Hard Drive Bargain Watch

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allargon said:
KAB, I disagree on this. What matters is where the drive is placed. If the drive is stuck in an armoire or enclosed media cabinet in an unairconditioned house/apartment then metal/plastic doesn't matter. It will likely burn up anyway. If the drive is left with plenty of space for heat to dissipate in an air-conditioned house, then it truly doesn't matter. It will be fine until the heads or the drive mechanism fails.
Click to expand...
I'll guess we'll have to agree to disagree. :)
 
KAB said:
I'd say it's a good drive and price IF you don't mind a plastic case which is not good for heat dissipation. Just don't leave it on for longer than you are using it. Also, you will never be able to remove from the case unless you break it. I'm a little on the picky side about versatility, but it probably will serve you just fine.
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(Western Digital - 750GB External Hard Drive - WDG1C7500N)

That's the Premium Edition - a few pages or posts back it was indicated that the Essentials Edition has a plastic case, while the Premium is metal.

I considered that drive, but decided it's smaller 500 gig (Essentials) cousin at $100 less ($129) was a better bang for the buck.
 
WDG1U5000N - My Book Essential

I read some of the reviews on this drive at CC. One guy says that it auto powers down if inactive for 10 minutes. Powers up when data is pushed/pulled from it. Don't know if this is true but it would be a plus from the heat/always running scenario.. May pick one up tomorrow. 16MB buffer. Gerry
 
Western Digital WDG1U5000N - My Book Essential
"One guy says that it auto powers down if inactive for 10 minutes."
I saw that too and kinda liked the concept (as you implied - assuming he's right!)
I'm playing around with mine on my PC right now, so I'm gonna test that out...

[EDIT - Test results (connected to a PC): After about 10 minutes of inactivity, drive spins down, green light stays on. If you take the "Safely remove hardware option", it powers down completely, light turns off.]

Now this is a nice little surprise - that green light ring on the front surrounds a big fat power button, so it's wicked easy to turn on/off manually.

I'm giving this thing two thumbs up - it's pretty much completely silent too. I had to put my ear right up to it to hear anything (just a low level hum) over the noise of my PC's case fans a few feet away. This is one of the quietest HD's I've ever worked with.
I started a 750 meg file copy so I'd be sure the heads were working away - still can't really hear any noise.
 
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Results of playing around with the WDG1U5000N Essential connected to the VIP 622:

Plug it in, the 622 detects it no problem. After about 10 minutes of inactivity, the drive spins down to some sort of standby mode (green light stays on).

Tap the round button on front, it powers off completely (light turns off) and the 622 says "You have disconnected a multimedia device from the USB port. /OK/"

Tap the button again, the HDD turns back on, a few seconds later the 622 says " You've connected a multimedia device. Do you want to manage it? Yes/No/Help."

So, it looks like the 622 will play nicely with this drive, and the power management features should compensate for the lack of fan. Personally, I prefer it that way. Devices with fans need to be opened up and cleaned out more frequently as the dust bunnies accumulate much quicker. Now... if I could just archive some stuff to it!!! 5 more days...
 
I just signed up today so this is my first post. I've been lurking at this forum for some time and reading all I can about the external hard drive feature we will have for the 622.

There is one question I would like to resolve. The 622 will have to reformat the external drive (I assume). That being the case, will I loose the contents of my WD external drive I've had attached to my PC? I have the 250 gb Essential model and wanted to test it on the 622. If all goes well, I intended to return it to my PC and then buy another WD that would be dedicated to the 622. And if the 622 does indeed have to reformat the drive, I suppose I will then have to reformat back to my PC. This I think for sure will cause loosing the contents, or so I have been led to believe - but I'm not 100% sure. Does anyone know for sure?
 
shortspark said:
I just signed up today so this is my first post. I've been lurking at this forum for some time and reading all I can about the external hard drive feature we will have for the 622.

There is one question I would like to resolve. The 622 will have to reformat the external drive (I assume). That being the case, will I loose the contents of my WD external drive I've had attached to my PC? I have the 250 gb Essential model and wanted to test it on the 622. If all goes well, I intended to return it to my PC and then buy another WD that would be dedicated to the 622. And if the 622 does indeed have to reformat the drive, I suppose I will then have to reformat back to my PC. This I think for sure will cause loosing the contents, or so I have been led to believe - but I'm not 100% sure. Does anyone know for sure?
Click to expand...
Yes and yes. Formatting wipes out everything. You should just get another drive and leave your 250 alone!
 
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jdr01930; said:
Results of playing around with the WDG1U5000N Essential connected to the VIP 622:

Plug it in, the 622 detects it no problem. After about 10 minutes of inactivity, the drive spins down to some sort of standby mode (green light stays on).

Tap the round button on front, it powers off completely (light turns off) and the 622 says "You have disconnected a multimedia device from the USB port. /OK/"

Tap the button again, the HDD turns back on, a few seconds later the 622 says " You've connected a multimedia device. Do you want to manage it? Yes/No/Help."

So, it looks like the 622 will play nicely with this drive, and the power management features should compensate for the lack of fan. Personally, I prefer it that way. Devices with fans need to be opened up and cleaned out more frequently as the dust bunnies accumulate much quicker. Now... if I could just archive some stuff to it!!! 5 more days...
Click to expand...

I am very tempted to get this myself. My biggest question at this point is if there would be any heat problems during prolonged playback (for instance approx 4 hrs of a football game). Should that be a concern?
 
Smith said:
We have first problem - Seagate 160 GB disk is dead now after attempt to format it by 622 L4.41.

Details posted here http://www.satelliteguys.us/984837-post21.html, thread http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-hd...gotten-your-external-drive-yet-622-722-a.html
Click to expand...

That sucks I just went to the best buy web site which now shows the external 500gb seagate freeagent for 129.99 and bought it. Do you think I need to worry or is it different from the one that crapped out? I really don't know alot about hard drives
 
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My local BB has a WD 750 MyBook Premium for $149? On the website it is $229? Is there a 2006 version and a newer version that is causing this difference? Which model is the one to buy for success?
 
"My local BB has a WD 750 MyBook Premium for $149?"

Sounds like a pricing error - buy it before they catch on!!
To verify it's what you think it is, just compare the model #'s on the WD website to the sticker on the box.
 

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