extermal USB2.0 drive question

[jdbrown]

I was given an external Maxtor 100GB USB2.0 drive. It is 1-2 years old probably, but seems to work fine. My question - my first thought was to use this to store my DVD backups on that I play thru SageTV. Seems reaosnable, just wanted to make sure no major problems with doing this and SageTV accessing an external drive for content? I'd reformat as 64K right?

If that would be a probelm, then I could move MP3s to the external drive and free up room on my internal drive.

Any advice?

[jominor]

Originally Posted by jdbrown

I was given an external Maxtor 100GB USB2.0 drive. It is 1-2 years old probably, but seems to work fine. My question - my first thought
Any advice?

All of my Sage drives are external. When I need a drive, I get an internal on sell, slap it into an enclosure, and plug it in. I access all of my media this way.

You shouldn't have any problems.

[rrussell]

Ditto here. I have one USB2 drive and one firewire.

The only issues I've ever had stemmed from trying to defrag them while Sage was recording. It wasn't happy about that. They say that defrags are unnecessary with 64k clusters, so reformat and have yourself a ball!

(Um, of course, make sure your PC has a usb2 adapter - running it through a 1.1 probably will not suit your needs...)

[ravenray]

If you got an extra case lying around and your motherboard has firewire, use one of these.

http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_...roducts_id/615

I'm currently using one of these along with a extra atx case laying around. Put in some removeable drives and voila! I can pop in more hard drives when I need it.

[rrussell]

Er, not to disparage, but if you've an extra case lying around, you can get a two-channel Ultra ATA card for a whole lot less than the firewire bridge, then you're using the drives at full speed.

I don't get it. What am I missing?

[ravenray]

rrussell, Yes that is true, but the firewire bridge card does not require a motherboard. Think of it this way. Those nice looking external usb/firewire enclosures require some type of stand alone chip right? Well, that's what this firewire bridge card is. I can attach up to 4 drives without the need of a motherboard. I can even raid them if I want to. This is an alternate solution to a single external usb/firewire enclosure. I have 4 internal removable drives (currently only one hard drive is using them) and I'm going to put more in, I just take the removeable rack out, pop in a hard drive and that it's. Just format and use. I have a SSF running as a server and since space is so tight, I resorted to use an external case as my media holder.

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by ravenray

rrussell, Yes that is true, but the firewire bridge card does not require a motherboard. Think of it this way. Those nice looking external usb/firewire enclosures require some type of stand alone chip right? Well, that's what this firewire bridge card is. I can attach up to 4 drives without the need of a motherboard. I can even raid them if I want to. This is an alternate solution to a single external usb/firewire enclosure. I have 4 internal removable drives (currently only one hard drive is using them) and I'm going to put more in, I just take the removeable rack out, pop in a hard drive and that it's. Just format and use. I have a SSF running as a server and since space is so tight, I resorted to use an external case as my media holder.

Sounds interesting ... Any chance of getting you to post a jpg or two of your HW config??

Thanks, T.

[ravenray]

mightyt, no problem. If only I can my digi cam some where.

[rrussell]

Ahhh, I see. And then you connect it via the firewire to the main PC.

Nice concept; I'm not sure it'd look good in my stereo cabinet though.

[ravenray]

rrussell, depends on where your hiding your server I guess. Since I don't own a house yet and I barely have much room to stuff all my computer stuff around the appartment, the htpc is just there. But most of visitors that come by are just dumb founded as to why I have a computer grave yard in the first place.