[conspire] would this be a good external hard drive for my Linux Certified laptop?

[Mark Weisler]

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Darlene Wallach wrote:
> I'm looking at external hard drives for my Linux Certified laptop that
> I would carry around with me. I have a part-time job that I use my
> laptop for. I need more disk space and thought an external drive I
> carry with me would make sense.
> 
> I found this on Central Computing. Even though Linux is not listed,
> I'm assuming there would be no problem. I currently have Fedora 10
> installed. Months ago I tried installing Fedora 11 on my laptop and
> could not get my laptop to boot after installation - separate issue.
> 
> Can anyone recommend or warn me away from this external hard drive?
> I'm thinking the "rugged" will protect the hard drive given I'll be
> carrying it around with the laptop.
> 
> http://www.centralcomputers.com/ccp68099--lacie-301371-rugged-500gb-2-5--fw-fw800-usb-5400-301371-drilac30186r.htm
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> equal justice under law,
> Darlene Wallach
> 
> _______________________________________________
> conspire mailing list
> conspire at linuxmafia.com
> http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire
> 
> 
I'm virtually certain the USB drive you have identified would work just
fine for you.

A couple of considerations...

As to the ruggedized case, I don't think that is much value unless the
drive will likely be subjected to rough treatment. I commute to work
with a notebook computer and a similar external, USB drive carried in my
motorcycle luggage bags and have not had a problem with the drive in
months of this bouncy, vibrating treatment. (Its case is just hard
plastic, not ruggedized.)

Another consideration is the enclosure. I believe you could achieve the
same result by buying an external enclosure and hard drive that you
slide into the enclosure. That way, in the future, you might obtain
additional drive(s) and be able to easily put them into the enclosure
should a drive fail or show signs of approaching failure. (Or archive
data on one drive and remove it from the enclosure for longer term
safekeeping.)

Another consideration is whether the external drive is powered by the
USB cable or from a 110 VAC power source.

A consideration is where you plan on using the computer. If it is on a
park bench with children around then a more ruggedized case might be
appropriate and getting power from the computer's USB port is the way to go.

If you are mostly going to use it in an office and be in one position
for several hours using a 110 VAC power source can be good rather than
potentially taxing the power on the notebook.

Lastly, for value it's hard to beat the 3.5 inch external USB drives,
with 110 VAC power, from Costco (or similar sources) as it's now about
1.5 terrabytes for about $150. Costco's return/refund policy on
electronics is about the best I know of.


- --
Mark Weisler
PGP Key ID 68E462B6
PGP Key fingerprint  87D5 A77B FC47 3CC3 DFF0  586D 23FF F8B4 68E4 62B6

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