hazelnut Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 There is a possibility that in the near future I will get an external hardrive. The sort of thing I'm wanting is a easy install (plug and play?) thing. Around 80gig or more depending on cost. Any advice on features to look out for would be most welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1984 Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 I have two of them Hazelnut, and they are great. USB 2.0 connection external. I opted for 250 gb so as to have a lot of room to grow (one is full already). i have western digital 8mb, 7200 rpm. there is better and faster, but dollar for dollar this is good for me. its fast enough and they have both been reliable. some people i know bought the external cases that contain fans. neither of mine do, and they are not even warm to the touch, so i dont worry about heat. these things are great. i have all my info on my externals and its great so that when fooling around with something, i just detatch the external so if i get a virus or crash something, i dont lose important (to me) stuff. mine cost about 250 dollars each including tax and the case. but thats in Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 This should give you a good idea about what's available. Newegg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelnut Posted December 26, 2005 Author Share Posted December 26, 2005 A couple of questions, 1. Do I leave it plugged in or use it like a usb stick and use when I need to put something on it. 2. How do I scan it for viruses? Does my e-trust etc. automatically scan it when its plugged in? Thank you :cuddle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Proof Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 i use etrust and ewido to scan my thumb drives especialy after i let the monkeys at work borrow one of them. i dont think there would be a difference between a external hd and a thumb drive as far as scans go, but of course you should wait for a real answer from the experts of lunarsoft :cuddle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1984 Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 i scan them just like my regular hard drive. i usually scan a file prior to putting them in the external, so i feel confident they are clean. Both of mine are always plugged into the computer via usb 2.0. one of them does not have an on/off switch, so is continuously running, the other has a switch and i turn it off when not in use. neither gets hot so i am not worried. i have read both sides of the argument whether or not to turn off or leave on, and i think the jury is still out. i figure that when one of them dies, i will know what i should (or should have been) do. :cuddle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelnut Posted December 27, 2005 Author Share Posted December 27, 2005 I have got an external hardrive in the sales. It a Philips 160gb. The manual is written with English as the second language, and some of the instructions seem to be in the wrong order. I have a couple of questions I would love some help with. 1. It says Quick Format, do I have to do this when I want to clear stuff all off the new hardrive at some time in the future? 2.It then says at the end of the maual HOW TO FORMAT THIS DISC.... start/settings/control panel/admin tools/comp management/disk management/right click unallocated/choose new partition/next/accept primary partition/accept size given/accept drive letter/choose NTFS file system and give name under volume label(?)/finish. Is this correct, and do I have to do this before I put anything on the hardrive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1984 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 Not sure on number 1, but you do have to format the hard drive prior to using it. Mine came with a disk and i just put it in and followed the prompts. My first one i did so long ago, i cant really remember how i did it, but i got the instructions off a forum (i cant remember which one). I do remember it was quite easy once you are shown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 I have got an external hardrive in the sales. It a Philips 160gb. The manual is written with English as the second language, and some of the instructions seem to be in the wrong order. Here's Philips's UK site. Your drive should be on there. You can download a manual that might be better than the one you have now. Philips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelnut Posted December 27, 2005 Author Share Posted December 27, 2005 Thanks for answering gentlemen. The manual is the same as the one I got with the hardrive (Philips SPD5100CC) I just can't work out wether to follow instuctions for the quick format, or the other instructions for the format! The quick format seems to be, well, just press format, whereas the format involves words like partition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1984 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 partitioning is separating your drive into separate components which you can access separately. I partitioned my second one, and name one "Movies", and the second one "Games". I then have a short cut to each on my desktop for easy access to the applicable application. I dont know if that helps. :cuddle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazelnut Posted December 28, 2005 Author Share Posted December 28, 2005 At last I have my external hard drive up and running. The main problem was the manual was translated ( sort of ) from Japanese. I eventually spoke to Philips tech support who were really good, apologised for the manual, and sorted things out. There was a problem as I didn't know then ( I do now! ) that the file system for xp is NTFS and not FAT32. It's amazing how much tearing your hair out steepens your learning curve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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