A Computer Insider Tip: IDE / SATA HDDs (1 Viewer)

[camcondor]

I've put this here as we haven't got a Computing forum (yet) and hope its in the right place for now......

Word has it that there are masses of IDE Harddrives out there that wholesalers and retailers want to shift as the technology is in its death throes for harddrives at any rate......this can work both ways for potential buyers -

AVOID buying IDE harddrives in order to upgrade a system, also avoid buying motherboards that only offer IDE support. Ensure that the newer SATA standard is supported on any new motherboard or powersupply purchase. For Mac owners its a no-brainer as the system HDDs have been SATA for ages now.

If you have an older IDE based system and want to expand / buy a new harddrive you can STILL BUY AND USE A SATA DRIVE - cheap SATA controller cards which slot into PCI or PCI-E slots are readily available for around £10 and are really easy to install.


IF THE IDE DRIVE COMES REALLY REALLY CHEAP: it may be worth using it in an external enclosure as extra storage, but remember, it is a lot slower than SATA and an older technology. Enclosure prices for IDE drives are really cheap at present, but be careful that you get the correct type of enclosure, ie IDE or SATA, for the drive you intend using. There are hybrid enclosures that will take either, but you do pay a bit of a premium.

Laurie

 

[Brisey]

Hi all

We are thinking of purchasing the following item from ALDI

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Any comments good or bad before we purchase

 

[American Dream]

Hi Brisey..

Speaking from hands-on experience with Medion Products, I find the build quality lacking.

There are some real nice units out there.

The iomega drive came as a surprise as it was my second choice for a customer.

Pleasantly surprised as housing was aluminium which was what I was after.

The problem with caddies is that the heat generated by the drive does not dissipate and the drive runs very hot affecting the performance and life span of the drive causing early failure.

The IOMEGA, for one vents this heat very well.I have recently had a succession of such drives through the workshop with drive failures and have had to recover data from them.

Will try and get more details for you of others.

Look for a Metal/aluminium finned and vented case preferably with a cooling fan.

STEVE.:thumb:

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[American Dream]

Further to our chat just now Brisey,I have had more time to look at the spec.

The case is aluminium and appears to have cooling vents and a possible fan at the front.

That, and the fact it's SATA (requiring additional cable) it's starting to look interesting.

Would advise to take a look first.Good price for 500Gig.:thumb:

Regards Steve.

 

[Papa Smurf]

Sata Transfer rate is low for sata drive. 8mb L1 cache is low too.

Try Link Removed for comparison - a good indication of reasonable prices you should expect to pay. They usually deliver next working day too!

 

[American Dream]

Sata Transfer rate is low for sata drive. 8mb L1 cache is low too.

Try Link Removed for comparison - a good indication of reasonable prices you should expect to pay. They usually deliver next working day too!

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Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive (ST305004FDC1E1-RK)

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was £69.99 ex vat
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Link RemovedSeagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB USB2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive (ST305004FPC1E2-RK)

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