Help me buy an external HDD for my Laptop!

[Guttboy]

Help me buy an external HDD for my Laptop/PS3!

Hi Everyone!

Life has been hectic on my end...hence lack of posts....however I have some "downtime" recovering from shoulder surgery and have a few questions from the experts here!

I have a Dell Inspiron 1705 with a 120Gb internal HDD and I am rapidly filling this puppy up with songs from my CD collection.

What I am interested in is an external HDD that I can hook up to this laptop to store all my media on. It would be nice to be able to move this between my desktop and this laptop but not a deal killer.

Requirements:

Ease of use.
Transportability....can move between computers if necessary.
Expense.....cheaper the better.
Size....hmm....good question....I have about 60 GB of music and about the same in pictures...I would use this as a media drive to have all my music and photos on.

Side note: I also have a PS3 and if there was a way to connect this drive to the PS3 as well to hold music/photos that would be outstanding...not sure if this is possible though.

Thoughts? Pros/Cons?

Thanks in advance for all the suggestions!!!!

Regards,

 

[Guttboy]

USB powered?

Thought I might add this...

USB powered would be simply outstanding if possible....
320 GB or below for size as I think the PS3 wont recognize anything larger...I may be mistaken though.

Price.....Geeze.....would LOVE to keep it under $200 bucks....cheaper the better ($100 to $150 is best when justifying this to the family....)

I won't be needing this to run games and such so speeds shouldn't be that critical I think. Just storage for music/Photos.

Regards,

 

[newtekie1]

Powering a large drive via USB isn't going to happen, the USB port simply doesn't provide enough power.

I know you just had shoulder surgery, so this might be hard, but I would build on myself. Just buy an external enclosure, and an internal 3.5" drive and put the two together.

I like this enclosure: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332012

Mainly because of the fan to cool the drive. With an external enclosure, a fan is a must. Without one the drive will definitely overheat, and the drive's life will be cut short.

Pair it with this drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148261

And you have a 250GB external hard drive that has both USB and e-SATA, and the drive has a 5 year warranty, which is pretty uncommon in the external hard drive world all for right around $100.

As long as you format the drive in FAT32 you can use it with your PS3, just plug it into one of the USB ports. I use the exact same setup with my PS3, and you can move it between computers with ease.

You could use this drive if you want 320GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148316

With the 320GB drive the whole setup is only $125 after shipping.

 

[Guttboy]

Newteckie1,

Great Idea! I have a WDD 1 Terabyte HDD coupled with an Antec MX1 case for my DirecTV DVR. Works great in that application.

What is the maximum size the PS3 will recognize if you know. I was reading that it was 320 Gb....I dont have that much "junk" but was curious.

If the assembly is similar to the Antec MX1 then I think it would not be a problem, shoulder surgery and all, to assemble it whatsoever!

I think this may be the way I go without a doubt!

 

[newtekie1]

The assembly on the AMS enclosure I posted is extremely easy. You just slide the drive into the connector on the tray, put a few screws in throught the bottom of the tray to hold the drive in place, and slide the tray back into the enclosure.

As far as I know there is no size limitation on external hard drives. I've seen 500GB drives used.