And the Winner Is...
EXTRAS
This is
another category where
the external drive wins by a
landslide, simply because
internal drives don’t come
with any extras aside from
the requisite ATA cable
and screws for mounting
the drive in your case. But
then again, what more do
you need? External drives
usually include a snazzy
bundle that includes
backup software and for-
matting/partitioning tools.
Some external drives can
even be locked to prevent
evildoers from removing it
from the enclosure. And
in the case of our favorite
backup drive—the WD
Media Center—you get
a media reader and USB
hub, to boot. Do these
extra tidbits justify the $70-
$100 price delta between
the internal and external
versions? If the bundle
goodies are useful, we cer-
tainly think so. WINNER:
EXTERNAL DRIVEVALUE
Let’s be
honest: External drives
are damn pricey. A top-
of-the-line 300GB internal
drive costs $130 bucks
these days, but the exter-
nal version of that exact
same drive is more than
$200, and offers a lot
less performance for that
extra cash. Sure, you’re
paying for the extras and
the enclosure, but if value
is what you’re after, you
can save a lot of scratch
by opting for a bare drive
instead of a bells-and-
whistles external unit.
Plus, there’s always the
option of buying a bare
drive and then purchasing
the whistles (and bells, if
you so desire) separately.
WINNER: INTERNAL
DRIVEEXTERNAL DRIVE:
Azio External HDD Enclosure,
$50, http://www.aziocorp.comhead 2 headTWO TECHNOLOGIES ENTER, ONE TECHNOLOGY LEAVES
U
nlike most Head2Head shootouts where two technologies
directly compete against each other in the same niche, this com-
parison pits two products that serve distinctly different needs, even
though they’re both used for storage. As such, we have no problem
declaring the internal drive the winner, but it’s clearly not the best solu-
tion for every possible storage need.
For example, if you need to transport files back and forth from
work and home, you’d have to be either insane or a masochist to
buy an internal drive. And i f you just need a place to stash your“multimedia” collection, then an external drive is a smart choice,
especially because they usually come with backup software—it’s
important to safeguard all those precious videos! But, if you’re
looking to add more storage capacity to your system, and you’re
planning to run apps and games from it, you’d be loco to opt for an
external solution.
Of course, it’s important to note that external SATA drives (dubbed
eSATA) are on the way, and should wipe away the performance differ-
ential between external and internal drives.round^3
round 4
DECEMBER 2005 MA XIMUMPC 17