagte are very close in terms of performance and reliability. So it would be advisable to go for the one which has a longer warranty. I think Seagate offers a 5yr warranty (plz cross-check with the dealer though) and better support in india which tilts the balance in its favour for me atleast since you'll be using it as an external drive connected through usb.

 

[yogi]

hey waterloo, these are the specs ---Seagate Momentus 4200 Hard Disk Drive ST9402113A 4200 rpm 40GB 2MB cacheRs 30505 yr warrantyHitachi HTS424040M9AT00 40GB 2.5" Notebook HDD 4200rpm 2 MB cacheRs 29505 yr warrantyOk, so the rpm is 4200...is it that a higher rpm gives me more speed for data transfer?? If that is so, speed is not an issue for me...I dont mind waiting for a longer period of time to transfer data. I will need speed only for playing audio or video directly from the portable HDD. So for playing the above multimedia, is 4200 rpm fine???I saw online that there are higher rpm drives in both seagate & Hitachi as in 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm...I suppose there wont be much of a price difference if I go for higher rpm ?Keep in mind that I will only connect the hdd through the USB interface. So if either 5400 or 7200 rpm benefit is lost because of the usb 2.0 interface...then there is no point. I have no knowledge on this aspect. Also let me know which should I choose ...seagate or hitachi?Thanks!!!🙂

 

[waterloo_sunset]

You might wanna check out the prices for the corresponding 5400rpm models. And yea, i don't think there should be much of a price difference.1. Hitachi Travelstar 5K80 / 40GB / 5400rpm / 2.5 / 8MB Buffer (HTS548040M9AT00)2. Seagate Momentus / 40GB / 5400rpm / 2.5 inch / 8MB Buffer (might be slightly more pricey)The difference in performance between 5400 and 4200rpm drives can be as high as 50% which is quite significant and you will be able to notice it even when connecting thru usb 2.0 (if it was 1.1 then it would've been a different matter).So, if the price difference is not too much and i suspect it won't be...then it makes sense to go for the above models. Also try and get as many quotes as possible if u wanna get the best deal. Don't rely on checking with just one dealer.7200rpm 2.5" drives are much more expensive than their 5400 counterparts at the moment. And since ur not too fussy abt performance, that effectively rules them out.Also if u have a firewire port on ur comp, try n look for a firewire casing. Again theoretical stats aside, ur drive will run faster if connected via firewire rather than usb 2.0.Choosing between Hitachi and Seagate...hmmm....depends. If the prices and warranty offered are identical, get Hitachi. Also the Seagate 2.5" 40GB might be more costly than the hitachi (try and get a HDD & casing package deal....might save u some bucks). Go for seagate if it comes with a longer warranty (seagate comes with a 5yr one....not too sure abt hitachi).

 

[yogi]

Hey Waterloo, they dont have much variety. I saw another seagate model ST96812A 60 GB capacity priced at 4350 bucks. The rpm is 5400....It is of course a little more expensive than buying online. So I have 2 questions....this model just has a 2MB buffer (and there are other models with 8 MB buffer which this shop does not have) Will this make a big difference???Other question is...I will be travelling outside india in the next 5 years...so I think seagate will have a wider network of service centers as opposed to Hitachi. What do u think??🙂

 

[waterloo_sunset]

Hmmm, the two drives i mentioned are easily available here in Delhi atleast. And as far as i've seen prices on ebay.in are consistently 20-30%(sometimes more) more than the market rates. It's not like in the US where most vendors sell their stuff online and u get multiple quotes for a product.From what i've heard Lamington Road in Mumbai is the equivalent of Nehru Place in Delhi. So if u ask for a Seagate/Hitachi 2.5" 40GB 5400rpm HDD, what you'll get will most probably be one of the two models i mentioned. It is quite possible that many wouldn't know anythin abt HDD's apart from their capacity. So it's better if u check out these specs yourself on the sticker.Only 5400rpm & above drives come with an 8MB buffer which needless to say does improve performance. And as i said earlier Seagate does have an edge when it comes to service & support. So it's your call to make.

 

[yogi]

ok, thanks for your reply. But I think I will go in for the 60 GB seagate model anyway. The hassle about service repair in case of malfunction is directly proportional to distance in bombay. I dont want to travel far, so I may buy it in Andheri. I'll have to settle for a 2 MB cache, so I'll let it be. I hardly have any money right now, so I'll wait for another year or two and then get a much bigger hdd direct from overseas. I already know my max requirement for lifetime will be about 400 GB because I will be stopping with all downloading sometime next year 😀So about international warranty...what are the documents that I need to get while purchasing, so that I can get it repaired even outside india? I want to make sure that the dealer gives me whatever documents are needed! 🙂

 

[waterloo_sunset]

Ok first of all lemme clarify abt the buffer. The Seagate ST96812A 60GB drive u mentioned in ur previous post is a 5400rpm drive with an 8MB data buffer. Whoever told u it has a 2MB one was probably confusing it with some other model. 🙂Frankly i dunno much abt the warranty bit. I think incase ur drive fails u just need to know the model and serial number of the drive (both can be found on the top sticker) and go to their website and fill out a form. Then u gotta send the drive and you'll be sent back a factory repaired replacement. No documents needed. Just make sure u buy the drive from an authorised reseller and keep the invoice safely.

 

[yogi]

Hey dude, I bought it, but now having problems with formatting it. I am using windows 2000 professional version. Every time I start a format, it formats for 1 % of the drive and then the "unsafe removal of device" comes up...which says I have unplugged or ejected the device without stopping it!!Am I doing something wrong, or do I have a malfunctioning enclosure? or worse...a malfunctioning disk??This is terrible...I thought it would be easy 🙁Please help!!!

 

[waterloo_sunset]

Hmmm, try partitioning the drive as an extended partition with a logical drive and not a primary partition. If this doesn't work try switching to UDMA mode 2 in ur drive's bios settings. If the above suggestions don't work. Re-install ur usb 2.0 drivers from within device manager. As a last resort connect to an internal IDE slot and if the formatting fails again (most probably won't) then am afraid you'll need a replacement.....unlikely considering it's brand new.If u can. check it on another comp to isolate where the problem lies.