External hard drives

[Tom Cumming]

I notice on the Iomega (Europe) website that they are now selling
external USB2/Firewire hard drives. The 20Gb and 40Gb ones are
described as "portable" hard drives, whereas the 80Gb and 120Gb
models are labelled as "desktop" hard drives. The 40Gb portable is
virtually the same price as the 80Gb desktop model.

Can anyone tell me what exactly the problem is with the desktop
models that makes them unsuited to use with a laptop? Is it just
that they are bigger/heavier? Are they more fragile? As far as I
can tell, all of the drives require a mains power supply (they
cannot run off the power supplied by the USB port), so its not that.

I would like to buy one of these drives for my laptop, which does
not get moved around a lot, but gets bumped around on public
transport between two desks in different cities about once a month.

Any ideas anyone? Thanks in advance.

[Ghostrider]

Post by Tom Cumming
I notice on the Iomega (Europe) website that they are now selling
external USB2/Firewire hard drives. The 20Gb and 40Gb ones are
described as "portable" hard drives, whereas the 80Gb and 120Gb
models are labelled as "desktop" hard drives. The 40Gb portable is
virtually the same price as the 80Gb desktop model.
Can anyone tell me what exactly the problem is with the desktop
models that makes them unsuited to use with a laptop? Is it just
that they are bigger/heavier? Are they more fragile? As far as I
can tell, all of the drives require a mains power supply (they
cannot run off the power supplied by the USB port), so its not that.
I would like to buy one of these drives for my laptop, which does
not get moved around a lot, but gets bumped around on public
transport between two desks in different cities about once a month.
Any ideas anyone? Thanks in advance.
--
Tom Cumming

These have gotten quite popular, not only from Iomega but other makers,
including mainstream HD manufacturers, as well. The defining difference
between the "desktop" and "portable" models seems to be a matter of size,
portability and probably internal protection and power requirements for a
larger HD in the container.

[Tom Cumming]

Post by Ghostrider
These have gotten quite popular, not only from Iomega but other makers,
including mainstream HD manufacturers, as well. The defining difference
between the "desktop" and "portable" models seems to be a matter of size,
portability and probably internal protection and power requirements for a
larger HD in the container.

OK thanks.