Techie Question: External hard drive

**sonofstan** · 26/07/2007, 3:59 PM

Ok - my ibook is full to bursting with music and photos. Most of the photos are my daughter's, and since she has recently acquired a lappie of her own, I want her to move these to free up some space. Simplest solution seems to be an external hard drive that we can share - question is: can you share one between a mac and and a pc? and secondly, if yes, what would anyone recommend in terms of size and price?

**GavinZac** · 26/07/2007, 6:38 PM

if its only music and photos, you might actually get away with a USB memory stick. PC World are selling an 8GB version, that'll work perfectly with windows, mac, or linux.

ive not used a mac for anything more than a few minutes to see how a site or web app im working on looks like in Safari, but its based on Unix software the same as linux, so id imagine it can will not have any problems with a FAT32 formatted HDD.

to find out what size you'd need, create a folder, put all your moving stuff into it, and then check the folder's properties to see how much is there. as i said, with music and photos, you probably wont need much more than 8GB, and could always move a bunch at a time if it was more. usb memory sticks are cheaper (though not as much room for your euro) more portable and less easy to break than an external HDD - i've gone through 3 in the last year, due in part to tech illiterate people around me doing thing like picking them up by the power cord

**sonofstan** · 26/07/2007, 8:17 PM

Thanks GZ - I think there's about 8gb of photos alone in there, and 8.6 of music in itunes* alone (and there's a few other folders as well) so I reckon at least 20gb at a very minimum, which seems to mean a HD

* whatever the format is it takes up way more room than MP3s

**dahamsta** · 26/07/2007, 9:05 PM

Most external hard drives come FAT formatted, which should be readable by both. Just make sure you get one with the correct interfaces -- PC's tend to have USB ports, whereas Mac's tend to lean towards Firewire. Your best bet is to get a drive with both types, for futureproofing. As to size, generally speaking the bigger the better, again for futureproofing, although a fast platter speed is important too, 7200rpm minimum these days I reckon. The Western Digital My Book drives come highly recommended at the moment, and looks the biz; this'll be my next drive if I buy one. That probably won't be for some time though, since the 300GB Maxtor OneTouch I bought several years ago is still churning away happily. So there's two to choose from anyway.

adam

**sonofstan** · 26/07/2007, 9:15 PM

Thanks Adam - the mybooks do look cool; the remote one in particular, but at $799 it might have to wait awhile...

**dahamsta** · 26/07/2007, 9:56 PM

That's a 2TB drive, you'd need an awful lot of porn to fill that.

You'd get by easily on the smallest external drive available at the moment, just remember that the data never stops!

adam

**anto1208** · 26/07/2007, 10:15 PM

I got a really good one it hooks up to your TV using the red yellow white cables and you can view all yout photos , watch videos and listen to your mp3's on your tv without any need for a comp once they are copied on .

Much handier than turning on the computer and has a remote to flick through your files .

It was 170 euro and is 320 GB ,I got a flier in from Maplin and they have it for 160 now

**paul_oshea** · 27/07/2007, 9:15 AM

go to misco.co.uk. very good site and quite cheap. get all my stuff from there.

Are all internal hard drives sata compabitble now? It seems they all mention serial ata connections.......?! whats the difference in speed?

**Erstwhile B�z** · 27/07/2007, 10:40 AM

Where would you get one of those MyBooks? They look class. Can you even physically walk into shops any more or does the shopping have to be virtual?

Oh, and would they all slot into a laptop (Dell) as a matter of course or do you have to get a special one?

("Futureproofing" is a fecking brilliant word!)

**paul_oshea** · 27/07/2007, 10:51 AM

futureproofing is the latest buzz word in IT, along with "rightsizing".

**dahamsta** · 27/07/2007, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Erstwhile B�z

Where would you get one of those MyBooks? They look class. Can you even physically walk into shops any more or does the shopping have to be virtual?

Places like PC World probably have them, but I wouldn't shop there meself; and don't buy an extended warranty if you do, for god's sake.

Generally, for something of this value, it's cheaper to buy online. Support is something you should look into carefully though. For example, Dabs have great bargains, but getting in touch with them if you have a problem is a pain in the arse. They'll replace it, generally without a lot of quibbling, but it can take a lot of time and patience to jump through the hoops.

Oh, and would they all slot into a laptop (Dell) as a matter of course or do you have to get a special one?

If it has a USB or Firewire port it should work out of the box. However if you have USB only, it's worth checking if you have USB 2.0 before you buy, as pervious versions are quite slow in comparison. No point spending a big whack of money on a drive if it's going to be interminably slow to transfer data to and from it.

Note that they have small external drives more suited to a laptop bag too. And so do other manufacturers of course.

("Futureproofing" is a fecking brilliant word!)

Not mine, sadly.

adam

**Erstwhile B�z** · 27/07/2007, 11:00 AM

Very much obliged, adam, cheers.

Originally Posted by dahamsta

pervious version

Sounds exactly what I need.

**dahamsta** · 27/07/2007, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

futureproofing is the latest buzz word in IT, along with "rightsizing".

Um, the phrase/word futureproofing has been around for as long as the dreaded "synergies". It's hardly new.

**sonofstan** · 03/08/2007, 8:59 AM

If anyone is interested, i eventually got a lacie 320gb drive in Right- Click on Camden St. for a ton - best value i could find; Back from the Future have mybooks - 250gb for �139, 500 for �199.