USB flash drives, external hard drives? prices?
2006-10-23 19:14:26 · 8 answers · asked by david p-p-preut 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
usb flash drives are good for transporting your important documents. they can run from like 32mb to like 10gb+. they get bigger with capacity as you can imagine. a 10gb drive would also be in a harddrive form, still relatively small tho. they can run from $30 and up. I would just recommend a external harddrive, or an old harddrive you might have lying around, and buying an external enclosure. they run very efficiently. an enclosure can cost you $25+. a external harddrive can get pricey. $150+
2006-10-23 19:18:51 · answer #1 · answered by A C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Best and cheapest are mutually exclusive terms.
What you need to do is to define what it is that you want to do with your external storage. If you wish to use it to transport files to other computers, and they're not too large, then a USB flash drive would serve you well. If you're looking for something to store a great deal of information, an external hard drive is your best bet. This is also the choice if you want to use it for backup.
I've got a firewire board and two external drives that I use for storing files like music, install files, and things like that. If I need to rebuild my system, I still have all of my data files and downloaded programs and just go there to re-install.
There are lots of uses for external storage, and you have to define your needs before you can choose the correct option. After that, you can start to look at price.
2006-10-24 02:23:00 · answer #2 · answered by Deirdre H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would depend on how much storage space you need.
If you only need storage space between 1-4gb then the logical choice would be USB flash drives. A decent 1GB one costs about $20 after mail in rebate. A 4GB costs about $90 after rebates too. Check this site for USB Drive deals: http://www.bensbargains.net/category/38
If you need a lot more storage space then get an external HD. You can get a 250GB one for about $90. See deals here: http://www.bensbargains.net/category/37.
The bottom line is if you need mobility and don't need a whole lot of space for storage, then go for a flash drive. If you need a lot more space, then an external. The problem the flash drives is that storage space is limited and it isn't exactly the most economical storage solution if all you need is to just store files. The problem with external HD is that it does require quite a bit of power to power it up. Some external HD may not run on laptops (on battery power) because most laptops conserve battery usage by limiting the amount of voltage they send to its ports. Many of the larger capacity external HD requires you to stick 2 USB plugs into your system so that it can get sufficient power to power itself.
If you really want need the most amount of storage space for your buck and are some what techy, get an external enclosure for about $20-$30 bucks and get a 500GB HD for about $170. You can find those kind of deals here: http://www.bensbargains.net/category/37. So for about $200, you can have half of a terabyte large storage space. Be ware though, some enclosures doesn't support HD's that size, don't forget to do some research if you choose to take the external enclosure path.
2006-10-24 06:31:13 · answer #3 · answered by bsbro 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi,
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2006-10-24 19:09:30 · answer #4 · answered by Gina Rocks 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy an external enclosure and a HDD and build it yourself. It isn't hard to do. Plus the warranty will be 2 - 4 more years longer.
2006-10-24 02:29:44 · answer #5 · answered by Elbert 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I advise that you can take backups in CDs. That will be cheapest. I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems. Some hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful
2006-10-26 07:41:01 · answer #6 · answered by blsruthi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
buy a cheap external drive? obviously the price incrememnte between sizes often decreases as you go up in size
2006-10-24 02:16:34 · answer #7 · answered by Ivy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
www.newegg.com
2006-10-24 02:16:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋