external hard drive for laptop

I am interested in purchasing an external hard drive for my laptop. The one I want says nothing about being compatible with a laptop but with a desktop. Is there a difference? Should I be looking at one just for laptops? Suggestions?

Responses(4)

E

ejn63

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

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December 2nd, 2007 18:00

USB drives are universal. If you buy a pocket-size unit be sure it has a power supply - or that you get a dual-input USB cable with it. The USB port on notebooks often does not supply enough power to run a drive.

3.5" external drives will all be self-powered.

pamram

2 Posts

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December 2nd, 2007 18:00

What kind is recommended

E

ejn63

9 Legend

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87.5K Posts

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December 2nd, 2007 19:00

If you want the best warranty, buy an internal drive (3-5 year warranty) and a separate case/power supply for it. Pre-built drives carry a 1-year warranty at best.

Otherwise, choose by price and features - they're pretty much commodities.

M

mauisunset

127 Posts

0

December 4th, 2007 00:00

Seagate offers external hard USB drives with 5 year (limited) warranty. I've seen different models and sizes offered for sale in the Sunday paper ads at various places (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.).

As with all hard drives, it's your responsibility to backup the contents - the manufacturer will only replace a defective drive but not pay for data recovery if the drive crashes.

I recommend getting a hard drive with it's own power supply and not draw power from the USB port.

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external hard drive for laptop