[kill_hXc]

Hi,

I am looking to buy an external hard drive to connect to my laptop as it is getting very clogged up and slow what with all my music and picture files, and this year at Uni I will need to put some video editing software on it, so I need all the free space I can get!

I have a Toshiba Equium laptop and have seen a WESTERN DIGITAL My Book Essential 320 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive. When I looked on Ebay to see if I could get one a bit cheaper I found it on a normal search (cheaper!) but when I entered my form factor the product no longer came up. I was just wondering if it really mattered, or I could get away with using this one. If not is there another which you can suggest?

Cheers,

Tom

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Which were you looking at? How much space? Manufacturer?

[Facedown98]

Which were you looking at? How much space? Manufacturer?

[kill_hXc]

WESTERN DIGITAL My Book Essential 320 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive.

[Kemasa]

If you use an external usb connected disk, the form factor does not matter unless you are putting it together yourself, which I think is a good idea since then you can replace the disk. Many of the units which are put together already, can not be opened or if you do, then you void the warranty.

You can get smaller disks and then put it in a smaller external case. It all depends on the size you want to deal with. If you leave it home, then it would not matter as much.

[kill_hXc]

What do you mean put it together myself? Buy a hard drive and then just put it in a case? I was going for a ready made one, I basically need it just to stay at home and have my files on it whilst I am on the move with a free'd-up laptop which doesn't take a decade to boot up.

[Kemasa]

Yes, I mean buy a hard drive and a case and put it together. If you buy a pre-packaged one and the USB interface board dies, you will not be able to get your data without violating the warranty since you can not open the case, plus some cases are very difficult to open. If you get the disk and the case separately, you can upgrade the disk later and can open the case without any issues.

Since it will stay at home, you can use a 3.5" drive, which should be cheaper. I think that in most cases putting it together yourself will also save you money (if you have excessive amounts of money, feel free to send some to me :-).