[lukasz]

I was thinking of getting a new internal 500 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM 16 MB CACHE SATA HD, but it appears that I don't have room in my box.

I was wondering if you guys think that getting an external 500 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM 16 MB CACHE SATA HD would be just as good.

Let me know.

Thanks

[jayd512]

i don't see why it wouldn't be. Just double check the transfer rates, and the read/write specs to make sure they're still up to snuff. But if I'm not mistaken, externals are getting to be just about as fast and durable as internals. Let us know how it goes.

[lukasz]

What about if I wanted to run a Linux OS off of it?

[stinkoman]

i have often wondered how i could run linux (with my files) off of a maybe 8-10 gig flashdrive

[lukasz]

running off of a 8-10 gig flash drive is fine with me. What I am worried about is performance.

[stinkoman]

i would imagine as long as your bios is compaible with usb bootup, then it should work fine

[lukasz]

Ahhhhh I went with the internal. I will make it work

[jayd512]

Cool. But just to let you know, I checked the specs online and asked around... if you change your mind and go with external, you won't have any type of issues performance-wise.

[lukasz]

Thanks Jay, I did the same checking also and heard the same.
I think keeping it internal will just make everything a little easier.

Thanks again though.

[ryokimball]

I think, although you can't sue me over this, that a SATA HDD can be plugged into an eSATA port (and vice versa) with a tiny bit of physical manipulation.
On another related topic, I know that eSATA (for external drives) would make the transfer rate virtually indistinguishable from an internal drive, but USB 2.0 can get a max of 480 Mb/s. Chances are that this is still overkill, but it's the only difference I think is to be made.