Re: large external drive OK?

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"Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OhQYyCGxIHA.5892@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you, Anna! You provided so much information that I've printed it off
and will read through it tonight. One thing you said that I hadn't
realized before (correct me if I'm wrong) is that all that differentiates
an internal hard drive from an external USB drive is the enclosure. If you
remove the drive from the USB enclosure, you can put it into the computer
and run it there. If that's the case, it would make sense that if my
internal drive failed, I could simply take the external drive out of its
case and put it into the computer, hook it up, and be ready to work again.

And if that's indeed true, then I should probably check my innards, as
someone else suggested earlier in this thread. I gather that if my
computer doesn't support 48 Bit LBA, I wouldn't be able to run a drive
larger than 137GB internally. You indicated earlier that you were fairly
sure I would be able to run a large hard drive (presumably inside as well
as externally). Do you think I need to check to make sure?

Thank you again! I'm sure I'll have more questions after I read through
everything you've posted.

Jo-Anne


Jo-Anne:
First of all, with respect to the 48-bit LBA business...

As I believe I previously indicated I'm virtually certain your Dell desktop
PC supports large-drive capability, i.e., drives > 137 GB. So I really don't
think you'll have any problem on that end.

Again, as I previously mentioned we did run into problems with some USB
external enclosures that for one reason or another had problems detecting
very large hard drives that were installed in the enclosure - mainly drives
that were > 300 GB. That problem appears to be a thing of the past at least
as it pertains to USB enclosures produced over the past few years. It surely
won't be a problem should you opt to purchase a "one-piece" commercial USB
HDD device.

Of course, as you indicate there is an advantage of purchasing the
components separately - the USB enclosure and the HDD of your choice. You
are correct that you could easily transfer that HDD containing a cloned copy
of your internal HDD to your system should you want to replace the internal
HDD because the latter became defective or for whatever reason. Under those
circumstances your system would then be bootable & functional.

Theoretically you could do the same with the HDD in the commercial unit,
however, it frequently is difficult if not impossible to remove the HDD from
its enclosure without literally destroying the enclosure. And needless to
say this would invalidate the warranty should it still exist. As to
comparison cost, the commercial units have fallen so dramatically in price
over the past year or so. that the savings once engendered by purchasing
separate components rather than a commercial unit isn't a terribly
significant factor any more in most cases. But, of course, as we've
discussed you do get increased potential flexibility by using separate
components.
Anna


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: large external drive OK?
    ... an internal hard drive from an external USB drive is the enclosure. ... drives that were> 300 GB. ... components separately - the USB enclosure and the HDD of your choice. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Which external portable HDD to get these days?
    ... It can be a name brand bundled one or enclosure + HDD. ... will get new machines eventually). ... Yes, but if you are using USB2 drives, thats the main limit on speed. ... I don't think I will ever need to use the HDD in the PCs, ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: 2.5" Int HDD in External Enclosure via USB
    ... Plugged the enclosure in ... (The existing internal HDD was Drive 0). ... using internal drives in external enclosures. ... Are you really intending to create a "disk image" onto that 160 GB HDD or do ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: USB Hard Drive Not Showing Up
    ... it into an external enclosure to access it once the computer was booted. ... in Computer Management in the list of disk drives. ... Try connecting the drive directly to the host computer as a slave. ... With regard to your USB enclosure, you might also want to check ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: External Hard Drive Recommendations:
    ... please visit www.outletpc.com and www.tigerdirect.com My enclosure is very well made its ADS Tech and has everything from FTP to web server access. ... Windows XP Home formatted my HDD WD 160 Gig drive to 149Gigs NAS Kit formatted it to 157Gigs. ... Some of my drives come from W98se FAT 32 but are still read Ok. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)