Internal or External HDD?

[Monoriu]

I am considering buying a new 5TB HDD for anime shows.  Should I buy an internal or external one?  What are the pros and cons?  The most obvious problem with an internal HDD is that I have no idea how to install it properly, and I hate taking the computer to a shop.  On the other hand, I already have 3 external HDD (1x 3TB + 2x 4TB).  Adding a 4th one means getting yet another black box on the floor, yet another electricity socket needed, yet another USB line to the computer (I guess that can be solved with a USB hub), etc. 

BTW, I already have 2 internal SSD, 1 internal HDD (2TB), and 1 blu-ray disc drive.  I have a what they call "full tower" desktop case.  Is it likely that I have space for an additional internal HDD at all? 

[viper37]

Buy a blu ray writer, write your animes on Blu Ray.

Change some of your internal hard drives for a 4tb one.  In particular, there is no need to have 2 SSDs, buy a 512gb one, replace the other SSD with a good internal 4-5TB internal hdd.

Now, for the subject at hand:
External HDDs:
Pros:
- Portability.  You can easily move it from one computer to another.
- Ease of install
- Nearly unlimited capacity (I think the limit on USB devices is 127)

Cons:
- More expensive than internal HDDs
- Slower than internal HDDs

Internal hard drives[/u]
Pros:
- Least pricey option
- Very fast

Cons:
- Harder to install
- Limited to 4-6 SATA drives on most boards

[Monoriu]

I originally had a 128GB SSD 3 years ago.  A few months ago I felt it wasn't big enough, so I bought a 500GB one.  That's where the 2 SSDs come from. I just don't want to throw away the old 128GB one.   

I don't want blu-ray discs.  I don't want to organise them, label them, and store them.  Too much trouble.  Much easier to search for everything in an HDD. 

An internal drive will also make my computer heavier.  That's not a problem for most, but it is an issue for the muscle-challenged me.  Makes it even more difficult to move the computer around.  Not sure how heavy an HDD is though. 

[DontSayBanana]

Buy a blu ray writer, write your animes on Blu Ray.

Change some of your internal hard drives for a 4tb one.  In particular, there is no need to have 2 SSDs, buy a 512gb one, replace the other SSD with a good internal 4-5TB internal hdd.

Now, for the subject at hand:
External HDDs:
Pros:
- Portability.  You can easily move it from one computer to another.
- Ease of install
- Nearly unlimited capacity (I think the limit on USB devices is 127)

Cons:
- More expensive than internal HDDs
- Slower than internal HDDs

Internal hard drives[/u]
Pros:
- Least pricey option
- Very fast

Cons:
- Harder to install
- Limited to 4-6 SATA drives on most boards

Honestly, anything with 4 SATA ports is going to have a PCI-E port that can take a SATA expansion card.  Where you're really going to run into issues is that cheaper power supplies tend to skimp on SATA power connectors, so you'd need either a bunch of adapters or to just drop a little on a power supply with enough SATA connectors.

[Monoriu]

Honestly, anything with 4 SATA ports is going to have a PCI-E port that can take a SATA expansion card.  Where you're really going to run into issues is that cheaper power supplies tend to skimp on SATA power connectors, so you'd need either a bunch of adapters or to just drop a little on a power supply with enough SATA connectors.

Hmm, this is rocket science to me 

[Grey Fox]

You know they dont have to always be plugged in.

[Norgy]

You'd probably be best off, with limited gadget wizardry skills, getting an external HDD. I would, however, urge you to consider a small home server.

[grumbler]

You'd probably be best off, with limited gadget wizardry skills, getting an external HDD. I would, however, urge you to consider a small home server.

Agreed.  Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859108028 Would allow you to have four hard drives through one connection.  I'm not sure how much an operating system would run you, though, so that may make this less of a deal. 

The other option, as GF noted, is simply to attach the external drives as you need them, and leave them disconnected when you don't need them.

[Josquius]

I'm confused by the "and yet another electricity socket needed".
My old external hd from 6 years ago needs it's own electricity socket but the one I just bought gets all it's power from the USB.
And if you're concerned about black boxes on the floor couldn't you just get a nice cabinet for them?

Though yes. If you have so much then looking into servers is a good idea

[Monoriu]

I'm confused by the "and yet another electricity socket needed".
My old external hd from 6 years ago needs it's own electricity socket but the one I just bought gets all it's power from the USB.
And if you're concerned about black boxes on the floor couldn't you just get a nice cabinet for them?

Though yes. If you have so much then looking into servers is a good idea

The small ones (those with 1TB or less) do indeed get electricity from the USB connection to the computer.  The 3-4TB ones that I have all need separate electricity connections.  Though of course I don't need to connect them all the time, just when I need them.  Are you saying you have a 4TB external HDD that gets electricity from the USB?  If so I'd like to know the brand name so that I can get one.

Cabinets: space is the single most expensive entity in HK.  I just don't have much space. 

Servers: just hearing the word scares me    My computer wizard skill is pretty much limited to switching the thing on.  I may have a lot of HDDs but at the end of the day it is just a ton of anime files that don't get used very often.  Is there any particular reason why I should switch to "servers", whatever that means 

Oh and my latest plan is to hold off the HDD purchase for now.  I spent some time doing some reorganisation, using spare capacity from the small 1TB HDDs, etc, so that I now have about 1TB of free space.  I stopped getting more shows for now, because I have more than enough unwatched anime to last for at least one year anyway.  I'll probably upgrade the CPU and video card in a year or so.  By that time I'll just take the computer to the shop and ask them to install the biggest internal HDD they have.  Who knows, maybe they'll produce 6 or 7 TB internal HDDs in 12-18 months, while anime files don't get any bigger. 

[Josquius]

Mine is only 1tb.

Shit you have a lot of anime.

[Monoriu]

Mine is only 1tb.

Shit you have a lot of anime.

I have a list.  I've watched more than 5,000 episodes.  That's over 30 years though.  When I first saw that number I thought Excel screwed up or I added an extra zero somewhere.