The Pezman Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 I have a 750 GB external hard drive, but I have a problem: it's not well suited to being carried around a lot (which, since I don't live in one place for too long, is what I frequently do). I accidentally dropped it and, though it turns on, it's not doing so well. I would like an external hard drive of at least that capacity which is built to withstand travels and slight bumps (to a reasonable extent, of course. Not like I'll be pitching it across a field). Kind of like this thing, except with a 750 capacity (and hopefully a cheaper price). Are there enclosures built like this? If so, that means I can buy one and a 1 TB internal hard drive for not that much money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Effef Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 You might want to look into getting a rugged enclosure like that one and fill it with a higher capacity laptop drive, since they were designed with more rugged use in mind. This is far from the cheap option however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 The cheapest thing I think you can do is to get this --> http://www.sealedair.com/bubble_home.htm But in all seriousness, the highest capacity portable hard drive I've ever heard was the 500 GB TurboUSB Buffalo MiniStation... Looks pricey... http://www.buffalotech.com/products/external-drives/ministation/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted June 1, 2008 Author Share Posted June 1, 2008 Okay, I found this. Can anyone speak to its durability? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katsurugi Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I'm not too sure if this is what you want. Have you checked the dimensions? It's like a thick paperback book. My friend has a WD My Passport. It's very small, similar to that of DS. Storage is obviously limited and doesn't have a fan to cool it down, but I don't think you have to worry about unless you have it on for extended periods of time. It only requires the USB plug too. Very convenient, but also pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 Can you tell me about a durable enclosure, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starla Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 The MyBook is a good external enclosure, it's usually got a fan and is pretty high quality. It is a bitch to take apart though, and usually the case breaks when you do XD A 750GB or large capacity hard drive is likely to have perpendicular recording. This means that you are rewarded with higher capacity on a more dense (read: delicately aligned) platter. They're fantastic for stay-put machines. Not so much for externals to be honest. LaCie makes a "Rugged" external case but they're not the best brand - they tend to use the drives provided by the lowest bidder (usually ibm/hitachi) and some even have refurbished drives in them. The Buffalo drive linked above looks good, however stick to using their USB products since their network attached products all use a variant of the Linux Reiser file system which can be a bitch to recover from if anything fails or the file system gets corrupted. Scandisk won't know wtf to do with it. You have a couple options, either you can switch to a lower capacity drive like a 250 (a lot are still normal recording and not perpendicular), you can buy a "rugged" external enclosure or you can switch to flash memory and throw it around all you want. Or, you could just be realllly careful with your higher capacity delicate drives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 The MyBook is a good external enclosure, it's usually got a fan and is pretty high quality. It is a bitch to take apart though, and usually the case breaks when you do XD If I were to get the MyBook (or, for that matter, any external hard drive already built) I wouldn't want to take it apart. I'd just want it to work. Kind of like my current hard drive. A 750GB or large capacity hard drive is likely to have perpendicular recording. This means that you are rewarded with higher capacity on a more dense (read: delicately aligned) platter. They're fantastic for stay-put machines. Not so much for externals to be honest. Do you mean to say that they tend to not function in external enclosures, or that external enclosures aren't built to house those kind of drives? I checked some out on Newegg and they don't indicate what kinds of drives they can or can't handle. LaCie makes a "Rugged" external case but they're not the best brand - they tend to use the drives provided by the lowest bidder (usually ibm/hitachi) and some even have refurbished drives in them. The Buffalo drive linked above looks good, however stick to using their USB products since their network attached products all use a variant of the Linux Reiser file system which can be a bitch to recover from if anything fails or the file system gets corrupted. Scandisk won't know wtf to do with it. Yeah, I had a Lacie drive before and wasn't happy with it. I hope to not have to get another. You have a couple options, either you can switch to a lower capacity drive like a 250 (a lot are still normal recording and not perpendicular), you can buy a "rugged" external enclosure or you can switch to flash memory and throw it around all you want. The rugged external sounds like the best option, since a large amount of space is important to me, nor do I think Flash memory will reach that capacity for a while yet. Or, you could just be realllly careful with your higher capacity delicate drives I actually had the drive for a couple of years before I had any problems. I just need to have something which has a bit of clumsiness forgiveness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Bump. Any other comments or assistance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhsu Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 http://www.newegg.com/product/ProductList.aspx?description=ego Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 This is weird. Tried to click on your link and NewEgg told me it was having server problems. But I looked on the rest of NewEgg and server problems apparently just mean they can't find the damn page. Can you relink or just tell me what you found? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhsu Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Hm, weird. Try this. Basically Iomega has a line of externals by the name of "eGo" that apparently feature some sort of "DropGuard" technology. Although on second glance, the biggest one they have is 320GB for $200 (pricey to say the least). They have desktop models that hold 1TB and are more reasonably-priced, but don't promise the same DropGuard technology. Looks like if you don't want to shell out the scrilla, your best option is to look for a rugged enclosure, assuming they exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Thanks. I'll look into these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Okay, I think I've settled on what I'll get. I realized that I wanted the ability for Firewire 800 (since I'm getting a Mac alongside this and will want to make use of the speed boost). This is the cheapest of the 1 TB hard drives, and its specs seem to stand up against the others (SATA, 7200 RPM, etc). This guy appears to be the cheapest compatible enclosure with 800 ports. Together, they'll run me $280, which is a bit more than the myBook I was looking at, but not as fast (why they think including eSATA over FW800 is a good idea is beyond me). It's also not as wieldy as the myBook, but it's definitely more wieldy than my current hard drive (which they've apparently stopped making). I don't intend to be dropping the drive, but in case I do perhaps it's possible to pad the hard drive within its chassis to reduce the risk of any sudden jolts. Too bad I can't wait til the next generation of USB/Firewire, though... EDIT: Damn, just found this one, which is cheaper but probably even more unwieldy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starla Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 The calvary one looks like 2x500 not 1x1000. Watch out for that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Hmm. Official website says "hard disk drive." So I'm guessing no on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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