Laptop External Hard Drives

Since I've been downloading stuff like crazy, my 60GB HD in my laptop is filled and I'm planning on adding a external HD by buying the case and an internal HD since its cheaper. I've heard that there might be problems with laptops recognizing an large storage device such as this. Are there?

I know what hard drives are good and what to get, but I've never had to get a external case before and wonder if anyone had any suggestions.

I doubt you'd have recognition problems unless it were an older laptop with an old BIOS. If that's the case, then the HD manufacturer site probably has a DDO (Disk Drive Overlay) for you to download.

Also, some laptop brands have swappable drive bays which accept a second HD. If you're laptop has one, and don't want to plug/unplug an external one, look into that.

honestly is prolly cheaper to buy an already enclosed drive from like seagate or a firelite drive. Firelite is nice because its only 1 usb cord and completely self sufficient.

Actually the cheapest way to go would be to buy an HD and an enclosure and do it yourself. Make sure you're looking at 3.5 HDs if you want the best deal, 2.5 will be smaller but cost you tons.

The cool thing about the 2.5 drives and their enclosures is they don't have a power cord, just USB. But they are more $$$.

[quote9b6b7a8469="slease"]Actually the cheapest way to go would be to buy an HD and an enclosure and do it yourself. Make sure you're looking at 3.5 HDs if you want the best deal, 2.5 will be smaller but cost you tons.[/quote9b6b7a8469]
Yeah that's what I was probably going to do, but is there a difference in external cases? I know I need the 3.5" for the HD to fit and USB connection, but anything else?

[quote5d1d972880="johnjimjones"][quote5d1d972880="slease"]Actually the cheapest way to go would be to buy an HD and an enclosure and do it yourself. Make sure you're looking at 3.5 HDs if you want the best deal, 2.5 will be smaller but cost you tons.[/quote5d1d972880]
Yeah that's what I was probably going to do, but is there a difference in external cases? I know I need the 3.5" for the HD to fit and USB connection, but anything else?[/quote5d1d972880]

uhm, yes. nobody has mentioned that you'll need USB2 to fully enjoy your drive. ;) if you're going to be running this on a machine that only has USB1 you'll be pulling your hair out...

[quote155bdd4424="Peinecone"]The cool thing about the 2.5 drives and their enclosures is they don't have a power cord, just USB. But they are more $$$.[/quote155bdd4424]

They usually aren't as fast as the 3.5" ones though.

[quote155bdd4424="johnjimjones"]Yeah that's what I was probably going to do, but is there a difference in external cases? I know I need the 3.5" for the HD to fit and USB connection, but anything else?[/quote155bdd4424]

That's it. 3.5" case for desktop HDs, and 2.5" cases for laptop HDs.

Oh, and you need USB 2.0. ;)

[quote01069854d2="Tholek"][quote01069854d2="Peinecone"]The cool thing about the 2.5 drives and their enclosures is they don't have a power cord, just USB. But they are more $$$.[/quote01069854d2]

They usually aren't as fast as the 3.5" ones though.

[quote01069854d2="johnjimjones"]Yeah that's what I was probably going to do, but is there a difference in external cases? I know I need the 3.5" for the HD to fit and USB connection, but anything else?[/quote01069854d2]

That's it. 3.5" case for desktop HDs, and 2.5" cases for laptop HDs.

Oh, and you need USB 2.0. ;)[/quote01069854d2]

Do you mean that in order for a laptop to have a external hard drive I have to have a 2.5" enclosure or if I wanted to replace the one inside?

They make external enclosures for HDs in 2 sizes (at least). 2.5" and 3.5".

A laptop HD is 2.5". If you wanted to use a 3.5" enclosure, you'd need the same kind of spacing brackets they sell for putting laptop HDs in desktops, and there seems no point in doing that. )

You can get cheap enclosures off eBay. I got 2 2.5" ones off there for around $12-$15.