There is also a few other options: eSATAp delivers power along with eSATA. Your laptop needs to have one of the USB/SATA combo ports (you can find them on most Dells, some HPs etc). You also need a compatible cable. I recently got one of these: http://www.amazon.com/2-5IN-Power-Esata-Sata-Enclosure/dp/B003AVPUYC/ which works as advertised. So, you can get eSATA speed without the need for a separate USB port to power the enclosure.
Seagate (via the FreeAgent Go Flex series) also has a 750GB 7200 RPM drive that you can get a powered eSATA attachment for (as well as USB 3.0 if that takes your fancy). I have one of those as well, and it also works as advertised. Though you can't easily replace the drive inside with your own. Lastly, if you are looking for the fastest possible speeds, then get an enclosure with USB 3.0 plus an SSD. Though that will limit the capacity of the drive. Cheers Ken From: Mike Gill [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, 10 November 2010 3:55 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Personal USB drives I think you're going to have a hard time with the power and size requirement. The only drives I'm aware of that can be powered via USB are 2.5" drives which are only offered up to 750GB in size. There are 1TB drives, but they are 12.5mm thick and most laptops and enclosures won't accept that. I would also recommend getting the drive and chassis separately. The Western Digital My Book 2.5" drives for example are proprietary. If you remove the drive from the chassis, the SATA controller has been replaced by a USB controller directly on the PCB. So you won't be able to use the drive for anything else, or buy a bare drive for that chassis in the future should you want to. Many also include impossible-to-get-rid-of(tm) virtual CD bundle-ware that you have to put up with each time you insert it. It's burned into the firmware of the drive, not on a partition so you can't get rid of it. Buying the drive and the chassis separate gets you a clean setup. This chassis supports USB & eSATA: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392016 So you get great speed when eSATA is available and can use the USB just for powering it. For hard drives I would get Western Digital Blue to be a little easier on your battery, or Black for performance. -- Mike Gill From: Jon Harris [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 9:47 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Personal USB drives Sorry for the cross post but it has been a long time since I was in the market to get a personal USB drive. Anyone want to offer up a recommendation, please? Size would be either 1 or 1.5 TB preferred without needing an extra power cable to run it but I would find it acceptable for it to use two USB cables. Small enough to fit in a briefcase or pocket would be best. I have several older systems here at home that need to be wiped and rebuilt and would like to back them up without needing to push all the files through a wireless network. Thanks a lot for the recommendations, Jon ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
