External HD for watching video?

[ChePibe]

All,

I am getting ready for a big trip overseas, and I simply won't have the room in my luggage for my DVDs. I'd like to rip my DVDs (yes, I actually do buy seasons of TV shows legally... and yes, I realize that ripping them is quite questionable) and store them on an external HD for the trip. I would prefer to use a Western Digital Passport, which uses a 5400 RPM laptop drive, so I don't have to worry about converting voltage on yet another item.

Should I be able to watch my videos without problems over a USB 2 connection with a drive like this? Will this cause great wear on the drive?

(FYI - Computer is a MacBook Pro, 2.2Ghz)

 

[Slip]

I've backed up DVD's to my external and watched them perfectly fine. One thing you may need to watch out for is if you're running something drive intensive such as a virtual machine on the external as it can conflict with the video you are watching and freeze it up.
I used VLC to watch the videos incidentally, Im not sure if QuickTime will allow it off of an external, just a side-note

 

[blackscooby]

I've used external (USB) drives to store my TV Progs and Movies on for a while. Generally use VLC. Just changed to a WD My Book thing (NAS drive) running on my LAN.

Had to change the VLC settings such that it cached 5 seconds before it played any video, otherwise I found it stuttered. This is only on the NAS drive mind you, USB I've had no issues with at all.