WD Passport USB External drive - Which one ?

[SunnyBoi]

Why do you have to get it from the states? These are locally available.

I had a Maxtor 500GB external. it was the best of the lot, HDD not too big and it had a tiny power adapter. Had only a USB2 interface.

My friend bought a WD one, with USB firewire eSATA interfaces. It had a huuuge powersupply, easily the size of a normal laptop power supply.

Performances, almost all are the same. Just choose the one you like to have

You can get these for a tad under 5K for the 500GB drives.

[clevermax]

I bought a MaXtor 160Gb Ext. Hard drive very recently. The size is so small that you can easily put it in the pocket. The only problem is that, it requires 2 USB ports at the computer's end (One for data + power, and the other for Power only) It sometimes works even if only connect the data + power usb cable alone.

Recently there are flash drives comin up. Why don't you buy that instead of an ext. HDD? Data is more secure, and it can withstand more shocks than an HDD. I don't know about the cost factor though. In US it must be cheaper. Heard that sony's new viao laptops are having flash drives instead of HDD.

[condor]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I bought a MaXtor 160Gb Ext. Hard drive very recently. ... The only problem is that, it requires 2 USB ports at the computer's end (One for data + power, and the other for Power only) It sometimes works even if only connect the data + power usb cable alone..

@clevermax, check the doc's message reproduced here, which he had posted in this thread earlier. You'll get the answer to your question.

Originally Posted by rsjaurr

Some of WD passport drives need more power to run smoothly thats why power from an extra USB is needed.160GB has so many bad reviews on newegg pro'ly only coz of this power issue.Not all laptop/pc can supply the power from one USB( I suppose its around 650mA for WD drives),then u need this Y USB power cable for that extra bit of power.

Now how to check if your laptop/pc's USB has how much power to supply to USB device.

Go to device manager>USB controllers>Rt click USB root hub>Properties>Power.

My laptop has 500mA so if i buy WD passport,especially 160GB one,i need this Y power cable.

[harry15]

thanks condor. hey clevermax flash drives are at least 10 times more expensive than normal drives and as of now i think the maximum flash drive available is 128gb . hey sunny its cheaper in the states thats why. but are the 500gb available in India for around 5 grand ? and does anyone know which company`s warranty is better ?? oh ya and does the WD drive really have a huge power supply ? wat about the seagate ?? and how are the lacie drives ????? thanks guys for your help

[Xehaust]

Am mulling over buying an external HDD for backing up purposes.
Around 250 GB should easily more than suffice.

It has to be mac compatible.
I dont need any software bundled along with it as Time Machine in Leopard will take care of the backing up part.
All i need is the hardware.
Will be using it mostly with a laptop.

What price am i looking at and which drive?

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by condor

@clevermax, check the doc's message reproduced here, which he had posted in this thread earlier. You'll get the answer to your question.

Thanks for the info mate. I know about this power issue regarding external HDDs, but somehow, mine works fine with one USB (data + Power) connected in the lappy. I had trouble to getting it working in my home pc though. I had to connect both the ends of the V cable in the PC to get the discs in the External HDD spinning.

[nitroxx]

try the Wd scorpio WD3200 320 gb drive for 8840/- Sata 5400 rpm that I've used for my Ps3 upgrade..its phenomenally quiet.

[condor]

@clevermax, did you check the power at your USB ports - on the laptop & the home pc ? How do they measure up ?

[condor]

Picked up the LaCie 160gb today. 4250/-

Apparantly a 5% drop in prices of these external drives.

[rsjaurr]

So finally my wait is going to end..... i'm getting WD passport 320GB drive after few days.

[condor]

Guys, need help with the drive. It's not connecting on a Win2K, though it works fine on XP.

Connected to the laptop running XP, have formatted the drive to NTFS & able to use it. Single partition of 150gb.

But no luck with Win2K. Any ideas ?

TIA !

[rsjaurr]

My one year came to happy end i received this WD 320GB drive for $135.
I wanted to buy another passport [portable but that was not in stock so bought this one.Now i see that it is retailing at about $170.

Right now formatting it from Fat32 to NTFS,is just over 55% and it has already taken 80-90min.

It seems that there is no power issue with my NB's USB.

Guys, need help with the drive. It's not connecting on a Win2K, though it works fine on XP.

Connected to the laptop running XP, have formatted the drive to NTFS & able to use it. Single partition of 150gb.

But no luck with Win2K. Any ideas ?

TIA !

I dont think win98 and w2k are compatible with NTFS,only winxp and vista are.

[merve_extreme]

W2K is definitely compatible with NTFS.

[DirtyDan]

I am about to buy a 80gb Lacie external hard drive unless you guys stop me. Price is 3200 rupees and the shop guy says it has a "lifetime" guarantee. The size is all I need. It is the only one that I have found in this remote area also.

Your opinions?

[vid6639]

I picked up a 160GB Maxtor Seagate 2.5" portable HDD from Singapore for SGD $100 approx Rs.3200.

details here: The Maxtor Online Store USA - Product Info

160GB Maxtor 2.5 External & Portable Hard Drive Hard Disk - 160 GB With Transcend 4 GB Pen Drive V30 gifts in india at rediff shopping.