External Hard drives

[Kilauea]

Hello,

I am considering getting an external HDD, but I have an old computer with only USB connectors(USB 1.1 for that matter), it would be used mainly as a backup and as a way for me to remove some things from my current HDD. But I'd like to build a computer in the next year, so I would like if that HDD was also compatible with eSata and not only USB(even tho I could also connect it with USB anyway).

Are there any such drives which can be connected by either eSata or USB ?

What are the best few brands for external HDD, I assume Seagate, WD... but let's say out of those brands, how would they rank and please tell if there is a big difference(in terms of quality) between some. Here are the companies: Seagate, Western Digital, Comstar, Memorex, I/O Magic, Maxtor, La Cie, Mobel. I assume that some of these companies don't actually manufacture HDD, but how reliable are they ?

As far as size matters, is it worth it to go with a 2.5" drive rather than a 3.5" ? What are the advantages and disavantages ?

Edit: Any things I should look at too ?

 

[dragon2309]

Are there any such drives which can be connected by either eSata or USB ?

The Seagate Freeagent Pro's are designed to fix this exact problem many users had several systems they needed to connect one drive to, with lots of different connections, the FreeAgent Pro's have all three connections, USB, IEEE1394 (Firewire 400) and e-SATA (operating at 300Mb/s)

What are the best few brands for external HDD, I assume Seagate, WD... but let's say out of those brands, how would they rank and please tell if there is a big difference(in terms of quality) between some. Here are the companies: Seagate, Western Digital, Comstar, Memorex, I/O Magic, Maxtor, La Cie, Mobel. I assume that some of these companies don't actually manufacture HDD, but how reliable are they ?

At the moment, in my understanding and my own opinion, seagate are on top in terms of external drives, one thing to also note is that seagate acquired maxtor not so long ago, so at this point in time they are one and the same. IMO Seagate FTW.

As far as size matters, is it worth it to go with a 2.5" drive rather than a 3.5" ? What are the advantages and disavantages

Hmm, well, I would suggest 3.5" drives, mainly due to increased capacity choices as well as speed, really fast 2.5" drives are hard to come by and get quite expensive with relation to a 3.5" counterpart. In short they just aren't as good as 3.5" drives, you also have space issues with things like cache on the drive, smaller physical space means less room to fit these sorts of thigns in. 3.5" definately

Hope that helped, dragon2309

*EDIT* - just for reference this is one of the drives i was talking about - http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/seagate-freeagent-pro-usb/4505-3186_7-32378438.html

 

[Kilauea]

Thanks for the answer, it was very informative, but I am left with one question regarding 2 freeagent drives. What is the difference between the desktop and the pro version of their drives ?

I seem to think that the pro is the one that can use eSata, but not sure.

 

[dragon2309]

Thanks for the answer, it was very informative, but I am left with one question regarding 2 freeagent drives. What is the difference between the desktop and the pro version of their drives ?

I seem to think that the pro is the one that can use eSata, but not sure.

sorry, lsot track of this thread, only jsut found it again, yes the difference between the desktop freeagents and the freeagent pros is the fact that the pro's have e-sata and fireware, the normal freeagents have USB