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Advice needed for externall HDD

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  • 20-07-2007 2:16pm
    #1
    L31mr0d
    Registered Users Posts: 8,067 ✭✭✭


    Ok, I currently have a WD 250GB firewire 400 external HDD which i'm outgrowing fast. I'm looking to get a 500GB external HDD.

    Now I have 2 options for its interface, e-SATA or gigabit ethernet? I'm going to be increasing the number of PC's on my network so i'm wondering which would the best choice? The e-SATA would be faster, but to access the files on it the computer its attached to would need to be on. The gigabit ethernet would be slower but I could access it from any PC and not require 1 to be on to do so.

    So what should I go for?


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    #2
    Auvers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,987 ✭✭✭Auvers


    I think you should be looking for a NAS type solution, especially if your going to be networking a few PCs together. Maybe something like this would suffice.


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    #3
    ethernet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,568 ✭✭✭ethernet


    WD have nice external drives for use as NAS devices. I'd say go for gigabit ethernet.

    I wouldn't think eSATA would be all that much better -- sure, it has high bandwidth but it's not as if the hard drive will actually make full use of it.


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    #4
    L31mr0d
    Registered Users Posts: 8,067 ✭✭✭L31mr0d


    yeah i'm leaning toward gigabit now myself. I was talking to someone about eSATA and he mentioned that it's not hot pluggable and can't be powered down while the computer is on, which is a big turn off for me as I only like the external drive to make noise when i'm writing to it.

    I'm going to keep my eye out for a good, cheap 1TB NAS drive then.


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