External hard drives

[Daverey2]

I've decided I might like to get an external hard drive for the PS3 - so I can back up all of my photos & MP3s from the PC, and then connect the HDD to the PS3 and use it periodically to play the music or view the pictures.

I know nothing about external HDDs - I know I need one with a USB connector, but is there anything else I specifically need to know? How about powering the drives etc?

Would something cheap and cheerful like this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138916
do??

Ta

Dave

 

[_Sion]

You could find it better to buy a NAS (network associated storage) drive rather than a straight forward USB external hard disk.

NAS would plug into your router (rather than directly to the PS3) and let everything on your network access the stored files.

See this thread for PS3 NAS suggestions http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532225

 

[Daverey2]

Thanks for that - although it looks a little bit complicated to me.

All I need is a simple hard drive to backup files and use them every now and then in the PS3.

If I got a cheap drive like the one in my original post, do they take power from the USB cable, or do I need to buy some sort of externally powered drive?

Dave

 

[cracker]

General rule is:

If you buy one of the "passport" type truly portable drives (which contain a 2.5" laptop type hard disk) then it will be powered off the USB connection. Generally smaller capacity, more expensive, but smaller and more portable

If you buy one that contains a 3.5" (desktop pc) hard drive, then it will usually need an external power adaptor. These are cheaper, bigger in physical size and can be bought in much bigger disk capacity i.e 500gb,750gb,1tb etc etc. The one you posted in the link above is this type

Or you can do what I did. Buy a new 250gb drive to put inside your PS3 and put the original 40/60gb drive in a cheap (can be bought for as little as £5) usb drive enclosure and use that as a portable drive to backup/transfer stuff

 

[Moogle]

There are several threads already with external hard drive reccomendations and a search would have found them. Please don't start unnecessary new threads. Closing thread.