I know this was brought up many times, i’ve read a lof ot posts but still cant figure out what to pick.
So far i’ve been using my internal ssd and 2 external portable hdd drives(connected when needed) to stream media files from laptop to my TV. I’ve been having a lot of issues with buffering. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. I am waiting for a new top router so i hope this will fix all the issues but anyway i also think about getting one bigger storage for all the media.
I dont think i need NAS type of thing as i use it only for home media. I could set up one of old laptops but also whats the point to have it work 24/7 or even take space somewhere if i’m gonna watch movie like once every 2 days or sth.
Now main question. I am basically considering getting either WD Elements or WD My book drive that will be connected to my laptop but will have external power or just get internal 1TB that will be enough for my needs like Samsung EVO. Will still use other smaller portable hdd drives for stuff that is only needed time to time.
I have gaming laptop, dell alienware. It works as a desktop and basically working 24/7.
What would you recommend? WD external option or Internal SSD? I’ve read some things that this Elemenets/My book are very slow with writing files.
Also will my laptop work in full power when something from external hdd drive will be streamed or thats the problem only with internal hdd drives?
For a laptop, get an external. You can get externals in a much larger size than you can in a Laptop form factor. The write/read speed doesn’t really matter for a media server environment, unless you’re sharing with a couple dozen people who all try to stream at once, and then you’re going to run into USB limitations before drive limitations typically.
So it has no impact on streaming if its internal SSD, External Desktop or External portable? And with all 3 options streaming will go through laptop so it has no difference on its work/overheating and so on as it will work with every option from those three, no matter if hdd has its own power or not?
There’s differences for sure… but as explained by JasonNalley those shouldn’t impact the streaming itself.
For what it’s worth… go with an external USB 3 / 3.1 HDD; preferably use a 3.5“ one with its own power (don’t rely on power to be supplied through USB). But that’s just my 2ct
@tom80H What is a difference if HDD have its on power comparing to internal one in laptop? For streaming i understand now that it doesnt make any but is there any for laptop work? Like efficiency drop during streaming/overheating or sth? Or will it work same with internal and external?
Power supply over USB can be wonky — in particular with notebooks where the USB ports usually don’t live up to the USB specs. There can also be occasional side effects w/ dependencies on HW or your OS that might result in issues (e.g. if they can only provide the a certain amount of power across all USB ports instead of the specified amount per port; I’ve already experienced issues with Windows‘ power saving features in combination with bad drivers/implementations…).
As for your other questions: you should only see an impact when you’re steaming a lot and in parallel have massive file transfer activities (not your regular office files but let’s say gigabytes)
Perfect @tom80H. Thank you. Will go with external WD My book or Elements. If i may ask for the last question would you recommend one over another? My book is more expensive but form what i checked its same drive just with additional software. Is it needed for anything? I will use it only for Movie library and for the backup i have WD my passport ultra. I also have EaseUs Todo backup software so dont neeed new one.
There are large cases for multiple hard drives, which connect the whole case per (one?) USB port.
I’m not sure if it was @Elijah_Baley or @JuiceWSA who uses such a monster, but he reports good things about it.
We both do in some form. Myself, along with Local Drives packed in the box, I have a couple of WD My Book 8TB Externals plugged into the USB 3.0 ports and they run like striped assed apes, show up as local drives with a Drive Letter each and away we go.
Elijah has his in a Raid, or some such, but externals are working fine for us.
