Right!The time has come..
 

I'm constantly deleting or backing up stuff because I just don't have enough space on my 40GB HD and with all the P2P gear my son keeps installing I'm regularly down to less than 1GB of space despite all my housekeeping.So I need more space and I'm thinking of getting an external HD.

Are they easy to use.Do they just work like the flash memory sticks or is there more to it than that?

I did find this one which I think I can just about afford..

https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...html?FRE-23237

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I'd expect they would work in very much the same way, as a removeable drive.

Why don't you install a 2nd internal HDD?? cheaper and I think it is also faster.


Edit:

This site tells you how to install the 2nd hdd, a bit dated but still functional.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Hmm!Perhaps because I don't have the capability to do it myself and I'd rather just have summat I can transfer to another PC further down the line. :shrug:

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

They do work in much the same way as flash drives (the only difference being that you may need an external power supply).

USB2 (and Firewire) external hard drives are not noticably slower than internal hard drives, and have the advantage that (if need be) they can be attached to other PCs (and Macs).

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

40GB :Yikes: I have 1GB free on my little 5GB drive. Have you tried tidying it up? Removing all those old programs. Emptying the temp folders.

Start... Run... cmd
del *.tmp /s
del *.dmp /s

Like Stuart says - you just connect the external drive and hey presto. Just remember to use Windows to disconnect it first, otherwise you can lose and/or corrupt data. And you can transfer an internal drive to another PC - just a bit involved than moving an external drive.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

But unplugging & moving a USB drive is easier than unplugging and moving an internal drive.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Exactly what I said - "just a bit involved than moving an external drive" :)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I do know how to do that.But with programmes like Photoshop,Daz studio,Bryce 5 and 5.5,Poser 6,Terregan and the plug-ins for these...even with a format of the HD I'd be back to this stage in a very short time.I need more space...especially as this is the only PC connected to the BB and someone keeps stashing their pron and P2P crap plus steam and other games related stuff on my HD. :rolleyes:

I'm not even running ANY of my games and I had to remove Paintshop Pro and another two favourite graphics software.I''ve a stack of CD roms full of backed up stuff and I'm still being told that my latest creation can't be saved because I've not got enough memory.. :rolleyes:

Why am I having to defend myself for wanting to buy an External HD? :erm:

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

You shouldn't have to defend yourself. I actually find it better to have too much storage than not enough.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

i have a maxtor onetouch 2 USB2/firewire external jobber. it is 120gb, however i have dismantled it to see what is inside, it is just a normal 7200rpm maxtor diamonmax drive. so they are the same technology as normal hard drives, just with an external power supply and USB connection instead :)

write speeds are as fast as you would expect, though power saving can get irritating... after about 15 mins the drive spins down, and takes abuot 10 seconds to get back up to speed...

i have a laptop so there is no alternative than getting a external one :) though even if you have a normal computer, if you can't be bothered with the hassle of taking things apart, they make life very very easy :)

They work like flash memory, plug them in, power in, plug into USB and let the OS do it's job of detecting it. Mine appears as "Z:\" cos i'm weird like that... it comes up as another hard drive, rather than flash drives do and come up as a removable drive.

hope this helps :)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Thank you dave...I think I'll get it while I have the cash..We'll just have to live on baked beans for a while. ;)

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Incog my tower did not have a space for a 2nd HD internally, so mines in the slave section where a 2nd cd drive would go, it was simple set the jumper on it to slave, screw into place, plug a power lead in ( all labelled in diagrams ) insert the idea lead to the point of motherboard (again labelled but tell us and we could circle it out for you ) once done close pc up, turn on and done.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

You can always fit a hard drive caddy into a spare 5.25" drive bay and fit a new hard drive into this. This has the added advantage of being able to easily remove the drive when you are not using it and keep its contents safe from prying eyes and unwanted interference.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Or instead of all that screwing you can just do what I do, and let the hard drive dangle down at a 45° angle, held up by its IDE port oops: ;)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

That HDD is gonna have a long life then :)

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If you don't touch it, its fine.

I can just never find any screws when I need them. I have pixies who come in at night stealing all my PC screws.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I have one of those too, i've worked out it's my brother tho :erm:

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LOL My slave is in a cdbay unfastened and is very happy.

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*hears a loud bang from Rochdale*

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:rofl:

I know my farts can be bad after a night of dodgy cocktails and curry meals. but mannn :disturbd:;)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Well that's it I'm going for it..I've just got 800mb of space left... :( Can't do anthing unless I delete ALL my son's stuff.

After his crap results I might just do it and then ban him from the internet for the next two years. :disturbd:

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

one nice 300gb external I know someone with one of these and they are good but £180?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Maxtor.html


another one here top one for

£124

300gb again internal, nice cost difference.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/maxtor_ide.html

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

One suggestion from experience.

You'll always run out of space. No matter how big or how many HDs you get, they'll always get filled up. I remember getting a brand new top-of-the-line machine, with a 2 gig drive, and thinking how can I fill that up? But I did. I got a 250gig last time thinking that'll hold me for a little while. And it did for precisely that, a little while.

Instead of getting a new HD which will get filled up soon enough in time, you might want to consider getting an external DVD writer. DVD media is very cheap, you can get 4.7gig disks for 50p, so if your son wants to keep all this songs, videos pr0n or whatever, he can store them on DVD. Songs and video will play fune straight off the DVD, its fast enough. Likewise if you have stuff you don't want to lose, but don't use every day. And you can use it for backing up too. External DVD writers are also very cheap now. Also, you can still easily move data between PCs via DVDs, and now you have dual layer, meaning you can get 9gig on one DVD.

You might want to consider that, as a more long term solution.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

2Gig? Wow that big? My first machine had less than that by a loooooong way ;)
As I see it you have 2 choices Coggy, block P2P software on the machine or do as sugested and get a burner and tell him to remove stuff from the hard drive with a certain time of downloading them as you will delete them from the drive after that time.
If you get a bigger drive you will only give him an excuse to download more stuff onto the drives. Personally I would restrict him to a certain amount of space and tell him if he exceeds it that you will delete his entire P2P collection.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I already delete his pron when I find it... ;)

Anyway I've just purchased a 250 GB external HD.Even he will have trouble filling that in view of the 3GB cap we have.I'm going to have to stop working just when the creative juices are so ripe...But hopefully it should arrive on Tuesday....

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

It's psychological - the more you have of something, the less concerned you are with running out, so the more you use... Applies to everything - especially money.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Oh hell the Protestant work ethic will be trotted out next. :rolleyes:And I still wonder why so many of you seem against me getting an external HD?You lot usually lap up the gadgets. ;)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I'm not against you getting an external hdd.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Bloody hell, I was only suggesting something else which might suit your needs better than what you have already decided on.

I'll keep my trap shut in future then.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Bit late now, but I hope you have a USB 2 port. An HDD, if it works at all, will be a bit slow on an earlier USB port.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I have run a HD on USB1, because I have an IDE-to-USB adaptor, and have used it on a USB1 port. The transfer rate is just under 1 meg/sec. Naff for big files but OK for opening small files one at a time.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

ahhh, but not if they tie up a port ;)

what's the protestant work ethic? :dunce:

oh, i have usb2 ports but my external hss runs quite happily on usb1.1... the write rate is just obviously a tad slower ;)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Oh yes I had to when I HAD to upgrade my CDRW because my old CDRW wouldn't work with XP. :rolleyes:

I now have 8 USB ports.

And yes Stuart and Dave I know you weren't against it..It's just that I'm being made to feel I should be opening up the case and installing a new HD.

I'm a 52 year old biddy fer goodness sake...I just know how to press buttons. :D

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I wasn't against it neither :Peaceman: I was just being cautious. And women are just as capable as men, so there's no reason why a woman of any age shouldn't be able to install a HDD with the help of a man.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Or without! ;)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Et tu Chim? :)

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Well as I have a Time/Tiny pc I expect I'll have to do something with this one eventually! ;) Not because of the disk space (according to the PC is has 90 GB free :rolleyes: ) but it's not been that reliable and it's almost 5 years old. I don't want to go to PC World or anywhere else - I think I might actually have a go at building my own - can't be that difficult, can it? :shrug: ;)
I did have a storage problem when the girls were at home and downloading music from Kazzaa though - I've had a good spring clean since!

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

www.meshcomputers.com

nuff said.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

Now where's the fun in that?
I quite fancy the challenge of building my own - and it would be nice to give my soldering iron another outing! :Yikes:

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

soldering iron?

:erm:

:LOL:

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I use a couple of external drives for work, they're unbelievably simple to install and use, just plug it in, if you're using Windows XP it'll normally install itself, if not just run the setup program from the supplied driver cd/floppy and it should just appear as another drive letter.

Re: Right!The time has come..
 

I went ahead and ordered the one I found.It's about the same price as elsewhere and the firm is a local one so I can go and hammer on their front door if needs be..I just want a quick fast solution to my problem and I reckon this is it. :tu: