External, or portable hard drive?

[Wilmslow]

Will be using an old P4 with 2 USB ports (1.0 I think).

Not sure if I should risk a portable hard drive with USB power and a USB 4 way adapter, or, if I should just get an external hard dsrive with mains power supply.

Thoughts on both options?

Note - I do have a decent laptop, but, only using my old archived PC for CCTV purposes!

[DiscoStu]

You can get a 4 port USB 2.0 PCI card for a fiver...

[PAH]

Will be using an old P4 with 2 USB ports (1.0 I think).

If it's 1.0 be prepared for transfer speeds measurable in whole days if not weeks.

Not sure if I should risk a portable hard drive with USB power and a USB 4 way adapter, or, if I should just get an external hard dsrive with mains power supply.

Thoughts on both options?

The only real difference will be the usb powered drives are usually smaller (based on 2.5" drives) so a lot easier to carry around. The ones I've got/seen have a cable allowing two usb connections to be made incase the ports aren't powerful enough to power the drive with just one connection, so should be no problem providing you've got 2 free USB ports.

The mains powered ones are usually 3.5" based, so can usually provide a lot more storage space.

So depends whether storage space or portability is the main factor. I've got both coz I couldn't make my mind up!

[expat]

You can get a 4 port USB 2.0 PCI card for a fiver...

But be aware that the voltage from these USB ports will be limited to that from the PCI slot, which is only 3.3V and not normally enough to power an external drive. Some drives and some USB PCI cards come with an extra lead to get 5V power from the original USB port but I found that a bit flaky.