Aren't people buying those little drives that you can just hook into the USB slot these days for that type of thing?
One guy I know uses his iPod for storing data along with music, too.
So maybe there's just not as much demand for external hard drives, per se with all the other storage devices out there these days.
If you're comparing external drives to external, than that's fair, but external to internal isn't-- there's always a pointlessly expensive bit of overhead related to external drives, especially ones with extra geegaws like one-button backup and stuff. But I think in general the market for external HDDs is stagnant. Why not just throw another giant HDD into one of your networked desktops?
iPods are fine for most data files, but you can't use them to move mp3s (or, I suppose, AACs) around, so they aren't fully compliant removable drives. All other music players are, to the best of my knowledge. I used my mp3 player as a data carrier until work gave me a USB drive, which is better since the mp3 player required a cable, albeit a fairly common cable.
Is there a content-specific block on MP3 files and iPods?
Part of my search was because the external HD I bought last year isn't working with my new old iBook.... I'm hypothesizing the iBook isn't giving enough juice, so I need the external power... but I didn't keep track of it (if it came w. the HD) because I didn't need it for my PC or Windows laptop.
IIRC, you can move MP3's and AAC's around on iPods. You just can't play the MP3's and AAC's that you're moving.
If I had an underground animation studio and the right voice actor, I'd like to produce a cartoon where Donald Duck is a sadistic drill sergeant for Navy SEALs.
Oh, so there's a chinese wall between playable files and stored files?
I wish the WW2 Disney films were more widely available.
There's also a chance you can transfer music to a PC that doesn't have iTunes installed.
Well, I specifically know that there's no way to use iTunes to move music files off the iPods, and I understood that it couldn't be done wiht music files in general, but maybe Kirk's right, a Chinese wall between stored stuff and playable stuff.
Yes, there is a Chinese wall. When iTunes syncs music files to iPods, they are in special hidden folders. It's easy to get them off with the right app, on Mac it's iPodRip, on Win, there are at least 10 apps. If you do a straight OS copy of files to the iPod they are publicly available to anyone who mounts the drive. But the iPod OS does not see them and can't play them. If you only need a couple of gigs, then a Nano will do. For a little less you could probably grab a 4BG flash drive too. Since you can buy a 30GB iPod (3G) for $175 nowadays, that seems like the way to go if you need more space. Heck, I got a 20GB 2G iPod for $120 6 months ago.
I thought of a possible power solution for your external drive, Kirk-- I assume the drive is USB, and you could try an external USB hub that has its own power supply; the cheap USB hubs are just like channel splitters, but there are some out there that plug into the wall so they can support the power-needs of things you're likely to plug into. Maybe if you have one you can borrow and give that a try, it can help you solve the power problem or rule it out as the problem.
Not a bad idea, LAN3, I'll check out what they cost.
I was toying with the idea of getting a hub anyway, so I might have a bit of a docking station (mouse, keyboard, printer, scanner) for either laptop, and just have to plug in monitor and sound.
When shopping for such a beast, what you'll want to get is a "port expander," which are what we at my jorb prefer to docking stations. They're cheaper and generally more laptop-agnostic.