Sunday, August 30, 2009

TIPS FOR PURCHASING AN EXTERNAL HARDRIVE

A great economical option is a Flash, Jump or Thumbdrive. These are connected by USB plug, attached to the drive itself. A thumb drive will be handy for all of your classes and a quick, small, portable way to move files around. Make sure if you go to buy one that it is atleast 2G. (AND REMEMBER TO WRITE YOU NAME ON THE DRIVE!)

Here is a link for PORTABLE DRIVES.

-If you are anticipating accumulating several photos, video and audio files over the course of your time at Moore, I would suggest that you also purchase an External Hard Drive (300G'S is plenty) The ExtHD should plug into your computer with a firewire connection. (If you choose a USB1 connection for your external harddrive it will be a lot slower to save files, however another option is the USB2, which is a bit faster than USB1 and sometimes less expensive than a firewire.) These exthd need to be plugged into a power source. For this reason are not as portable, but great to sit on your desk at home or in your dorm.

Lacie makes a large model that does not require an external power source, but it will be more expensive. Note: Find one that comes ready to use, with out the addition of any software to your computer and make sure it is MAC compatible.


Some places to shop:
www.cnet.com
CNET has great product reviews and price comparisons. Go here first to shop around.
http://www.jr.com/
http://www.lacie.com
Publish Post

http://www.macmall.com

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found an usb 2 cord at newegg.com for cheap, will this be ok?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812203019

I don't have the money to purchase an external HD, so I was wondering if it would be alright if I zipped files and sent them to my gmail. Or maybe I'll do the gdrive thing. I have a thumb drive somewhere at home, I'll grab it next time I visit.

Anonymous said...

Can one find the little hard-drives that can fit on your key chain with enough memory space? Or is that one too small?

Anonymous said...

At amazon, I found an external hard drive for $70.00 with 300 gigabytes.

Jessa Moulin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jessa Moulin said...

Yeah, I was lucky enough to get $150 for my art supplies!
I usu store through email, and I can firewire between my laptop and use it as an external harddrive if nescessary.

I use my desktop as backup for my laptop as well with firewire. I'm thinking of buying a second harddrive for it which would work out to be half the price of an external, and I can just. Of corsue this would only work if you had two computers like me :)

The key chain hard drives are called thumb or flash drives, but they tend to be too small for large photos, or video projects.

Anonymous said...

i just bought a 1G external harddrive in staples and it was on sale...i got 20 dollars off...it was way worth it!
carly

Anonymous said...

I'm using my ipod as an external hardrive instead of spending money on something xtra.

Anonymous said...

Do the small hard-drives that can fit on your key chain contain enough space?

Anonymous said...

I have a P.C--and want to be sure that any new software that I buy is compatable for both mac and pc to both expedite and ease the transfer process. Any suggestions? Words of advice?
thanks

Computer App BA113 said...

Anonymous said...

is the firewire better to have?

Computer App BA113 said...

Anonymous said...

is the firewire better to have?

a firewire allows you to move data faster than a usb, however a usb2 and ok, and a little cheaper than firewires. (some operations require firewires, for example: hooking your laptop thru the schools computer towers requires a firewire)

Computer App BA113 said...

"found an usb 2 cord at newegg.com for cheap, will this be ok?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812203019

I don't have the money to purchase an external HD, so I was wondering if it would be alright if I zipped files and sent them to my gmail. Or maybe I'll do the gdrive thing. I have a thumb drive somewhere at home, I'll grab it next time I visit."

yes a usb2 drive is fine. But make sure it is portable, does not need to be plugged in and has plenty of storage: no less than 80 or so gigs.
jump drives are ok two, you just can store as much. And email is the least favorable sending images can bog things down due to there size.

Computer App BA113 said...

" Anonymous said...

I have a P.C--and want to be sure that any new software that I buy is compatable for both mac and pc to both expedite and ease the transfer process. Any suggestions? Words of advice?
thanks "

any software you are planning to purchase should tell you if it is compatable with both a pc and a mac. Some are and some aren't