Need New external HDD: Platter Density (need explanations! (Dumbed down))

[iMackPro]

USB sucks for sustained transfers - they're only fast Burst.

Go with Firewire800 at least, while waiting for Thunderbird enclosures. You can always transfer the drive over to a TB enclosure.

In the meantime, just get any drive you fancy. You'll generally find the bottlenecks at your interface for USB2.0/3.0, and at the drive for FW800/Thunderbird.

yeah it looks like ill be going firewire, Also, i can transfer my drive to a "TB enclosure?" TB as in Thunder bolt? i didn't know you can transfer that kind of stuff?

Is there a reason in which i should or should not buy a wall powered external HDD ?

id love to buy a FW800 drive then change it to TB connector so i can swap movies around like these 11 GB files are 47kb icons

 

[nampramos]

Check these out, OWC ships internationally, very quick service too.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
I have one of the On-the-Go bus powered drives, excellent product.

Thanks, but the international shipping costs more than the enclosure itself.
I really need an european shop.

 

[dusk007]

I think the markup on firewire drives is really not worth the extra speed. If your notebook supports it wait for thunderbolt which than might tunnel some eSATA protocol or get a USB 3.0. Later you might get some USB thunderbolt adapter or a thunderbolt dockingstation with USB 3.0
There have been a lot of numbers in this thread.
USB 2.0 usually reaches 25-30 MB/s (35 is very optimistic)
FW400 is around 35 now
FW800 usually only around 60 MB/s and mighty expensive.
USB 3.0 is limited by the drive unless it is an SSD. With a 3,5" hdd this means you will get 120-150 MB/s with 2,5" 90-100 MB/s.
USB 3.0 is also very cheap.

 

[firesong]

yeah it looks like ill be going firewire, Also, i can transfer my drive to a "TB enclosure?" TB as in Thunder bolt? i didn't know you can transfer that kind of stuff?

Is there a reason in which i should or should not buy a wall powered external HDD ?

id love to buy a FW800 drive then change it to TB connector so i can swap movies around like these 11 GB files are 47kb icons

Yes, my apologies. I meant Thunderbolt.

They are different technologies, so you will have to change the enclosure. And yes, it can be done. Just buy an internal drive with a FW800 external enclosure. If you want portability, go with a 2.5" drive (limits your capability) and bus-powered so you can at least carry the hard drive with you. If you're not going to move the drive around at all, sure a wall-powered and 3.5" drive is fine.

I think the markup on firewire drives is really not worth the extra speed. If your notebook supports it wait for thunderbolt which than might tunnel some eSATA protocol or get a USB 3.0. Later you might get some USB thunderbolt adapter or a thunderbolt dockingstation with USB 3.0
There have been a lot of numbers in this thread.
USB 2.0 usually reaches 25-30 MB/s (35 is very optimistic)
FW400 is around 35 now
FW800 usually only around 60 MB/s and mighty expensive.
USB 3.0 is limited by the drive unless it is an SSD. With a 3,5" hdd this means you will get 120-150 MB/s with 2,5" 90-100 MB/s.
USB 3.0 is also very cheap.

You conveniently leave out the fact that USB 2/3 is rated at Burst transfer speeds, not sustained speeds. Which simply means it hits the high, and steadily goes slow over time. When you're talking about constant media and data streams, this is a clear no-no. For short occasional writes like file transfers, it's fine.

Firewire and Thunderbolt are those speeds, sustained.

 

[Prodo123]

my way seems cheaper and easier? if you can sell me on id look into it! im all about quick and simple. would you mind furthering your explanation about me using a server for streaming movies ?

If you have a home server, then you can access all of your files wirelessly over the internet connection, and with multiple computers at once. If that server has remote access enabled, then you can access all of your files ANYWHERE there is internet.
It's a miniature computer that's dedicated to sharing files on the internet. You plug it in to your router like a normal desktop, and set it up from an actual computer. When setup is complete, you should have gigantic storage without the hassle of wires.

These things are called Network Attached Servers, or NAS for short. NAS come in a variety of sizes, such as this to as big as this. Some come as simple enclosures for which you have to buy the hard drives yourself like this(these can go all the way up to 16TB if you want it to be), and some have preinstalled drives.

They tend to be 8 times SLOWER than a FireWire 800 connection. However, you get wireless access to all of your files, and you get massive amounts of storage. The drive is stationary, so fragmenting is kept to a minimum. Also, defragmentation is handled by the server itself, so no need to worry. Has smart power options on most models so that the server turns the hard drives off when not in use.

If you want speed, then you're still limited to a fast, wired solution. If you want storage and/or wireless access, then the NAS is the way to go.

However, some performance NAS do exist, like the previously mentioned one. 100Mb/s read isn't half bad, especially with a hard drive attached to the internet accessed wirelessly.

 

[cube]

The drive is stationary, so fragmenting is kept to a minimum.

What is this supposed to mean??

 

[Prodo123]

What is this supposed to mean??

Hard drives are fragile. More movement force a drive endures, more data is damaged. So if you drop an external drive onto a soft pillow, it will do damage of data. This damage of data is often tolerable, and it is usually the misplacement of data on the platter itself (from one physical region of the platter to another) that is the culprit. This negligible error is known as fragmentation. Defragmentation moves those misplaced data from the incorrect region, called sector, to the correct sector.

Fragmentation is a big issue, especially with laptops, since they are mobile devices and must withstand movement frequently. Data fragmentation can cause the drive to be slower than normal. Heavy, extreme data fragmentation can cause data loss. It is very important to defrag your hard drive with software like this to keep your drive in good shape.

Since an NAS virtually stands still for its lifetime, it does not fragment very much. Any fragmentation caused is handled by the NAS, so you don't have to run that program on an NAS.

 

[cube]

Hard drives are fragile. More movement force a drive endures, more data is damaged. So if you drop an external drive onto a soft pillow, it will do damage of data. This damage of data is often tolerable, and it is usually the misplacement of data on the platter itself (from one physical region of the platter to another) that is the culprit. This negligible error is known as fragmentation. Defragmentation moves those misplaced data from the incorrect region, called sector, to the correct sector.

Fragmentation is a big issue, especially with laptops, since they are mobile devices and must withstand movement frequently. Data fragmentation can cause the drive to be slower than normal. Heavy, extreme data fragmentation can cause data loss. It is very important to defrag your hard drive with software like this to keep your drive in good shape.

Since an NAS virtually stands still for its lifetime, it does not fragment very much. Any fragmentation caused is handled by the NAS, so you don't have to run that program on an NAS.

Fragmentation is to split a file into non-contiguous blocks. It's not about track errors.

 

[Prodo123]

Fragmentation is to split a file into non-contiguous blocks. It's not about track errors.

Yes, data is split into non-contiguous blocks on different sectors.