Best Portable Hard Drives: 2014-06-15

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Sabtu, 21 Juni 2014

Why is Windows 7 unable to recognize my external hard drive?

808WARRIOR

Why is Windows 7 unable to recognize my external hard drive?

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

External Hard Drive: HP SD320A

NOTES:

- It works on other computers.
- It works on another computer that is also running Windows 7 Ultimate.
- Formatted as NTFS.
- Connects to computer via USB
- Had HP Software installed prior to format and errors.
- Device is not recognized in Disk Manager
- Device is recognized as a Mass Storage Device in the Control Panel

Thank you.

Answer
Hi:

When Windows 7 start up. The first thing it does; is to send out a request to your Drive Manager and ask Hey buddy what drives do we have and the drive manager tell it, this what we got Drive C: Drive D : and Drive A ( if got that ( a Floppy disk drive) ). when you connected it to the USB port The USB bus should send a Request to Windows and say we got a New piece of Hardware and windows 7 should send a request to the New hardware asking what are you? and if your new drive has a plug and load program - it send a request to Windows 7 saying I'm a New disk drive and I want to load my drivers ( the interfacing program that enable windows 7 and the New drive to talk to each other) into you and please put my Id in your Disk Manager So I will recognize via my coded input code. And Windows will either say "go ahead" or No, because I don't recognize you HP code however sometime Windows 7 will recognize it - only after you restarted your again with the USB still plug in to it in both your drive and it. than it will recognize your external hard drive. to initialize the drive program

I hope this helps

how do I install Windows 8 on my external hard drive?

Christophe

I took all the steps necessary up to the point where I choose where to install windows but it wouldn't let me select the external hard drive because it's connected via USB... why won't it let me and/or is there a way around this because that's the only way I can connect the hard drive

Answer
Ifan operating system is already on the computer, make sure the drivers are correctly installed; and try installing when the OS is on. Windows should then detect the drive as if you have booted from a DVD, it might not detect

Why doesn't my computer see my external Hard Drive?

wizexel22

My friend gave me a new hard drive (Seagate ST902503FAA2E1-RK FreeAgent Go 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive) and it does not show up in "My Computer". I also get a message "Windows could not load installers for volume..." as well.

It seems online advice is to download TweakUI and click on the drives to use and this seems to work for everyone. However, when I use TweakUI, it doesn't even show any drives!

My computer is detecting the new HD when I plug it in, but it simply does not show it as a drive and so I cannot access the drive. Please help and thanks!

Answer
Here is the best I can come up with so far. Firstly, I just recieved my new 500 Gig harddrive in the mail, and (was just) having the same problem(I'm using vista). I finally found out where my drive is hiding, but and JUST figured out how to access it. It's located through a "UNC" path. From what i could find on the web, the computer thinks it's a network drive and wishes to access it as such... Go to start, control panel, system management, storage(should be on the left sidebar) see if it shows your drive there. If you need to, then format it. When this is complete, right click and 'change drive letter/file path' and assign one. It should now show up.

Hope this helped!

I had my portable external hard drive in while i was installing windows 7 and now it doesn't show up?

chunky_06

I always have my hard drive in, and i installed windows 7 and everything went fine but then when i clicked on my computer my hard drive wasn't being shown and it hasn't showed up since? Any help anyone?

Answer
First, remove and reinsert the drive to see if it detects it or not. It's a good idea to try it on another computer too. Try opening disk management to see if its there or not (start, right click on my computer, click manage, then choose disk management on the left column). If it shows up as free space, then you could create a partition and use it.

The drive enclosure might be bad.
Then try contacting the manufacturer if you have warranty, if not then you should disassemble it and use the bare hard drive in your computer to see if it works or not, because the enclosure might be broken. If that doesn't help, then your drive is bad.

External hard drive question?

Ultra sens

I have thousands of pictures along with hours of home videos that are really slowing down my computer. I was looking to get an external drive but need to know if I could store along with run programs (like Nero) to make home dvds from that drive or will that even help?

Answer
Any of the new External Drives (pretty much every one that you can buy from the computer store in an unopened box) supports NTFS which means you will be able to install programs onto it. However, just because you have installed a program on to an external drive - does not mean to say you can use it on any computer:

The registry keys for the program will still be stored in your computers registry and so you will only be able to run the program from that one computer.

With this in mind (unless you are really struggling for space) I would leave the programs on your computers internal hard-drive and get a NAS storage device. The Netgear Stora is a fairly good one for home storage. You then connect it to your router run the CD on your main computer and it becomes a Network Storage Drive (which you can use for backups of your computer) and storing all your Pictures and Home Movies on. Doing it this way will also give you instant access to your files from any computer connected to your home network without the need for carrying around and external drive.

If you want to have an external drive however rather then Network Storage then I would suggest this one for a desktop external drive

IOMEGA Prestige Desktop External Hard Drive - 1TB

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/iomega-prestige-desktop-external-hard-drive-1tb-03868723-pdt.html

Or this one for a portable external drive

WD My Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive - 500GB

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/wd-my-passport-essential-portable-hard-drive-500gb-03709256-pdt.html

As you can see however, although they are about the same price, you are getting less storage in the portable drive because you are paying for the portability of it: so unless you plan on carrying it around with you I would go for the desktop external drive.

External hard drives acting weird!?

realface

I have 3 external HDDs connected to my PC but recently I've noticed that whenever I remove one or add a fourth one the entire system freezes. I have to restart the system with the HDDs plugged in so they can work properly. I just noticed today that Intel's Rapid Storage Technology had a red 'x' by it's icon...it then had a green tick after I activated it. Is there some sort of overload (it's a powerful computer....it should take on more than 4 HDDs!) or is it my Intel(R) i7 chip that needs some sort of modification or update?

Answer
I suggest that you purchase a larger drive or a NAS unit.

It could be that you have given more than one drive the same drive letter which could make it freeze up.

What do you call powerful? It would seem that you should have more hard drives inside of you computer and less on the outside.
You don't say how they are connected, whether it be via USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Firewire (ugh), of eSata.
I have two external units connected on my personal system via eSata and a couple of NAS connected to my switch. Have 5 hard drives inside my computer case (totaling 10Tbs) and running with a 550 watt power supply without any problems.
I have seen problems with too many USB connections and that is where your problem may be.
By the way, I keep a Blac X box on my desk connected via eSata and switch out internal desktop (or laptop) hard drives in there.

Hope this has been of some help to you.

Can sitting a computer on my hard drive damage it?

Robert

Hi I recently did something rather stupid I sat my large computer on my portable hard drive , my question can this corrupt the files on it or damage them in any way?

It was only sitting on half the hard drive for like 2 min, it's a powerless portable hard drive very small size of a persons hand, is powered by USB.

I have video files on the drive and I don't want them to be corrupted from having had the computer sit on the drive, so can this effect my files and if so how.

5 stars for best answer and if you can recommend a good hard drive scanning tool apart from scan disk that can scan for corrupted damaged files and bad sectors from external damage.

Thanks guys and Gals.

Answer
Hi there

2 things could happen in this situation: if the HDD was on and plugged in, it is technically possible for the pressure on the case to affect writing to the drive, though still unlikely. Second is if it was not connected and off, there should be no problems assuming there is no physical damage.

I'm going to assume it was on. I'd load the drive and attempt to access the video files, right away they should tell you if they are corrupted/unreadable.

Agent James Robbins
In-home Cadet
On assignment in the Portland Metro Area

Answered November 1st, 2013

Best Laptop/tablet for graphic design students (2013)?

Lexi

Hi I am about to go into college and a need a laptop or tablet that is best suited for the graphic design major as well as gaming ( mostly sims3 ) i have been looking around and i do have a small budget. nothing over 500 the max is 600 but nothing more. It needs to be fast, light weight. lots of space, Sims 3 compatible, adobe suite compatible, great or decent graphics, it MUST have a USB hub. long battery life, 3+ hours, and it should not heat up to quickly or stay relatively cool to the touch. i currently have a dell INSPIRON15 (on of the originals before it got cool) and it pretty decent but heavy and it heats up. i am a serious multitask-er. and i think it time to trade up. and suggestions?

Answer
Asus has one option which you can consider and it comes under your budget of $600 with the price of $550. The reason of recommending this laptop is its almost same features which you are requiring from a laptop. And also it performs really as one of an actual user describes its Performance as commendable. Here is a complete review which you can see and it will help you:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R5ZANLYD4ZQ41/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B009RUS452&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=hawmekm-20

Also it has really good features which help you in performing every task which you have mentioned. It includes Intel Core i5 3317U 1.7 GHz and 6 GB DDR3 which is perfect for fast processing. It has storage with 750 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive and 24 GB Solid-State Drive. It has good portable 15.6-Inch Screen with Intel GMA HD and Windows 8.

All of these features, good performance and good built comes in a package of $550. So I would recommend it to you among other good options. But if you want to see other laptops for comparison with it then here is a list of laptops which are best selling and also comes under your budget of $600:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_36_6?bbn=565108&qid=1374316835&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A%21493964%2Cn%3A541966%2Cn%3A565108&rnid=2421885011&low-price=&high-price=600&x=-180&y=-3564&tag=hawmekm-20

How do I backup Windows 7 files on an external hard drive?

Lyndon

I'm changing to a Windows 8 and I want to know how to backup my data from my Windows 7 with an external hard drive.
What kind of external hard drive should I use?

Answer
When updating from windows 7 to Windows 8 the computer automatically backs up your files, but if you want to do it on an external hard drive just connect the External HDD and copy the entire C: drive and paste it onto the External HDD

i am confused what to buy, internal or external hard drive for backup?

Black

i need 1TB hard drive for my data backup and i need an external one but don't know is it better? i am confused someone says that pre-made external is not more reliable because of heating problem and suggest me to buy an internal hard drive for laptop and use an enclosure to make it external as it would be better than ready made external hard drive, someone says that external hard drives are not safe, i am totally confused and don't know what to buy. please tell me which would be more reliable and how, as i need it right now?

Answer
I'd recommend an External drive - although these can often cost a little more and be slower, the pro's as a backup are much better.

- Drive can be moved around or connected to other computers as required
- If your computer is stolen or blows up then your backups are safe
- If you upgrade or reformat your computer then your files can be accessed straight away

Best brand of External Hard drive?

Pentecosta

??? one thats 500gb and up ???

Answer
I do not put much stock into the brands of External drives as long as it is a major brand that I recognize:

Western Digital
Iomega
Seagate
LaCie
Verbatim
Buffalo
Hitachi
TEAC

The features of the drive are more important to me:

7200 RPM
USB 3.0
Proper capacity
Portable--meaning that it only needs USB, and does not need a second plug for electricity.

Now, if you are looking for the absolute best external drive that money can buy, that would be the LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 External Hard Drive 301945. They are pricey, but awesome. Here is a link to the 1 TB model: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822154463

Another option to consider is that you may want a mirrored external drive (if one drive dies, your data is still on the other). Here is one. It is also LaCie, but only because it was the only brand name mirrored drive on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822154367&cm_re=external_hard_drive_raid_1-_-22-154-367-_-Product

Finally, you might consider a networkable drive. These are called Network Attached Storage (NAS): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165122

Or something with NAS *and* mirroring: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148615&cm_re=nas_raid_1-_-22-148-615-_-Product

what is the best type of external hard drive to buy?

brecklynn0

i am looking to buy a external hard drive for my computer and i need to know what the best type to get is. i do not have a huge budget for this so whatever is the least expensive but something that will last. also what size should i get? is a 2 Tb to much?

Answer
2 Tb is almost certainly more than you need. You could store about 1,500 full length DVD-ripped movies on 2 Tb.

In my opinion, the best external hard drive made is the LaCie Rugged All-Terrain USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive. It has the following features:

Drop-resistant (not drop-proof though)
"Portable" means that you don't have to plug in a separate power cord
USB 3.0 means that it will be faster with newer computers that have USB 3.0
7200 RPM is the fastest type of external drive

Depending on your budget, here are links for the 500 GB, 750 GB, and 1 TB models:

500 GB: http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-All-Terrain-Portable-External-301930/dp/B003KYYA90/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_1

750 GB: http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-All-Terrain-Portable-External-301934/dp/B003SO4F3I/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_0

1 TB: http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-All-Terrain-Portable-External-301945/dp/B003RFRU1W/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

What's a Portable Hard Drive (1tb) that is formatted and will work with both WIndows and Mac?

Daniel

I have a MacBook and a windows computer, which I would like to back them both up on the same portable hard drive (and also be able to use the hard drive (adding and copy stuff on it(all the normal stuff you'd do with one)) with both windows and mac)
I have a WD Passport Essential SE 1tb at the moment and It is formatted with windows and is only Read Only for Mac because it is formatted with windows, What is a portable hard drive which I can use on both Windows and Mac.
Please help with fairly simple instructions :)

Answer
Hi,

You can use any external Hdd. Just setup two partitions on it. :) but If you don't wanna do that:

You'd need to format it to FAT32, for it to be able to read and write it on both operating systems. But you can't transfer any files larger than 4GB to it, so you should be aware of that limitation.

I'm pretty sure there are drivers/emulators out there for reading any mac filesystem on your win and vice versa.

Hope this helped :)

Mac Portable Hard Drive Help?

h8thecause

I recently bought a SimpleTech portable hard drive. Its a 160gb if that matters. I am working on trying to backup my music by dragging and dropping it on there, but when I plug it in and try to drag, it does not allow me. When I view the info for the portable hard drive, the sharing and permissions says: "I can only read". How would I fix this?

Answer
Check whether the hard disk has "Write Lock". If it is so make sure it is not write locked.

Make sure that the Hard Drive is not formatted as NTFS. Mac does not support writing data to a NTFS volume. Just right click the mounted volume in Finder and select "Get Info". In the Info window check for the "Format:". In case the format is NTFS, it shows "Windows NT Filesystem". [ http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/attachments/maccar/40138d1172094097-using-external-hd-between-mac-pc-picture-1.png ].
If it is so, your Mac will not allow you to write data to that volume.

There are 2 solutions :
1. Make Mac write data to NTFS volume : Install 3rd party NTFS support for Mac. Softwares like "Paragon NTFS" [ http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ ] allows you to write data to NTFS volume.
2. Reformat the hard disk to Mac Compatible format : This will require you to erase the entire data present in the disk. You can use Disk Utility to reformat the hard disk. If you are not sharing it with Windows PC, you can format it with format as "HFS+" (referred as "Mac OS Extended" in disk utility). In case you intend to share it with Windows "Fat32" will be the format I would recommend. Remember Fat32 does not support files larger than 4GB.

I would recommend the second solution.

Jumat, 20 Juni 2014

What is the best external hard drive for Macbook Pro?

aidan

I want one that can act as an external hard drive and at the same time be used for Time Machine. (if it's possible) I would also like it to be aesthetically pleasing and be fast with a good amount of storage. About one TB. I don't want it to be too expensive. I know I am asking for a lot, but if someone could make a list of ones that fit various parts of my requirements that would be great!
I Just didn't want someone showing me one for like $300 dollars @ 3TB and require a seperate $600 housing unit. I'm just looking for something for extra storage and a backup copy for my Mac for use with TM.

Answer
The best is SSD and aluminum enclosure with Firewire 800 and USB 3.0 connectors. That's the last two links at "Sources". OK, I lied. An aluminum case for Thunderbolt goes for 300 bucks, add your own drives: http://www.amazon.com/Akitio-Neutrino-Thunder-Duo-Enclosure/dp/B00D4EBIV4/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1382911631&sr=8-13&keywords=thunderbolt+enclosure

If you want a high-quality drive and case, buy these two items (hard drive and enclosure), and with a small screwdriver you put them together....
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Travelstar-2-5-Inch-Internal-0J22423/dp/B00B4QESVQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370072848&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+HTS721010A9E630 (2.5â HDD, 7200rpm, 1TB)
http://tinyurl.com/3okh75r (enclosure with Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 connection)
It does not include A.C. power adapter, but you can buy an adapter at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart, if it ever fails to have enough power from the USB connection.

Another option is to buy this case-HDD combo that does include power adapter...
http://www.amazon.com/MiniPro-External-FireWire-Portable-Silver/dp/B0067N0DME/ref=pd_sim_pc_2 (1TB, 7200RPM HDD in aluminum enclosure that has both Firewire 800 and USB 3.0 connections.

The reason for aluminum case is to dissipate heat. Less heat held in means longer life for the drive inside.

For the possibility of future needs, get a 3.5" drive and case. You can step up later to a larger capacity drive and keep using the same case. Again, aluminum for heat dissipation, Firewire 800 for fastest use with a MacBook Pro, and USB, just in case you want to connect it to a PC or a Mac that has no Firewire port...
http://www.amazon.com/3-5-Inch-Aluminum-SuperSpeed-Enclosure-G-S350SU3B2/dp/B00B7MWQE8/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1377045151&sr=8-15&keywords=drive+case+3.0+USB+firewire+800 (top quality enclosure)
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Cache-Desktop-Drive/dp/B0088PUEPK/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1346127194&sr=8-46&keywords=3.5%22+1tb+hard+drive (1TB, 7200RPM drive)

or... http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000DM001/dp/B005T3GRN2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1363446712&sr=8-6&keywords=3.5%22+2tb+drive (2TB, 7200RPM drive)

TM doesn't care what brand of drive or what size, but larger is better.

<0-0>

What is the fastest usb 2.0 2tb external hard drive?

Dan

i have a acer revo r3700 with an ssd in it which will only store executables so i need 2 external harddrives one for backup and one for storing my media.

What is the fastest usb 2.0 2tb external hard drive? this i would use for media. tell me why you'd choose it, if there isn't a specific one please let me know a few good ones with different prices.
what spec should i look for when searching for a very fast hard drive.

what drive should i choose for backup?

I intend to put both drives in a dual enclose ( if they exist?) and i'll be carrying them around alot

Also how do i need to set up my harddrives so that the read/write speeds stay as high as possible?. and so that my ssd does not slow down or fill up?

Answer
When it comes to external hard drives there isn't any easy answer to which is fastest. This is because no external model will be fastest at both reading and writing data. When technology mags review external drives for speed then they are usually tested in four ways. Speed of reading and writing a limited number of large files and speed of reading and writing hundreds of individual small files sequentially.
For the fastest performance you should be looking to USB 3 as it is up to 5 times faster in real world use than USB 2. Even if your system has no native support USB 3, it is easy to add a PCI card to a desktop PC that does. There is a newer technology that is just emerging, invented by Intel, called Thunderbolt. But very few systems currently support and not many external drives do either.
The Western Digital MyBook range are very fast and within that range there are drives which support both USB 2 and USB 3 connections with capacities ranging from 1TB to 3TB. See here: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=240
The MyBook essential range have good read and write speeds for both large and small files but aren't necessary the top performing external drive in any one category. The different models include those with Smartware backup software and optional 256Bit AES encryption. If you look at the whole range from the above link i am sure will find a model that suites your needs.
If you need portability [as you suggest] then you will have to sacrifice a little speed but WesternDigital also have a good range of "MyPassport" and WD "Elements" drives, geared towards portability and vary in size up to 1TB. Very few portable drives exist with over a Terabyte of storage so you will need to balance your need for portability against the size of storage available.
You can see the WD portable ranges [and compare features] here: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/portable/

can i run applications directly from a portable hard drive?

mm09

for example can i play movies directly from the hard drive or do i have to copy the movie files onto the computer first and play it from there.

Answer
You can do almost anything on a portable hard drive. You have to install the program to your portable hard drive, or use portable applications (found at http://portableapps.com/) to ensure that, should the installer save paths in registry keys or configuration files, they point to the right place, and not to a non-existant location on your hard drive where the files used to be.

However, you must make sure that when you want to use a program/file, your hard drive must be connected to your computer for the duration of the use, and that, unless your portable hard drive is plugged in 24/7, it will not be an on-demand, ready to go experience.

Also, USB read/write speeds will be a bottleneck, so I wouldn't recommend running any games off of a hard drive. Playing movies is usually okay because most modern video players buffer the video quite a bit, and therefore allow for a smooth show.

How can I copy DVD movies on to my hard drive so I can in turn copy them to my hand held video player?

Lovr

I know there are tons of expensive software that can do this but is there a free way to burn the DVD onto my hard drive so I can simply move/copy the .divx, .mpeg or .avi to my Player?

Answer
I think you can use E.M. Free DVD Copy. It can let you copy dvd to your hard drive, you can also rip DVD to other popular formats, such as h264, Xvid,MOV, VOB, Mpeg, Mpeg4, Mpeg TS, AVI, WMV. so you can watch dvd movies on portable player.

free use without limiting.

if you want to try it , you can get it from:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22E.M.+Free+DVD+Copy%22&btnG=Google+Search

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=em+dvd+copy&ygmasrchbtn=web+search&fr=ush-ans

Help With External Computer Hard Drive? ?

Amber

I have a few questions. I want to put some of the information on my laptop onto an external hard drive. The laptop is a Dell, so I figure use a Dell hard drive. But I'm looking at this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-500GB-External-Hard-Drive-Dell-Dimension-5100-5150_W0QQitemZ300279045704QQihZ020QQcategoryZ158823QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247
on Ebay, and all it talks about is video, photos, and songs. I mostly have files that I want to move, like Microsoft Word documents and things like that.
So, what is the best hard drive (external) to use for that? Will other hard drives that aren't Dell work with a Dell laptop, or does it have to be the same brand?
Also... I want to move the files onto the external drive and then put them on another laptop. Does it matter what brand the other laptop is?

Thanks much,
Amber
And also...
Can someone recommend the best kind of hard drive I can use? There's so many different kinds and I have no idea which is best.

Answer
External Hard drives are essentially bigger revisions of flash thumb drive with several times more capacity - so BRAND DOES NOT MATTER IN TERMS OF COMPATIBILITY. There are also "Sync" programs that will apply any changes you have done to the desired folders in your computer to the files in your drive so that they are identical.

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The cost depends on the brand, type, and storage. There are enclosures, regular externals (that need an outside powersource through A/C adapter or 2nd USB Port), and portable externals (that power up through the USB port).
=An enclosure is just a cover for a regular computer harddrive that lets you carry it around and use it like a regular external which requires a power cord or a 2nd USB port for power. Put simply, you buy a new computer harddrive, put the enclosure around it, and you have an external. These tend to be a little bit cheaper than the other two alternatives because you have more range in choosing the storage and price for both the drive and the cover, but you have to setup the drive. The actual size of this type of external depends on the size of the computer harddrive you buy. Generally, they tend to remain small. Here is how it goes together (this one is using a 2nd USB port for power): http://na.tm.agilent.com/images/diskenclosure.jpg
=Regular externals are "premade" enclosures, except you can't open them up to convert to a "computer harddrive." They're stuck in their frame. Like enclosures, they require a separate power cable. These are usually cheaper than the portables for the same amount of memory, but they are less portable because you need a power outlet to be able to use them, and they tend to be bigger and bulkier. One example looks like this (WD MyBook): http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/wd_mybook_500gb/images/my_book_4.jpg
=The newest are the portable externals. They are just like other externals except you don't need a separate power cord to use them. They get all their power from the computer through the USB port. These are generally a bit more expensive, but they are quite small and handy. They look like this: http://www.futurelooks.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/wd_mypassport320gbelite-3.jpg

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Choose between the types depending on your use. If you think you're going to be on the go a lot with few outlets, I recommend the portable externals. They might be a bit more expensive, but they are very easy to use, very portable, and very good looking. The one I use (WesternDigital MyPassport Elite 320GB for $100) is about as big as a 3x5 index card and as thick as a pen. You might also go with an enclosure using a 2nd USB port for power.

However, if you're looking for LOTS of storage without worrying about using it absolutely anywhere, go with the enclosure or the regular external because they cost less.

---

Seagate and Western Digital are the most reliable brands in terms of dedicated externals (the one in your Ebay link is actually a Seagate, not a "Dell."). These are also the brands for the computer harddrive you will want to use for enclosure, but I'm not sure what enclosure cover is the best.

It would be best if you searched around. Local stores like BestBuy, Walmart, CircuitCity, etc. usually have great deals. You should look around online at many different stores before settling on one price.

Sometimes the computerseller marks up the price a bit even though they sell some of the very same products. Again, you should look around before you settle on a price.

Can you use an external Hard drive for storage on a Playstation 3?

punkinlips

I know you can buy a laptop hard drive to upgrade the hard drive that originally comes with the PS3 but can you use an external drive for storage as well?

Answer
You can, but in order for it to work, the hard drive has to be formatted in FAT32. Most on the market are defaulted as NTFS which is the newer standard. You can hook up your external HD to your pc and reformat it to FAT32..either the whole thing or just a partition. If you don't know what you are doing, get someone to help you. Externals aren't cheap so good luck.

Which company makes the best portable hard drives?

$$ �!

Someone told me that portable hard drives have a short-life. Is it true/ If yes, what's the durability?

Answer
I'd go with Western Digital. But there are some highly rated drives at http://www.newegg.com Some of these are assembled with a different name on them, and who knows what drive is inside. If I had the choice, I'd go with Hitachi, the former IBM Datastar. I'd never buy a Maxtor drive. (again)

Try this one at NewEgg
Western Digital My Book Essential WDG1U1600N 160GB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136021

or this one
Western Digital Passport Portable WDXMS2500TN 250GB 5400 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - $144.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136139

But here is the thing, one bump and you are dead. Consider carrying that drive in a special foam filled bag. Always put that drive on the floor of your car, so it does not get destroyed when it slips off the seat of your car and HITS the floor.

Maybe you should be getting several 4GB Flash (Thumb) drives. BUY one at first, and make sure that it works in every computer that you want it to work with. Then buy more of the same brand.

How about this from NewEgg:
CORSAIR 16GB Flash Survivor Ultra Rugged USB 2.0 Drive Model CMFUSBSRVR-16GB â $154.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233059

People LOVE this one.
CORSAIR Flash Voyager 2GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) 256bit AES Encryption Model CMFUSB2.0-2GB - $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233009

Good luck and Happy Computing!

How do i make a Hitachi 1tb desktop hard drive into a portable hard drive?

Karlie

I bought a 1tb 7200 RPM hard drive from Hitachi as a replacement for a Maxtor one touch portable hard drive, how would i make the hard drive usable with the portable setup?
I solved my problem i just right clicked my computer storage/disc manager and right clicked the drive and formated it as a new volume now it works perfectly ty

Answer
buy a hard drive enclosure. they usually come with USB or esata connections. make sure it's 3.5 inch for a desktop. 2.5 is for a laptop hard drive

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=desktop%20sata%20hard%20drive%20enclosure&sourceid=Mozilla-search

should i get an ipad or netbook?

James

Ipad : touch screen : 10 hours battery : greats apps : 16 gb Hard drive : videos music and web browsing are amazing : iphone software 3.1.3 : no flash : no usb sd card slots : fixed 16 gb no external hard drives

Netbook : 2 gb hard drive can be improved with an external hard drive : usb slots : 128 ram : videos music and browsing is not as good as an ipad : flash : sd slots : 3.5 hours battery ,battery life sucks : PC Games : windows ce : keyboard and touchpad :

Bring Ipad to school all ill be the frist student to have one and be cool :)
Bring Netbook to school and for some reason you will get called a nerd :(

What should i get and the ipad and netbooks have alot of features but i dont know all of them
maby for u guys its not cool but for me it is

Answer
Netbooks are totally worthless even if you get free. These are so choppy and sluggish that you cant work on it for long hours.

You gave some positives of iPad and then negatives but those negatives don't exist :

No flash: You can run Netflix,Hulu,all the online video from Websites like Disney,ESPN,CBS,ABC,FOX NEWS,WHITEHOUSE.GOV and all others.

How is not having flash a drawback?

No external Drive: Cloud storage is future so it's right time to get into habit of using it and iPad is perfect for that. It has apps like Dropbox,Box.net that integrates with other apps so, all the email attachment,songs,videos can be save to these apps with one tap.And you won't be using any on device space. If you are going out of wi fi range,just bring selected item to device,after use send them back to cloud.On computer it's complicated , but on iPad it's as easy as playing iPod.

No USB SD CARD SLOT: Camera connection kit is available just for $29. Get it and connect any camera AND SD CARD directly to iPad. You can connect many other peripherals like USB HUB ,USB KEYBOARD.

NETBOOKS:Performance doesn't depend on the capacity only , it depends on ratio of load and capacity. iPad has less powerful processor but it's doesn't have load. It has iOS4 OS which is light but very functional. .Net books are actually nothing but cheap laptops they do not fall under new category because besides being cheap and sluggish they have nothing different from laptop. That's the reason Netbooms failed miserably.

1million of ipads are selling every 27 days just in US which is incredible.

PC games sucks on Netbooks. I own Toshiba Satellite Netbook and iPad both so I am in position to give hands on experience.It's just not possible to work on Netbooks.

Go to Bestbuy, play a movie via NETFLIX ON Netbook and iPad side by side, you will stark difference in video quality.iPad will blow any Netbook out of water.

Create a document on Netbook and then do the same thing on iPad and see which one is better and easier. I like iPad to the extent that I advice people if you have powerful Desktop then don't get laptop,get iPad instead.

Netbook is good for even nerds.Nerds will go mostly for Notebooks but research says Harvard university's Internet got clogged on the next day of iPad release. So you can imagine brightest brain are also in love with iPad.

And yes iPad is cool. A tailor in New York made fortune just by creating a big pocket inside of suit to fit iPad.He is not taking any order now because he is booked till end of 2011.

It always happens to premium product like Armani , Apple,American Eagle people who don't use them start criticizing but the actual users are so happy.

Gizmodo website is crying do not buy iPhone 4 it has signal problem, result is 3 million iPhone sold in three weeks which is spectacular and it broke all the records.

I hv a new gateway desktop comp/it has a portable media drive/i don't know how to use it, do i need a disk?

yodi

Answer
When you say you have a "Portable Media Drive" do you mean a CD/DVD Writer/Player, a USB Port, a Firewire Port, or a Card Reader? I will assume you mean the first option because you go on to ask if you need a disk, and by disk I think you mean a CD or DVD.

If it is a CD/DVD drive, then yes you would need a CD or DVD disk, and whether or not you can use one of these, or both depends on the type of drive it is. Some are only CD drives which allow playing, ripping (copying from disk to computer hard disk) or burning, (copying from computer hard disk to CD disk inserted into drive), or DVD drives which allow playing, ripping and/or burning. Now, some drives allow only writing, while some allow only playing, or reading.

I don't want to confuse you. I recommend you access your User Manual for your machine and then find the pages for your drive. You can also look at the front of the drive and read what it says there. It will have something like:

CD+/-R+/-RW DVD+/-R+/-RW

The R stands for Readable
The RW stands for Readable/Writable

It might say something like:

DVD+/-Writer / CD Writer

In the second example the drive seems to allow only Writing to the disk, but in reality when the drive lists a Writer, it is also a Reader.

A few years ago two or more such drives were necessary because of limited purposes. For example, one would be a Reader, one a Writer, and one could be for DVD ROM disks, which usually contain applications or games. These days CD/DVD drives usually combine all of these into one drive. This is much more convenient, but you won't know for sure until you look it up in the manual.

You see why I suggest you read your manual? Then, in addition to all this confusion, you need to know what type of disk your drive can use, and what is the correct disk type for different purposes. Lets say you want to rip (copy songs from a CD onto your hard disk) songs from a few CD disks, then burn a custom play list to a blank disk you format in order to play in your car CD player. Well, in order to accomplish this you could pop any disk in and burn the files to the disk, but if the disk is not the correct type it won't play in your car CD player. So, you need to know what types of blank CD disks will play after burning. Here is a list of disk format types which will help you choose the best one for your needs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_formats

You may want to store the link as a Favorite, or copy and paste into a Word program and store it as a file for ease of access as you require it. Good luck and I hope you have a lot of fun learning how to use your drive.

Kamis, 19 Juni 2014

CAN I BACK UP MY PC FILES WITH MAC PORTABLE HARD DRIVE?

Paul

I have windows 7 now,but I plan to own a Mac soon. Would a Mac hard drive back up windows files too?

Answer
The answer to this is complicated, but I found a good article here: http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/01/formatting-an-external-hard-drive/

You should read it carefully (maybe twice) to learn about disk formats, it is a very good thing to know about. Learning to format your hard drives properly is a great idea. Also, partitioning your drive into 2 sections with different formats works if you don't need to access files across Operating Systems. You can use Google to learn how to partition a drive on your Operating System fairly easily. I usually just use Dropbox to send files from my Mac to my PC or vice versa.

looking for a portable hard drive that works seamlessly between mac/pc. I work on both.?

trouble

Answer
Pretty much any USB portable hard drive that is Plug-and-Play Compliant will work on both Macs and PCs, providing you use a file system that works on both. NTFS is the standard for PCs, but Macs can only read files in that file system, not write them. A file system that will work with both Macs and PCs is FAT32. You can format your hard drive to FAT32 using Windows, just google it. A recommended hard drive for you is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116161

Rabu, 18 Juni 2014

can I install windows server 2012 on an external hard drive?

Thijs

Hello, I have an 250GB external hard drive and I was wondering if I could install windows sever 212 on it without making any changes to my windows 7 computer, and how do I do that?cI want the drive to contain the operating system and have it be a standalone from my computer, is that possible?

thanks! Thijs

Answer
Short answer: No, you can not.

Explanation: Software installed in a windows environment adds information to the registry, additional information to tie everything together. The registry is part of the OS on your C: drive. As long as the ext. h.d. is attached to your own computer, it will find the necessary registry information; but the moment you connect it to a different computer, the registry information will not be there, and the program (server 2012, in this particular instance) will fail.

Sorry! :-(

Good method or software to mirror an external hard drive?

Rich

I have consolidated a bunch of external hard drives, deleted garbage, etc. I am very organized, and managed to get all the photos on one drive with a lot of room left. I have an identical empty drive. I would like a method to copy the drive with photos to empty drive (mirror) then store the copy in my safe deposit box. I would bring it back every couple of months to update and add new photos. I want a system that will automatically recognize and add only new stuff, so it is easy. What is the best method or software to do this? I use windows and mac, but drives are NTFS, my Macs read/Write NTFS and my PCs read write Mac drives, so it is not an issue where I do it (but I would prefer mac, as that is my mainstay) if pc is best solution, I'll just move the drive when I update.

All photos are stored in date description folders starting with year, and may have sub folders for RAW and JPEG. I also use lightroom, so I am going to clear lightroom library and sync to new consolidated drive. An Example folder might be "2012-02-21 Family Dinner" and that folder may have just JPEGS or 2 sub folders for Jpegs and RAW. This ensures true chronological order.

Any Suggestions? I just don't want to do it manually as I am afraid I will miss somehing, or spent time overwriting data.

Answer
I do something similar,

On the drive i permanently connected, i have 1 folder in the root of the drive and all my other folders and files in that.

on my backup drive i make a folder with the date as name and when i connect my backup drive i just drag the 1 folder (containing everything) from my permanent drive to the folder i made with the days date on it on my backup drive.

This way i have a few full copies of my permanent drive, and just delete the older ones after a few months.

I am by no means saying this is the "correct" way of doing it, but this way a dont need any 3rd party software and i can backup to any backup drive by just drag and dropping 1 folder.

external hard drives.....rpm speed vs bus speed?

bastian915

wanting to get an external hard drive for my laptop....looking at different manufactures and wondering if at a fairly good bus speed like in the Firewire 400 connection if there really would be much difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm. I'm just wondering because the portable bus powered hard drives seem to come with 5400rpm and the desktop versions can go a bit faster.
Hey wizard of OZ thanks for the post....wondering if it would then be worthwhile (since the laptop only has firewire 400) to get a firewire 800 express card for the faster bus speed.

Answer
To start with the drives in external hard drives are the same as you have in a desktop. The difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm is that the faster you turn the disk platters the faster you get to the data and reduce something called rotational delay which can be most the the time to retrieve data from a drive or write to it. The reason the bus powered drives are slower is that the slower drives take less power. Any external drive is going to be slower than an internal drive because even Firewire is not as fast as an internal bus connnection.
Bottom line it probably does not matter which you get because you should only be using an external drive for backup or moving data via sneaker net. I would suggest that the faster bus is your best bet though.

External Hard drive help?

Elizabeth

I need to purchase an external hard drive and am lost at where to start..
I'll be using it for my photography...at the moment I'm in college so I would say I don't need a professional level of space but something that has a large amount.
thanks! :)
Also please be specific and detailed. I'd love to learn about what Im buying...

Answer
It's hard to recommend a specific model, but one key choice is:
Desktop or portable?

A Desktop drive has a power supply (only ever seen them with external plugtop ones) and is typically cheaper for a particular capacity.

A portable drive has no power supply, and generally requires two USB ports to provide power, both ports must be capable of supplying full USB power, so an unpowered hub is no use, the ports must be on a powered hub or direct from the PC.

For higher performance, if using with a system that has an ESATA port, some drives alos support the faster ESATA connection, as well as the common USB.
USB 2.0 is quite fast, but USB 3.0 is beginning to appear... it should operate at faster transfer speeds (as fast as internal drives or ESATA) where a USB 3.0 drive is connected to USB 3.0, and at USB2 speeds when only one side is USB3.

Other than some very low capacity ones (I've seen 80GB), 320GB is about the lowest capacity commonly seen, and if you had a 16GB memory card in your camera, that would be enough to dump a full card 20 times.

Capacities up to 2TB (2000GB) or even 3TB can be found.
For desktop drives, the "sweet spot" of price vs capacity is usually the 1TB or 2TB models, anything smaller doesn't save that much on the price. Portable drives seen be more around the 500GB mark

Alternatively, you can get a 64GB Flash drive for $54.25 (cheapest one at newegg) - while nothing like the capacity of a hard drive, drop a hard drive and it's probably dead, drop a flash drive and it'll probably still work, much better as a carry around.

What is the best portable 1TB hard drive?

tinker

I need a 1TB hard drive just to back up my files (mainly movies and TV shows). I was looking into the Clickfree C6 portable hard drive but the reviews weren't great. Which hard drive have you used in the past or recently that you think is the best? Thanks!

Answer
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045JLPMO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=acomprar-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0045JLPMO

Honestly to make this easy, here are some steps you can follow, since I believe this to be the better of the 3 mainstream external 2.5" drives (Toshiba, Western Digital, and Seagate).

1. Why bother with the software in the first place?? just reformat the drive, or delete the software. Sure it is a bit annoying having 40 gigabytes taking up space right out the box, but is that really the only main source of concerns for this drive?

2. Now for the USB cord. out of the multitude of variations of 1tb usb 3.0 drives I have run and tested, every manufactuer has just about the same length of cord. If you want a longer cord, and or are wondering how you are going to power this drive other than with the supplied USB, then why are you buying this particular external HDD? this model is not for you if you are NOT an on the go type of person. what I mean by that is, if you do not lug your external drive around, why dont you go buy a powered 3.5" external HDD model for the same price as you would this one and have twice the space?

3. As far as the construction of the drive goes it is solid. I have tested the Toshiba 1TB 3.0 as well as the Western Digital 1TB 3.0, and my opinion is that Toshiba and Western Digital were too concerned about how slim and compact they could make the case of their external HDD, which has resulted in may more failures of those particular brands than I have seen from Seagate. Small shocks, such as light drops and accedental shock is a killer for the Western Digital as well as the Toshiba more than the Seagate models I have seen. Yes I know that there are about 3 or more warning labels stating the these drives should never be hit, moved, droped, abused, etc... but If it WERE to happen I have noticed that the Seagate construction has had a better chance from failing due to these certain cercumstances than the other brands I have tested and seen.

4. If there is any con's about this drive I will say that I am not a fan of the two piece adapter. they should have included their USB 3.0 "Upgrade" cable with this drive and not the two piece unit that is currently supplied with it, as the upgrade cable is also a few inches longer and one solid piece. The two pieces I am referring to are the adapter that plugs into the drive itself and the USB 3.0 cable that goes from that adapter to your USB device.

5. Im not here to bag on any one company, and or promote Seagate as the best of the best when it somes to drives in general. I am just stating overall that if you are looking for a 1TB 3.0 USB 2.5" drive, then this is what you are looking for. I just thought I would post this up as I keep seeing negative reviews on this drive just because of a bloatware issue not a material type defect. hope this helps! If not im sorry for wasting you time.

what is the best value on a 1TB portable hard drive?

max

I was considering a oyen mini portable hard drive. is oyen a good company?

Answer
Oyen is an awesome drive. I have two and I am super impressed with them. They fit in your shirt pocket or purse: it is super quiet and very fast;doesn't heat up much at all in use. I use my personal one for photography, and I know I will never fill them up; they can be partitioned very easily; come with FREE online backup service when your away from your physical HD back up; they are about the size of an iPod,and work off of only one wire on your USB drive. No extra cords to mess with, and very easy and simple software for use. You can read my review of the Oyen 1TB Mini Portable hard drive here http://jimehle.com I give this drive 5 starts out of 5. You can use it for any backup that you may need. Infact I use it for my business computer system...I have four machines that I back up... and find it reliable and easy for my back room gals to use. The best buy and product on the market for the dollar spent.

Selasa, 17 Juni 2014

Xbox 360 bf4 hard drive required?

zack

So I bought a used copy of battlefield 4 on the 360 yesterday at gamestop. When I got home,that night I tried to do the 2GB install into a flash drive and it wouldn't let me,it has to be a hard drive. So is there any way possible to install it onto a flash drive or the 4Gb memory? And I found this old HP Simplesave portable hard drive that connects via USB,will this work?

Answer
It has to be an actual internal hard drive. USB drives will not work.

Can you use a regular portable computer hard drive for the Xbox 360?

UVI

Answer
well in theory yes because thats all the hdd is for the 360 but no because you have to have the adapter part for it to connect to the 360 and you have to have the software already on the harddrive or it wont work with the 360 its better to just suck it up and buy a hdd

I just recently bought a Portable Hard Drive?

LIL ONE

i bought a Western Digital MyPassport Hard Drive (500GB USB 2.0-3.0)

any Opinions if this is reliable or not?
I am not going to have it connected all the time, it is storage for all my Personal Files. I plan to connect it about every 2 months just to transfer new files into it, but thats about it.

What do you think? Can I rely on it for a long time?

Answer
Ya you can rely on it. Portable hard drives were ment to hold lots of things for longer periods of times(greater than your computer will probably last).

Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 External Hard drive?

frankless2

I currently have a usb 2.0 mac only. but will be upgrading soon too a RMBP. So I was woondering if anyone is aware of any external hard drives that support Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 and 2.0??? Preferable if it was greater than 500gbs and not too expensive.

Thanks

Answer
I only know of two Seagate does some great hard drives that can be easily converted to USB 2/3 and Thunderbolt through their GoFlex Technology and Lacie makes some really nice Thunderbolt and USB 3 HDDs.

Seagate GoFlex:
http://www.seagate.com/au/en/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/performance/goflex-pro/

Lacie
http://www.lacie.com/au/products/range.htm?id=10036

How do I go about transferring data from my Vaio to my MacBook Air using a Seagate Backup Plus hard drive?

bentonx5

As in putting the data on the hard drive and than accessing it on my MBA. What wires would I need?

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STBU1000100/dp/B00829THO6/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1356384905&sr=1-3&keywords=thunderbolt+hardrive

Answer
Very easy. Connect the drive to a usb port on your computer and copy paste all your important files from your computer to the external hard drive. If I go in more detail then you will have to open or explore your external hard drive and once the target window is open, go to your files or folder on the source drive and copy all your content by selecting it. Then go to your target drive and paste it. These are really basic instructions. You can google step by step instructions for more help.
Thanks.

Best portable external hard drive 1Tb?

Madie

Does anyone know which is best portable external hard drive {1Tb} ? Any personal experience appreciated

Answer
I would say go with the Thunderbolt hard drive. Its great

External Hard Drive: Portable vs Non Portable?

Chota.Don

Hey everyone,
I am planning to buy a new external harddrive for everyday use like movies, music,pictures etc. I will be connecting it to my xbox mostly to watch movies. Now i had Western Digital Elements 1TB and it only lasted for a year. There are two types that am confused between the portable ones (which are smaller in size) and regular big ones. If you guys could tell me if there is any other difference than the obvious size difference? I know portable cost just a bit more. But is there any speed difference. Also does big ones last longer than portables? Also which one you guys recommend? I was looking to buy for under $150. Size 500 GB - 1 TB.
Thanks
@I M Here is what i mean by Portable: http://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-WDBACX0010BBK-NESN/dp/B0041OSQ9S/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1304901244&sr=1-6

Non Portable: http://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digital-Essential-External-WDBACW0010HBK-NESN/dp/B0041OSQB6/ref=sr_1_51?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1304903779&sr=1-51

See Portables are smallers and little pricey than NON portables

Answer
Non-portable is better.

The portables draw power via USB and can run into problems if too many devices are plugged in (unless you're using a USB hub with its own AC adapter). Portables are also physically smaller and slower spinning.

But personally I don't recommend external non-portables either. The BEST solution is to buy a regular internal hard drive and a USB housing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042

The USB interface on external drives often fails long before the drive itself does. Sometimes it's due to drops or hard bumps- incidents which seem to increase in frequency as drives get smaller. The simple fact is that devices which fit easily into a backpack, shirt pocket or purse are tossed around more casually and suffer more bumps and bruises than devices which are less convenient.

Sometimes a fall simply dislodges a connector, other times the interface board gets broken by the impact or fails due to heat or power problems, but the end result is similar. You need to open the case in order to fix the problem.

But many external drives come in sealed casings, making it nearly impossible to remove the drive inside without destroying or damaging the housing. Some have proprietary formatting or aren't recognized when connected to a USB interface other than the original manufacturer's. And too many come pre-loaded with bloatware.

Worst of all, many external drives don't have any form of active cooling which makes them more prone to overheating and early failure when used for extended periods of time.

With a regular internal drive and fan-cooled generic case, you can quickly recover from a failure of either the enclosure/interface or the drive. Replacing either is easy.

What is the best brand of portable external usb hard drives?

baseball

Im looking for a portable external usb hard drive to hold movies.

Answer
I would avoid Iomega like the plague. I have a 500gb that was full that died about two weeks after I bought it.

Have had pretty good luck with the Fantom drives. Still, on one of my Fantom drives, there is a "sector" that is inaccessible. The rest of the drive works and I can store data. None of my drives are old. Nevertheless, I have learned the hard way that external drives fail pretty regularly. In my experience, they have been far more unstable than internal drives.

I would recommend using Norton Ghost, True Image or a similar program to keep regular back ups of any external drives. Never paid much attention to backing anything up before, but I learned the hard way and have lost a lot of files, music, and video. My two cents ...

Seagate Free Agent GoFlex 1.5 TB ultra portable hard drive?

bill y

This drive was advertised as being Mac and PC compatible, but the instructions on how to use it are very limited. I want to use it to encrypt and store files from either a Mac or a PC that I can later decrypt and open on either a Mac or a PC. I do not want to use if for automatic file back-up.

Please tell me in detail how I can do this.
Thanks

Answer
truecrypt could work
http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads
idk if its the best but it have support for both windows 7 and os x
i never encrypted a whole drive befor but this is how i used it
i start truecrypt and make a new crypted file (this work as a containter, think of a chest with a lock on it) which you set a password on.
then you use truecrypt to mount the file and type in the password, wrong password and it wont let you on it.
im unsure if you can crypt a whole drive with a simple setting or if you simply have to make a file big enough for the whole drive (well you can make several if you dont want it all crypted)
windows 7 have its own encryption but idk how it works with osx.

you can also read the beginners tutorial here http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

Seagate GoFlex for Mac Hard Drive?

GoodMan

Is there any difference between the plain Seagete GoFlex for both pc and mac and the Seagate GoFlex for Mac Hard Drive? I know that the latter one has silver color and the former one has black color (with several other color options), and also the latter one is pre-formatted in HFS+ for mac, but is there any other difference? Because those two hard drives differ a lot in the prices and the GoFlex for Mac is much more expensive (for 1TB, Mac version is about $150, while non-Mac version is about $100). If those two are the only differences, then I have no reason to buy the mac version one, since I can just choose the silver one for the non-mac version and format it to HFS+ on my macbook.

Also, is Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Cables only available in black color? No silver?

Thanks ahead.
Any hint would be appreciated :)
SilverTonguedDevil // It seems like many hard drive companies make a separate models for mac but usually the only difference is the format (so it is ready-to-go without having to reformat the drive) and maybe the included software. For the Seagate GoFlex, it allows you to switch the connection type as you want, which is why I'm considering this model since I want a thunderbolt supported hard drive but there isn't any yet, while I need a new hard drive immediately (so I can use GoFlex with firewire for now and then get the thunderbolt add-on from seagate when it comes out).
Oh, also, I'm looking at the GoFlex Ultra-portable ones..

Answer
I think the name is more than just "Seagate GoFlex". Can you read anything else on the case, such as "Desk", "Ultra-portable", "Pro Ultra-portable", or "Slim"????? Knowing exactly what you are looking at would help a lot.

At the Seagate site (link below), it shows "System Requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later operating system" all for the same drive. It also says "Do you use both a PC and Mac? Then you're in luck because GoFlex ultra-portable and GoFlex Desk drives all work interchangeably with any PC or Mac computer." Also, those two have FW 800 that makes for utra-fast file transfer with all Macs except the MacBook Air and recent MacBook white. They also have eSATA for use with Mac Pro and some modern PCs.

There can be differences in case design and in bundled software, but inside there is a HDD, and all HDDs are identical; there is NEVER any PC or Mac type at all, no matter what brand.

The "GoFlex" name seems to be connected with ethernet / Wi-Fi connection ("NAS") drive cases. Those always need a reduced OS to be installed (not Windows, not OS X, a NAS OS). The drive case is really a tiny computer. I am not aware that any of these come with different case types for different computers. You should be able to connect to the drive case from any Windows or OS X system, but the installer may be designed for Windows or OS X, thus you buy the drive that includes the suitable install software. Seagate does not provide a direct link to download the GoFlex software, so DO NOT LOSE THE CD that comes with the drive case. They will send email with a non-public link to the software if you lose the CD.

EDIT: Finally found a FAQ page about the GoFlex for Mac... unfortunately, it is packed with rhetoric, and lacking substance. The only significant detail mentioned is that the software includes an HFS+ driver for Windows in case you want to share the drive with a Windows system. It seems they took this approach as their one "all systems" approach rather than including an NTFS driver for use with OS X (OS X can read NTFS, but needs a different driver such as NTFS-3G to both read and write to NTFS).

Portable Hard Drives?

Lan Hikari

Did anyone notice that portable hard drive prices increase by about 50% this year? I bought a WD 1TB MyPassport last year from Best Buy for $99. I was just shopping for another one today and the cheapest I could find it was for $149. Anyone know why?

Answer
Nearly half of the world's hard drives are manufactured in Thailand. Due to months of flooding and natural disaster hard drive manufacturing has been disrupted. Less supply means demand goes up and so do prices.

$149 is still a lot of money though. You could definitely find something at about the $99 dollar range if you were to wait for a sale or something.

Reliable portable hard drives?

bdankul

i find it ridiculous that you need to back up your back ups. So, pleasee, can anyone give me some more information about reliable portable hard drives? I just need one so that i could, once a year, store my bulk of photos and maybe music. Thank you!

Answer
I use a Toshiba portable hard drive. its small, it fits in my laptop case, and it has a shock absorber built in( when i say shock absorber, it may be able to withstand a drop from about 2-3 feet, not off the top of a building or something). Toshiba and western digital are both really good brands, I would go with either one, Toshiba just happened to be the one on sale when I bought mine. I'm also going to say to back up a MINIMUM of once a month. NOT once a year.

Senin, 16 Juni 2014

Can I use a portable hard drive?

portiarayl

The hard drive in my computer doesn't work, so I have to buy another. Can I just buy an external one or do I need an internal one?

Answer
Since your internal drive is connected using a SATA connection and an external is connected via USB an internal hard drive works faster so it's recommended that you get an internal hard drive to install your operating system and other applications on. External drives are usually for file storage. Also your BIOS will most probably have a problem booting from your external drive as it looks for an internal drive to boot your operating system from and it's your operating system that allows you to connect your external hard drive using the USB drivers.

So no, it's very unlikely that you'll be able to get by with an external HD alone.

what is the best portable hard drive to buy to backup all my software ?

blondguy04

I,m want to know what is the best portable hard-drive needed to backup my software and what the difference in portable hard-drives?

Answer
If you have High-speed internet then i would recommend using the Cloud

Reasons:
* Portable Hard-drives have a high failure rate ( Hard drive error, you drop it, magnets, water/weather)
* High Startup cost ($99+ for a cheap one) and warranty is usually limited
* You have to carry several pounds around
* Need to have more power to use it
* Easy for someone to steal your drive
* You don't have the drive with you then you can't get to your data

Reasons for Cloud:
* Secure and Encrypted
* Comes with backup software that you can schedule and will back it up
* Easy access from any computer in the world to your data
* Data can't be lost/destroyed
* Low monthly/yearly fees for data, as storage gets cheaper prices will fall.

I use the following: http://www.ignite360.com/secure/store click on "Ignite Backup" you can click on "More info" to see PDF explaining it with screenshots

What type of portable external hard drive should I use for my laptop?

History Fi

I am looking for a Portable External Hard Drive for my HP laptop. I need one that has at least 2tb of memory and is fast but affordable (preferably under $150) I'm looking for a good reliable brand too. I just don't know where to start. If it helps any I have Windows 7.

Answer
You can get a 3 TB Western Digital hard drive from Amazon for under $150.00
I have a 2.5 and a 3.0 TB for my two laptops from Western Digital and they have worked flawlessly. One of my laptops is Windows 7 and one is Windows 8. I don't work for Amazon (retired postal service) but I really like Amazon for deals. Check them out and do some searching. I think you will find what you need.

My 1TB Seagate External Portable Hard Drive is not showing up in my Windows 8 computer?

Kevin

So what I did first was to check the diskmgmt.msc but found out that there's a disk with the file system called "RAW", 931GB total storage and 931GB available storage which didn't help me at all. After that, I checked the device management which showed something called "WPD FileSystem Volume Driver" under the "Portable Devices" menu and I'm sure that that thing is my Portable Hard Drive since it disappears as soon as I unplug it and appears again as soon as I plug it back in. But no matter what I do, it still doesn't show up, even after I reboot my computer... It's been working fine until today and I've never formatted it before. Please help!!!! There are lots of important data in there.

Answer
Hello, Microsoft answer desk is free and a great source of accurate information. And has helped a lot of computer users...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/245772/microsofts_answer_desk_offers_live_free_and_fee_tech_support.html Speak to Microsoft Certified Technicians Call 1-866-610-3132 Toll Free
microsoft-support.fixnow.us Here is the
old stand by http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/#tab0 This site is very good,
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/category/hardware-test-utilities/
Good Luck...

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