Advice on external HD for T60 (eSATA or USB 2.0)

I recently purchased an Intel X-25M SSD for my T60 since my old HD went bad (actually, I killed it but that's another story for another day). Now, I'd like to get an external HD to back-up my on-board SSD as well as to store media (movies, songs, videos, pics, files, etc.) not needed on my SSD.

I've done a little research and I'm trying to figure out if I am better off getting a PCMCIA card that will allow me to purchase an eSATA capable external drive (I don't believe the T60 has any compatible on-board ports for eSATA) or should I just get a USB 2.0 drive? I'd prefer that the drive be portable but I'll take what I can get. Fewer cords, less bulk are better unless price becomes prohibitive.

Thanks in advance.

 

Fewer cords are possible with USB more so than with eSATA. This is because USB can power the device, SATA needs both the data cable and a separate power cable attached. An eSATA card probably won't be available in PCMCIA, but rather in Express Slot found in most newer notebooks. Either way you go with connection types, the hard drive's capacity, physical size, and speed will primarily determine the price. Notebook size drives will cost more than desktop drives at the same capacity. Notebook drives come in 5400rpm speeds typically, but if you get a notebook drive @ 7200rpm then the price will go up even more for that drive.

One other thing to point out is that if you are going to use an external drive to back your things up, are you going to want a regular hard drive or an external SSD? SSD drives will cost considerably more money than a typical drive. If you consider that the external drive won't get hooked up very often then the drive will take very little abuse and should maintain a long life.

Another thing to keep in mind is if you are not going to do frequent backups all of the time, you should really get a normal drive as SSD drives have a tendency to not hold data for an extended period of time (3, 4 months-ish). SSD drives require power in order to keep the data stored on those solid chips and if the drive does not get powered by something every so often, it can lose it's "charge" and all of your data will be gone. The drive would still be usable, of course, but you would have to reformat it before you could use it again. That's if worst came to very worst, though.

 

? 3-4 months and SSDs "loose their charge"? An SSD can sit on the shelf for a long time and still keep it's data. I've got old SD cards (256MB ones) from years ago and the data is still available on them.

eSATA also has a power version known as eSATAp. The port on the back on my current Thinkpad T410s can power a eSATA drive just fine thank you.


As to the OP, it's simple, just get a USB Portable drive (2.5") in whatever capacity you think you'll need. Feel free to ignore the post above.

 

Thank you. Do you recommend a particular portable external drive manufacturer? IOMEGA? Western Digital? All the same?

 

Why not just get the UltraBay?

 

That is a great idea Zaz. I did not know I could do that. So, I need to buy a slim ultrabay adapter for SATA and then just buy a 2.5 HDD?

 

Yup.

 

Nice. Would you recommend getting some type of software to regularly back-up the on-board SSD to the ultrabay HDD?

 

Well, in all likelihood, eSATA would be unnecessary with a conventional HDD. I have a desktop drive with eSATA and USB 2.0 connections, and in average disk use, eSATA makes no difference because your average data speeds of your HDD are still lower than USB 2.0 allows. I've been using USB 2.0 because it's less of a pain to use (no need to plug in the Expresscard, and I can plug in through a hub).

 

if you get the ultrabay adapter you know that you will lose your DVD/CD drive. So if you don't use it much then it is okay
Also, you might lose some battery life depending on your usage of the hard drive.(The amount you use it and the power consumption of it)
If these two things dont bother you than great
In my opinion, you should still get an external hard drive to back up all your files. That way if your laptop ever gets stolen, lost, or your hard drive gets damaged some how, you have your backup that is safe in your room or somewhere. External HDs are getting cheap. about 50 for a good size if you look hard enough

 

I hear you. So, if I were to choose to go the external route, are you saying I can get a large (1 TB+) portable external HDD for $50 or just the bulkier desktop variety (for that price)?

 

I think you'll have a tough time finding any 1TB drive for $50. Don't forget the UltraBay is hot swappable, meaning you can swap the hard drive, optical drive or battery as needed.

 

Agreed. Just have to be vigilant about backing up and swapping the ultrabay HDD out.