I need some advice.... thank you...:

I store my music as flac-files on my computer's internal harddrives (Windows XP / 2x250 GB, I use foobar 2000 for listening)... and now I've reached the point where both discs are loaden to the max with flac-files.

I am thinking about buying an external hard-drive (500 GB) to have space for more music and like to ask about the pro's / con's of external drives. Is an external drive a good solution... and what would be an alternative?
Do external drives behave just like internal drives... in other words: can I instantly play random tracks with foobar from the external harddrive? Is the transfer-rate of an external drive an issue? Are ext. drives noisy? Do you recommend a specific brand or a specific drive? Anything I should make sure to consider when buying an external drive?

Thank you once again for your help,

Tom.

External drives behave just like internal. And yes they will be noisy. I should think that most of them have fans. And the ones that don't will also be noisy. But on the other hand you can use a long cable and put it in enclosed place. You might also consider a "file server" type with ethernet. That might be even easier to store far away. OTOH if your computer is not far away from your headphones and spekers it is probably noisy too.

Hey over there

I currently use a plain normal external drive (186 GB, usb 2.0) for storing and listening to flac files via Foobar. It works like a charm here, even using ext3 on the drive and XP as OS.

I haven't tried but I think that you could run into troubles if you use USB 1.1 due to the transfer rate, but there should be no problems if you use 2.0.

The noise of the drive I have here is damn quiet compared to my pc, so I uually don't hear it at all.

Simply buying a drive and plugging it in should do the trick, USB 2.0 is available in XP since servicepack 1. New drives are usually pre-formated in either FAT32 or NTFS and thus work without troubles.

Data transfer rate is not a problem - Even a 4200 rpm external drive over USB 1.1 is fine for watching video, let alone listening to music. USB 1.1 is a bit slow for shifting large volumes on or off the drive - I usually use Firewire, but USB 2 would be fine too.

I read somewhere not to go for an ultra-compact 7200 rpm drive for reasons of reliability, but I have no source for such claims.

If you choosing external for portability then bear in mind it'll need a power supply, and, combined with cables and a protective case, it won't be pocket sized.

External will cost you more than internal for the same spec.

The sound of both my internal and external drive is drowned out by the fan, so I can't comment on noise.

A tiny problem I've had is the drive not always mounting under the same drive letter, which confuses Foobar's media library.

External drives behave exactly like internal ones & their speed is dependant on interface used & specification of drive unit inside (there is nothing special about the drive units in external boxes - they are just the same as get used internally) so may be slower, the same, or faster than existing internal drives.

USB1 is noticably slower than any internal disk. Avoid.

USB2 & Firewire 400 are about same speed - slightly slower than internal disks, without affecting access & real-time playing or recording of audio on the disk. FW400 seems a bit faster than USB2, is more robust & reliable - and usually costs a little more. I personally won't use USB2 for external disks (I value my data!) When using multiple external disks, FW400 is much faster.

Firewire 800 is twice as fast as FW400 (and costs more) & external SATA faster than that - although not necessarily more expensive. Either may require an interface card if your system doesn't already have these.

Large, fast, hard disks (250Gb & up) do tend to run rather hot - and heat shortens the life of any hard drive. Some boxes are made of thick metal & use the box itself as heatsink for the drive (ie the Lacie D2 design) and can work very well, especially if you want to avoid fan-noise. Make sure you position the drive somewhere heat can escape from the entire unit though - don't bury it under stacks of paper on your desk or stand it on top of a hot tower case, or next to a radiator!

Avoid fanless designs if not metal, and if you want one with internal cooling make sure the fan(s) are of sufficient size & quality to cool the drive inside. I personally prefer external units with main PSU built in rather than those using "wall-wart" PSU, but these are getting harder to find and are usually more expensive - but are normally well-cooled with decent sized fans inside.

I use Lacie D2 external units & I have found them to be very reliable, but as always, have read reports on the web from others who experienced problems with them and won't touch them again. It's likely that you get what you pay for with external hard disks.

Units aimed more towards the professional end of the market, & made by a reputable company (check they have a website in your language for patches/downloads/support) may cost a bit more but are usually of better quality than the lastest & cheapest "go-faster, do more" import.

You can get external drives that don't require a power supply (well, by that I mean they get their power through the connection to the PC obviously), but I can't remember the name of the manufacturer. I'll ask around, anyway!

Just be aware that you will need a powered USB port if you are going to connect this type of drive to a laptop; most laptop USB ports won't provide enough power to run things like an externel HDD ... no problem with a regular powered unit tho ... I use one

you might want to think about getting a internal HDD. There simple to install, you don't have to worry about USB speed, firewire. It saves you from having an extra box just taking up space and there a little cheaper. But then you loose portability.

Definately go internal if you don't absolutely need external drive!

It seems that most of the external USB drives do not have auto spin down when drive is not in use, nor even auto power off when you switch off the computer. Be certain the device you get has these features. I use Western Digital MyBook drives, which have these spin down/power management features, are very well ventilated, and are very quiet.

-Chris

Is that manufacturer Wiebetech?

You may not want to run a large drive off USB power:
http://www.macforumz.com/Storage-Largest-B...pict144949.html

There are some difficulties with the voltage supplied by USB to power 3.5" drives.

Thank you everybody for your input and answers to my question!

I finally opted for an additional new internal 250 GB-drive, but am willing to buy also something my Computer-Dealer showed me: It's called "Icy BOX" from Raidsonic and not really an external drive... just a (fanless) box you stick in any internal harddrive. I believe that's a great backup-solution at the moment. Once the data is backed up, I can store the internal drive anywhere safe and stick another internal drive for whatever use in the Icy Box. Cool or not?

Thank you,
Tom.

That's all any external drive is. An internal drive in a ''box''.

( And often more expensive than the sum of a drive and a box bought separately... )