Hard drive: External v Internal?

[MasterBlaster76]

I want to get a new 500gb hard drive and I'm wondering what's the performance of an external HD v an internal one. Say, for example, that both have a 16mb cache and speed of 7200rpm, would they both have the same performance? I'd be using it for everything from games to music, how would games run from an external drive? I've also heard that external drives have a lot of vibration and their cooling isn't very good, is that true? Finally, I've got one internal drive split into two partitions (C and D). If I were to add a 500gb internal drive, would I need to upgrade my PSU? I think I've got 550w at the moment.

So, without taking the price difference into account, how would you say they compare to each other?

 

[sohum]

External hard drives are for portability. If you don't have a need for portability I would go with an internal.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

There aren't many external drives with such large amounts of cache and 7200RPM. Most are 5400RPM and low amounts of cache. Internal hard disks are definitely faster. I wouldn't get an external one mainly because I might drop it and then its done for.

 

[angryangy]

The same technology is available to either type, unless you're talking about the smaller 2.5" kind of hard drive used in laptops and iPods. External hard drives are usually quite a lot more expensive. In any case, you can just get a normal hard drive and put it inside an external enclosure, if that is your need.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I think I'll go internal, as long as it comes with detailed instructions, I should be able to fit it myself.

 

[Jit]

I think I'll go internal, as long as it comes with detailed instructions, I should be able to fit it myself.

well thats you choice mate or you can talk to someone who is a computer genius like bill gate lol

 

[Abhas]

Its as easy as installing the DVD Drive you did recently. just make sure it is secured tightly, and has ample room for heat to dissipate.
Disk overheating is can be a major issue in the long run.

If there are 2 hard disks, make sure there is a space of atleast one inch between them.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

At the moment, I have one HD, that is split into two, C and D. Trouble is, it's capacity of 160GB is split 20gb on C: (windows drive) and the rest on D. Is there a way to re-partition it, so that it's all on C: so I can use the 500gb for games etc and keep the C drive for system stuff?

 

[Kev]

As far as I know, the only way to re-partition a drive without destroying the contents its to use Partition Magic

http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat...627117&CUR=826&DSP=&PGRP=0&ABCODE=&CACHE_ID=0

As for internal vs external, it comes down to what you want it for. Internals are faster and of course neater as there aren't any more bloody wires coming out of your PC. Externals are fine for storing things like Movies, Music, Photos and stuff and of course can be swapped from PC to PC with little fuss.

Externals as slightly easier to install as you just plug them in. But installing an internal drive isn't much harder - provided you can hold a screwdriver - and no, they don't usually come with instructions.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Ugh, ?40! Aren't there any freeware ways to do it?

 

[Kev]

Don't know of any other software that can do it no. But then I have partition magic (a much older version, but it still does the job) so I haven't really looked into it.