Why An External Drive?
So much of our life is now stored as digital files. Gone are the days
of hoarding piles of photos in a box under the bed, or stacking your CD
collection until it touches the roof. Today, our computers are
jam-packed with personal files, financial documents, music, videos and
personal photos.
There's no doubt that this saves space. But it also means you could
potentially lose everything through a corrupted hard drive, a computer
virus, or even a stolen laptop. It makes sense to create a back-up copy
of your files and store them somewhere other than your computer, like a
flash drive or, better still, an external hard drive.
External hard drives, like your computer's hard drive, are data
storage devices. The key difference is that an external drive is mounted
in a separate enclosed box and can be connected to your computer to
transfer files. They are highly portable, and in most cases, weigh under
a kilogram.
Lots Of Space
Over the last few years, hard drive memory space has expanded
enormously. A couple of years ago 500GB was considered to be the big
daddy. Today, two terabyte (2000GB) drives are not only commonplace,
they are extremely affordable, starting at approximately $300.
How much storage space you want is entirely up to you. It's important
to bear in mind that while a terabyte (TB) will provide a massive
amount of storage space, smaller drives are more portable.
As a rule of thumb, 1TB of hard drive space will store roughly:
- 440 hours of DVD
- 250, 000 MP3s
- 285, 000 JPGs
How Big A Hard Drive Do I Need?
Take into consideration what you're planning to use the hard drive
for. If you want to carry it with you every day, then you should
consider a portable drive. Portable drives will give you less storage
room, but are light and small enough to fit into a handbag.
Transferring Your Data
Keep in mind which type of ports (connections) your computer uses to ensure you can transfer files back and forth.
- USB 2.0: The most common port found on almost all
computers today. If you're looking to share your drive with friends and
family, USB 2.0 is a smart choice.
- Firewire: Not all PC users have Firewire ports as
standard features; Mac users will. Firewire offers faster transfers than
USB, so it's suited to larger files.
- eSATA: The fastest transfer speed — around 3GB per
second. Most computers don't have the required port, so you'll need to
customise your computer.
Match Your Lifestyle
Family: Add extra storage space to the family computer, or make a back-up copy of your photos, home movies and music.
- Storage: 1TB.
- Connection: Having USB 2.0 will ensure you can share files with family and friends.
Students: Take the external drive to and from class to transfer large documents and provide additional storage for a netbook or laptop.
- Size: Look for a portable device small enough to fit in a handbag.
- Port: If your computer has a Firewire port, then this will allow faster transfer of larger files.
Business: Back up your work daily, take work home with you, and add extra storage to your work laptop for large files.
- Storage: 1TB.
- Port: Dual connections of either Firewire and
eSATA, or USB 2.0 and eSATA will ensure compatibility with a range of
computers, plus ultra-fast transfers.
Simple External Hard Drive Choices
Storage space: Try to get as much space as you can afford – a terabyte (TB) is less than $150.
Connecting: Choosing USB 2.0 ensures you'll connect with almost all devices; Firewire is faster.
Size: If you're looking to carry around a lot, make sure it's small and light.
