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  • IDE hard drives

    I have an external USB 3.5" hard drive enclosure that I want to fill with a big drive... but the real whoppers all seem to be using SATA cables these days, and my enclosure uses the old style IDE cables. What's the biggest capacity 3.5" hard drive you can get that still uses an IDE interface?

  • #2
    Re: IDE hard drives

    Western Digitial seems to be selling 160 Gbytes IDE drives for under $70 last week or two. According to the CompUSA web site, Seagate is selling a 750 Gbyte disk drive under $300.

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    • #3
      Re: IDE hard drives

      I not going to say that I know that much about USB-IDE harddrives. But just want to give food for thought.

      160GB harddrive is huge. I would be careful with USB externals in case something happens you might need to back up some of the information once in a while if it's really vital and important information.

      I can't imagine burning data DVD's for 160 GB. Even at 4GB per disk, well I think you can get at what I am saying.

      Also keep in mind the transfer rate of USB (1.1 or 2.0) is usually explained in BITS not BYTES.

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      • #4
        Re: IDE hard drives

        Helen -- yeah, the Seagate Barracuda 750GB seems to be the biggest IDE drive on the market. And it's not just under $300, it's often under $250. Woo hoo!

        ChicagoGuy75 -- ummm. I honestly don't follow you.

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        • #5
          Re: IDE hard drives

          All I am saying is please keep in mind that having a big harddrive means backing up more information.

          I have read on some Tech sites that the seek/transfer rates aren't quite as good as a direct connected harddrive in the computer and sometimes stops after 1GB of constant transferring to an USB harddrive.

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          • #6
            Re: IDE hard drives

            There are more than one way to do a backup of a disk drive. The easiest for Glen is to buy another 750 Gbyte drive and another external case (or just buy an external drive). Backup the stuff that is located on the 1st 750 Gbyte drive to the second 750 Gbyte drive.

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            • #7
              Re: IDE hard drives

              Only if needed that is (for backing up a HD).

              I had a 40GB HD crash and lost alot of information. Thankfully it wasn't important information, just alot of junk (I didn't even get past 30GB). But now with itunes, I back up any new songs once I get a full data CD's worth.

              750 GB thou, wow that is huge. I remember the days of taking a hole puncher to a C64 disk just to get a double sided floppy disk for extra storage. LOL.

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              • #8
                Re: IDE hard drives

                I remember when personal computers had no hard drives at all and 1Mb of RAM ran about $100.

                My first computer that came WITH a hard drive was a 286SX (25mhz clock speed) with a whopping 8Mb hard drive. You could store a gazillion floppies on that mother.
                Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                • #9
                  Re: IDE hard drives

                  750GB does seem like a lot.. until you realize that standard-quality video rips typically take about 700MB per two-hour movie, or 350MB per one-hour TV episode. Lost runs about 10GB per season all by itself.

                  If I were to rip my entire music and video library and convert everything to standard-quality MP3 and AVI files, I'd probably need two or three times as much storage as that. But it might be worth it, so that I could take down all those shelves and free up that wall space...

                  Plus, there's all the still photos and video footage that I shoot myself. Every week I probably add another couple GB of stuff to the pile. And then there's my ongoing push to scan all my important paperwork so I can find it easier.

                  Yikes, I think I may need a full terabyte by next year.

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                  • #10
                    Re: IDE hard drives

                    If you were to do all that, then seriously, you'll need to back up that harddrive frequent with possible DVD back up copies so your personal files won't get corrupted.

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                    • #11
                      Re: IDE hard drives

                      I bought a 5000R Mvix HD case for about $200 w/shipping (does not include hd). Its a External HD case with TV and Sound out. Its got RCA, Composite, optical, svideo, and USB connectors. It plays back any kind of video with any codec, subtitled movies, vobs, mp3's, photos. It can even be used in a car (with optional car kit)
                      Its awesome! I wish I bought the 750 tho, a network drive would be easier then moving it around for usb transfers and tv out.
                      I slapped a 250gb and its still got tons of room!
                      Aquaponics in Paradise !

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                      • #12
                        Re: IDE hard drives

                        I think I'll stick to smaller capacity hard drives and bank them. 1-terabyte on a single spindle driven by a single motor just spells doom when something crashes. I cannot imagine defragging 1-Trillion Bytes of data without going off to see a movie...on the West Coast and coming back in time to see the defrag complete itself.

                        Plus I wouldn't put all my back up data on a single hard drive of that proportion. That's too much data at risk from one drive.
                        Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                        • #13
                          Beware the IDEs of March '08

                          Time to say farewell to the IDE, a.k.a. Parallel ATA, interface. Now what am I going to do with all my old IDE hardware?

                          Due to the waning popularity of Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) technology in favor of the newer and speedier Serial ATA-based disk drives, Seagate LLC has acknowledged plans to stop building the older products. According to a spokesman from Scotts Valley, Calif.-based Seagate, the company plans to continue to offer PATA drives, often referred to as integrated device electronics (IDE) drives, until late this year or early next year. (Computerworld)

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                          • #14
                            Re: IDE hard drives

                            So far it's only one company that has announced that they will stop making the IDE drives.

                            Your old stuff will still work, it's just that you can't buy new disk drives from Seagate to replace your IDE drives. You can always try:

                            1) Buy used IDE drives
                            2) Buy SATA controllers to support the newer drives

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                            • #15
                              Re: Beware the IDEs of March '08

                              Originally posted by Glen Miyashiro View Post
                              Now what am I going to do with all my old IDE hardware?
                              Put it next to your ESDI drives?

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