i meant EXTERNAL on the title, my bad.

Do a search there are loads of threads on this, most people recommend getting a good quality internal IDE or SATA drive and putting it into an external chassis preferably firewire or better still one that supports both so you can use it with machines with and without firewire.
That way when your harddrive dies (it will happen) you only need to replace the drive as the chassis is still good.

I just built an external hard drive from an internal one. Check out best buy. They had a 160gb 7200 8mb cache segate drive for $110 with a $70 rebate. I got this case for it www.newegg.com and it seems to be working well. I would suggest carrying the usb driver for windows with you after you install it because my computer wouldnt read serato without re-installing the driver.

-Niche

*moved to general*

What about the Glyph GT 050 series? That's what I plan on getting...someday.

Go Seagate, you cant go wrong...

The Glyph GT50 drives are rock solid and are somewhat cheaper if you go through B&H Photo in New Jersey. As much as I would love to save money on a lower priced drive, in the end this device will hold all your music so why go the budget route?

I have 2 different drives I use a Maxtor OneTouch II 300 gig hd with 7200 rpm drive and 16mb cache usally around 250-300 is what you can find it for. Or you can get a smokin deal at best buy on the new Seagate 300 gig hd w 7200rpm drive and 16 mb cache its 170 after rebate I picked one up today and its nice doesnt get as hot as the Maxtor but its heavier but has a shock resistance level which I could not find any supporting info if the Maxtor does or not and for a 170 its dirt cheap. They both offer USB 2 and Firewire and can be daisychained if you wish.

What is it with Lacie - people seem to either love or hate them.

Are there any stats as to brand reliablity?

hey everyone. I just found this on www.edealinfo.com. If anyone is looking for a cheap external hard drive. This could be it.
www.compusa.com

I got a Western Digital 320GB 8MB cache USB 2.0/FIre wire Dual Option with USB hub built in.

I have been using Maxtor and it works good. I just purchased a 400 gig Seagate. However, it spins down/turns off/sleep mode after 15 min with no option to set the time, nor does LaCie. The problem with that is I also use CD's and if I'm playing a set with CD's and then go to use the computer the hard drive will take a couple of seconds to spin up and play the song. NO GOOD!

Maxtor has an option to set the drive time/sleep time. I'm takin' the Seagate back.

Anyone else find the spin down/sleep time to be a problem?

hey supernatural

I have 2 Lacie drives
1 USB and 1 Firewire 250gb

at first the firewire was shutting down hence disconnecting itself from SSL

go to your Ext Drive Right click and click on properties
click on hardware select your drive and click on properties again
Chose Policies
then I checked of Optimized for performance

this seems to worked with my firewire LaCie

I Had my laptop and Ext HD on for about 12 hours straight
and set on Autoplay and the the HD stayed on and never disconnected

might try that and see if it works for you.

Thanks X_Trodinaire, I'll check it out!

hey what about BUS powerd gigs, nothing too big like 80-100 GIG, but I WANT BUS POWERED, and im having trouble finding some. so if you guys could help me out, that would be greeeeat

i used to use something like this for work (my model isn't available anymore): www.wiebetech.com

also found this: dealmac.com

regardless, bus powered is an expensive way to go unless you absolutely need it. i don't think you can bus power a drive over 120gb either, another bummer.

thanks alot 3pm. its ok though, i dont need an external any bigger than 100 gigs. but might there be anything else that you guys can think of?

Yep, the Seagate is goin' back! Even after making the adjustments it goes into a sleep mode after 15 minutes and takes a few seconds to get started. I am still using a lot of music from the Maxtor so if music on the Seagate is not being accessed it goes sleepy.

Acomdata 80GB Firewire. it hasn't failed me yet. its the bomb i got it for 20$ with 60 buck mailin rebate.

Acomdata 80GB Firewire. it hasn't failed me yet. its the bomb i got it for 20$ with 60 buck mailin rebate.

i seen a thread where someone posted (but i can't seem to find it) an external case that even was battery supplied...meaning you can loose power and when it comes back on line, you haven't distrurb any communication between laptop and ext drive (also since the lappy has a battery)