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philliptweedie
April 17th, 2008, 05:36 PM
Hi,

I'm considering buying an external hard drive (the bigger the better) to store movies, pictures, music and the like.

However, I'm getting a bit nervous about compatibility with some vendors needing drivers for their external hard drives.

I'm just wandering what drives you guys use and know to work with Ubuntu.

Cheers

lespaul_rentals
April 17th, 2008, 05:40 PM
Go for the Seagate FreeAgent 500GB.

Cheap, lots of storage, reliable, plug-and-play compatibility with Linux, and a 5-year warranty against manufacturer defects. I bought a Seagate FreeAgent 250GB, formatted it as ext3, and have had no problems with it leaving it on 24/7 for months at a time. It runs cool, has fairly fast transfer rates, I just can't recommend it enough.

billlang675
April 17th, 2008, 05:49 PM
google LACIE hardrives. They are inexpensive and work right out of the box. :)

dje
April 17th, 2008, 05:51 PM
I've got an Iomega Value Series 250gb external that works out of the box

hope that helps,
dje

herbster
April 17th, 2008, 06:27 PM
Depending on your needs, I'd just get a regular sata drive and an enclosure. I grabbed a 500gb for $90 and the enclosure for about $30, now I can pop in any drive and it can also connect via eSata (not that others don't).

SunnyRabbiera
April 17th, 2008, 06:38 PM
Get seagate, they are known to work well with linux.

philliptweedie
April 17th, 2008, 06:55 PM
Cheers for all the replies guys, I've had a further look at some of the Seagate drives on ebay.


Depending on your needs, I'd just get a regular sata drive and an enclosure. I grabbed a 500gb for $90 and the enclosure for about $30, now I can pop in any drive and it can also connect via eSata (not that others don't).

This confused me a little. If I've got this right, I can buy an enclosure (I'm assuming these are what ebay refers to as Hard Disk Drive Cases?) then just pop in a regular internal hdd and use it as external? Am I right? Is there any sort of performance hit for doing it that way?

I would like to plug the external drive into a wireless router hopefully so my family can use it too. Is this still possible using an enclosure.

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I've never bought one of these before.

Cheers

dje
April 17th, 2008, 07:06 PM
Cheers for all the replies guys, I've had a further look at some of the Seagate drives on ebay.



This confused me a little. If I've got this right, I can buy an enclosure (I'm assuming these are what ebay refers to as Hard Disk Drive Cases?) then just pop in a regular internal hdd and use it as external? Am I right? Is there any sort of performance hit for doing it that way?

I would like to plug the external drive into a wireless router hopefully so my family can use it too. Is this still possible using an enclosure.

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I've never bought one of these before.

Cheers

Yes depending on whether you get a 2.5" or 3.5" enclosure and whether it is IDE etc., in other words you can put any compatible hard drive in the enclosure. If you want to connect the drive to your router you need a NAS (network attached storage) enclosure/drive unless you have a USB port on your router?

hope that helps,
dje

SunnyRabbiera
April 17th, 2008, 07:11 PM
I would not use ebay though, it has too shaky of a reputation for me...
I would buy it off amazon, they have a better rep

lespaul_rentals
April 17th, 2008, 07:14 PM
I would not use ebay though, it has too shaky of a reputation for me...
I would buy it off amazon, they have a better rep

I'd just get it off Newegg.

philliptweedie
April 17th, 2008, 07:17 PM
If you want to connect the drive to your router you need a NAS (network attached storage) enclosure/drive unless you have a USB port on your router?

Yup there are USB ports on the router, thats the only reason I would even attempt it. It's also why I want a solution that just works and requires little to no fiddling with driver cds etc. As I dont want or need any of the automatic back up programs that lots of them seem to come with!


I would not use ebay though, it has too shaky of a reputation for me...
I would buy it off amazon, they have a better rep

I've never had a problem with ebay, built my last pc with parts from it. I do prefer to use things like amazon, or other online hardware stores but most of the time you can't beat ebay on price for the same basic stuff. Well thats IMHO anyway.

Well, cheers guys for all the suggestions, I'm off to scour the internet once again. I will report back with last minute nerves before I commit to anything!

Thanks

dje
April 17th, 2008, 07:17 PM
Definitely amazon, always fast and reliable in my experience

dje

herbster
April 18th, 2008, 03:21 AM
Phillip, what I was talking about is indeed an internal drive in a case, to keep it simple. I grabbed the Nexstar because it has USB and eSata connectors, is a breeze to swap the drive if you want to and keeps the drive very cool (mine sits at about 25-30C and it's on 24/7).

If you connect your drive via eSata, it is basically sata speeds-- as though you had the drive sitting internally connected to your mobo. You can also hotplug it USB as USB is a more common interface on many more devices (like the router you mentioned).

Enclosures are the way to go IMO because the price of internal drives is far less than the custom-built externals offered out there.

lespaul_rentals
April 18th, 2008, 04:06 PM
Phillip, what I was talking about is indeed an internal drive in a case, to keep it simple. I grabbed the Nexstar because it has USB and eSata connectors, is a breeze to swap the drive if you want to and keeps the drive very cool (mine sits at about 25-30C and it's on 24/7).

If you connect your drive via eSata, it is basically sata speeds-- as though you had the drive sitting internally connected to your mobo. You can also hotplug it USB as USB is a more common interface on many more devices (like the router you mentioned).

Enclosures are the way to go IMO because the price of internal drives is far less than the custom-built externals offered out there.

Actually, this man speaks the truth. I only bought the Seagate FreeAgent because I had a gift card for Best Buy and it was on sale.

Once again, building your own stuff in the computer world pays off.

philliptweedie
April 21st, 2008, 08:08 PM
Ok Guys,

Thanks for all the help so far. I was very interested in the enclosure idea.

Sorry herbster just a few more questions. Which nexstar are you using, 2 or 3? And does it have an upper limit on what size of hard disk it can take?

I only ask as I intend to buy 1tb unless anyone convinces me otherwise.

Again thanks for all the help,

Cheers

herbster
April 21st, 2008, 08:26 PM
Phillip, I have the 3, here: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17167&vpn=NST-360SU-BK

It states a 500gb limit, but here's a thread on the same site about this exact question you have: http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index.php?mode=showthread&msg_id=1604597&threadid=1604597&forum=103&product_id=18867&msgcount=3&overclockid=0#msg1604597

One user indicates 750gb sitting in it nicely. I can't see why a 1TB wouldn't work.

SuperSon!c
April 21st, 2008, 09:28 PM
Phillip, what I was talking about is indeed an internal drive in a case, to keep it simple. I grabbed the Nexstar because it has USB and eSata connectors, is a breeze to swap the drive if you want to and keeps the drive very cool (mine sits at about 25-30C and it's on 24/7).

If you connect your drive via eSata, it is basically sata speeds-- as though you had the drive sitting internally connected to your mobo. You can also hotplug it USB as USB is a more common interface on many more devices (like the router you mentioned).

Enclosures are the way to go IMO because the price of internal drives is far less than the custom-built externals offered out there.

you can find killer sales that can meet or exceed putting one together yourself. i picked up a Maxtor 750GB onetouch for $130 shipped. deal's expired as of today, but it was a smokin' price:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/System_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1289091&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

intense.ego
April 21st, 2008, 10:47 PM
I used the slightly older version of this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Essential-External-Drive/dp/B000W9RNOA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1208813979&sr=8-1 and it worked well with ubuntu. Just make sure to format it into something other than FAT if you are going to be storing any single files greater than 4gb.

herbster
April 21st, 2008, 11:04 PM
you can find killer sales that can meet or exceed putting one together yourself. i picked up a Maxtor 750GB onetouch for $130 shipped. deal's expired as of today, but it was a smokin' price:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/System_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1289091&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

Oh, definitely. Typically an internal + enclosure will always beat an external, though. And it's preference as well, I love needing only enclosure so I can swap in any of my drives for whichever backup I need.

lespaul_rentals
April 22nd, 2008, 05:29 PM
you can find killer sales that can meet or exceed putting one together yourself. i picked up a Maxtor 750GB onetouch for $130 shipped. deal's expired as of today, but it was a smokin' price:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/System_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1289091&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

Then again, it was a Maxtor. Sorry, but I wouldn't trust that brand with my files. That's just from personal experience, though. Hope you're happy with your purchase.

philliptweedie
April 23rd, 2008, 02:38 PM
Ok all,

Cheers again for all the advice. I found a good deal on a 500gb Seagate Freeagent. So I just bought that, partially to void hassle, partially because I had an attack of "I want something now!" syndrome.

Just arrived, plugged it in, everythings working a charm! The bizarre brown colour will have to grow on me though. My only problem with it tho is the shape, I intended to have a tb, so would ideally buy another one at some stage. They're designed to stand vertically and as such can't be stacked. Minor problem I know but otherwise I'm very happy.

Thanks again everybody.

SuperSon!c
April 23rd, 2008, 02:41 PM
Then again, it was a Maxtor. Sorry, but I wouldn't trust that brand with my files. That's just from personal experience, though. Hope you're happy with your purchase.

i am, as with my previous maxtor drives.

paxmark1
April 28th, 2008, 12:11 AM
nexstar ls when used as a NAS I find out the hard way will only utilize fat 32. I highly advise any to stay away from unless they are going to use it only for usb.

freejam
April 28th, 2008, 07:13 AM
An alternative is the WD MyBook World Edition 1TB works out of the box - Ubuntu and MS stuff - it plugs into the router as a network drive. No need to configure - it already has a Linux file system.