:wavey: Okay,

I've filled my laptop with music and ha herm "artistic" stuff. I don't really want to delete anything so I'm thinking of buying something like an 80GB external drive. Any thoughts, suggestions or recommendations ?

Pete

Freecom SL drives are nice.

If you can get the truly slimline bus-powered ones, then there is no need for another power socket.

I, unfortunately, went down the SL Classic route, so require an extra plug socket wherever I take it.

The Porsche silver drives look ab-so-lutely- gorgeous.....(we've got two at work, piggin' style fascists........... .)

just buy another laptop hd or pc hd and you can buy a case to plug it into.

www.maplins.co.uk

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=32139&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=4&doy=22m11

www.maplins.co.uk

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=32139&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=4&doy=22m11

Second recommendation for Freecom stuff.

Like boyced says though, if you get an "enclosure", you can plug a normal hard disk into it. Then, if you want, you could even plug an optical drive into the enclosure if you wanted a DVD writer or similar...

Rob.

i was thinking of replicating my data onto an external drive, is there any software that can do this? Was looking for something that would just copy over changed data and not all the data everytime.

i was thinking of replicating my data onto an external drive, is there any software that can do this? Was looking for something that would just copy over changed data and not all the data everytime.

Was pretty sure IBM used something like this internally? :rubchin:

Can't for the life of me remember the name of it though...

Rob.

Any recommendations for forums on thiskind of stuff, or would my head implode ?

Maxtor OneTouch drives comes highly recommended, I use three of the 300gb models at work. Very pleased with them. Also come with backup software which would address your 'incremental' backup data question.

CLICK FOR INFO

HTH

Steve

Also come with backup software which would address your 'incremental' backup data question.

what is the name of the software they come with?

From the Maxtor link:

"Dantz

Another recommendation for Maxtor One Touch Drives got a 250GB Version here myself for backup.

Or it may be chaeper to buy an external USB2 H/Drive enclosure and add your own disk.

True, but I think you get what you pay for I suppose. I'd be worried about putting a normal hard drive in a metal case and having that sit on my desk. Noise and heat generation would be my main concerns.

At least with the Maxtor you know you're getting a quality product and one that's very quiet.

Just my opinion....

Steve

True' date=' but I think you get what you pay for I suppose. I'd be worried about putting a normal hard drive in a metal case and having that sit on my desk. Noise and heat generation would be my main concerns.

[/quote']

Most of the enclosures I've come across (even cheap ones) have a fan or two...

Rob.

I'd be worried about putting a normal hard drive in a metal case

Steve

a normal hard drive, thats exactly whats in the onetouch case.

I'd imagine Maxtor will have made some changes to a standard hard drive before fitting in the case to be honest. For a start it's far quieter and gernerates less heat than a standard drive. Granted the USB boxes you see advertised may have fans, but they'll then be noisier.

Again, just my outlook on things. If I was in the market for more external hard drives, I would buy Maxtor again. In fact, a OneTouch II drive is looking very likely before Christmas...

Steve

I'd imagine Maxtor will have made some changes to a standard hard drive before fitting in the case to be honest. For a start it's far quieter and gernerates less heat than a standard drive. Granted the USB boxes you see advertised may have fans' date=' but they'll then be noisier.

[/quote']

But modifying a mass-produced hard drive is an expensive business. Sticking some acoustic insulation and a couple of silent fans on an enclosure would make much more sense!

Rob.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Watch it with Maxtor. I used to swear by them. I then had 4 drives of a particular maxtor model fail. Well, in fact, only one original drive failed. The three replacements were also RMA'd

Also, Maxtor will not warranty a drive if you put it in an external enclosure :eek: Someone had a problem with theirs, went to RMA it and Maxtor turned it down because it had been "externally fitted" and not stuck in a PC case.

I can't remember where I heard that but I'm not inventing. Can do a search if you want to find out more.

I've used blankdiscshop's enclosures. Although they Chinese sumvision or something and require seperate power via brick thingy, they are handy in providing USB2 and firewire in one unit. Does have a fan at the back, but works rather well. Pretty good value too at

Although they Chinese sumvision

Sumvision stuff is actually pretty good in my experience...admittedly it's budget gear, but it does what it says on the tin...

Rob.

Got a Maxtor 80Gb drive - works great on one PC but screws up everything if I plug it into my other PC.

Second Copy is easy to use to make back up copies of data to drives etchttp://www.centered.com/