For use with a Laptop i´d suggest one of the recent 2.5" drives.
I use a 2.5" Saegate GoFlex atm and can´t exactly hear it spinning when it lays in front of me. It gets its power solely from the USB port. They offer a Firerwire connector for the GoFlex models also.
Since we talk about our beloved audio data you may wonder about longer warranty or MTBF times. So a 3.5" may give you more safety as the smaller 2.5" drives. Since nonetheless you should at least have one backup this may not matter to you.
For 3.5" drives you also may consider it needs another PSU that may under some circumstances influence other equipment when you power several pieces of your audiochain from one power plug.
I use a 2.5" Saegate GoFlex atm and can´t exactly hear it spinning when it lays in front of me. It gets its power solely from the USB port. They offer a Firerwire connector for the GoFlex models also.
Since we talk about our beloved audio data you may wonder about longer warranty or MTBF times. So a 3.5" may give you more safety as the smaller 2.5" drives. Since nonetheless you should at least have one backup this may not matter to you.
For 3.5" drives you also may consider it needs another PSU that may under some circumstances influence other equipment when you power several pieces of your audiochain from one power plug.
Good question. Speed wise the drive is faster as the maximum of USB2.0 i guess. I use mine with USB 3.0 and it can reach up to ~45MB/s while i remember to have around a maximum of ~28MB/s with USB 2.0 drives. This is some real world experience i have with my hardware, others may vary.
Since i did read about several badly implemented USB 2.0 ports in older hardware Firewire may be faster with your Laptop but this is only a guess.
Edit: here is an overview of the theoretical speeds of different interfaces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_device_bit_rates#Peripheral
Like mentioned the implementation of specific harware inside the Laptop and the drive itself may vary these speeds a lot.
Since i did read about several badly implemented USB 2.0 ports in older hardware Firewire may be faster with your Laptop but this is only a guess.
Edit: here is an overview of the theoretical speeds of different interfaces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_device_bit_rates#Peripheral
Like mentioned the implementation of specific harware inside the Laptop and the drive itself may vary these speeds a lot.
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I found that Firewire in practice (although theoretically it shouldn`t) usually is a tad faster than USB 2.0 (10% to 20%) + in case Your VAIO is an "older" model Firewire likely has less compatibility issues.
I had quite some trouble with USB 2.0 driver issues with older hardware (about before 2005 or so).
There are external HD enclosures that have both USB-2 and Firewire.
>1TB means 3.5 drives inside. I have an 320GB HDD external enclosure with both firewire and USB. It seems much faster indexing the contents on a Windows PC using USB, I assume it would be the reverse on an Apple. Larger video files maybe better on firewire. Shop for an enclosure with both interfaces and roll yer own.
Hi Felipe
Firewire is surely faster than USB 2.0 - but for audio playback, USB 2.0 is fast enough, unless your Vaio has a very poor USB 2.0 implementation.
I am with Wombat and others, that a 2.5-Inch drive is not only smaller, but also quieter and has less power consumption. Therefor I use 2.5-inch disks connected to my streamer as well as for my desktop Macs, when it comes to audio.
I have been through a lot of harddrives over time and have lost several due to failure. My most recent failures were always with Samsung drives, though of the 3.5-inch variety. Therefor I prefer Hitachi or Toshiba and WD/Seagate (in that order). But my own experience simply might have been bad luck.
Ben
hmm bad luck i suppose to equate quality wd seagate are like sony mini components and the samsung krell ,samsung hds are of much higher quality than the others you mentioned .if you are interested in bulletproof ,really fast transfer rates and,simple vreliability check into a solid state hard drive.
Stumbled across that just today. As we talk about 2.5" drives WD starts offering 2TB drives:
My Passport 500GB-2TB
My Passport 500GB-2TB
I wouldn't want to leave a fanless 3.5" drive on all the time. Not unless it was a case with serious passive cooling, like a vertical chimney with heat sinks screwed or bonded directly to the drive. A lot of external cases are just little ovens that roast drives to death like a dog in a hot car.
good find, checked prices online ~ $330 USD,
Not surprised now that 4TB 3.5" is newly announced.
interesting that the 2.5" HDD flagships max capacity roughly follows 1/2 of the 3.5" HDD five platter flagships.
WD themself prices it 249$ Welcome to Western Digital US Online Store
The OP didn´t ask for a bargain btw.
Europe prices are ~195€ when it ships, so that is where the 1.5TB Seagate was around christmas and the higher prices due to the Thai high-water.
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