External Hard Drives

[ajk23az]

Would you guys go with faster transfer rate (USB 3.0, up to 10X faster) or more storage?

Toshiba Canvio 500GB USB 3.0 $69.11

Toshiba Canvio Plus 640GB USB 2.0 $62.39

I want both but want to stay within this price range. I can't decide

 

[theebs]

Would you guys go with faster transfer rate (USB 3.0, up to 10X faster) or more storage?

Toshiba Canvio 500GB USB 3.0

Toshiba Canvio Plus 640GB USB 2.0

I want both but want to stay within this price range. I can't decide

if its just storage and they are the same price why bother with usb 3. If you are working off the files on the drive maybe you want usb 3.

But if the money is the same take the extra drive space, its more valuable than the 30 seconds less it takes to transfer something.

 

[ajk23az]

if its just storage and they are the same price why bother with usb 3. If you are working off the files on the drive maybe you want usb 3.

But if the money is the same take the extra drive space, its more valuable than the 30 seconds less it takes to transfer something.

I haven't messed around at all with USB 3.0, is it not that big of a difference between speeds?

 

[theebs]

I haven't messed around at all with USB 3.0, is it not that big of a difference between speeds?

I think its faster, but do you have usb 3.0 inputs? does your motherboard have them?

If its just storage I would take the extra space.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I haven't messed around at all with USB 3.0, is it not that big of a difference between speeds?

The speed difference is LARGE. USB2 while it has theoretical speeds of 480MB (about 60 actual) it rarely actually gets over 30MB per second transfer rate. Todays hard drives can do far better than that.

USB3 supports I believe 5GB speeds. After overhead, it should be able to reach 400MB per second transfer rate. The new SATAIII 6/GB drives can transfer data at 600MBs per second.

If you are just storing small files or something, you can go with more space. If you are backing up to this drive or storing movies and stuff like that. Or physically working on the drive with graphics, movies or installing apps on it, go with the USB3 drive. That is, if your computer supports USB3 that is. Hell even if it doesn't. Your next one probably will.

Obviously if space is an issue, go with space.

 

[ajk23az]

I think its faster, but do you have usb 3.0 inputs? does your motherboard have them?

If its just storage I would take the extra space.

Yeah I've had a 3.0 hub that is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 inputs but have never bought anything with 3.0 inputs : . I think I'll be taking your advice though. I'm generally storing movies and smaller files on it so I don't think I really NEED the speed. I just feel whenever I am putting something on my external hard drive right now that I am waiting and waiting and waiting but in reality, I'm not going anywhere so I don't think I'll have a huge need for the 3.0 right now. Thanks for your input!

 

[the kid 05]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6721874&CatId=4226

 

[Dallas]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6721874&CatId=4226

Thats exactly what I have but its the 1TB version. Costco usually has them often for less than 90$.

Works great.