external hardrive question

[saviornot]

Hi everyone, this is my first visit to this site and it looks awsome. I just had a quick question. My current hard drive is almost out of space. Is it possible to use an external hardrive through my usb 2.0 slot? Will I have to end up installing an OS on it or can i just plug it in. I want to store games/movies/music on it. Thanks for any help you guys/gals can offer me! Oh and if i'm not explaining clearly or you need more info let me know!

 

[mark thorpe]

you can plug it into the USB port, just like a USB pen, though they normally require a power supply too, ive got an 80GB one for my laptop, as ive virtually filled it up. i stort most of my files on the external, though it can be annoying having to plug it into a power source every time i need to use it, if you are using a PC, then you wont have that problem. you can just save files to it, just like you would do with the USB pen drives.

what kind of size are you looking for?

 

[saviornot]

I've got a desktop pc so the power thing won't be a prob. As far as the size, I've got a membership to Sam's Club. They have a crap load of Western Digital 250 gig 7200rpm external hard drives the transfer rate is 100 megs per sec. Right now they are priced at $133. Is this a good deal? Oh and thanks very much for that quick reply!

oh and one more thing, I don't have to install an OS right? It will work right out of the box?

 

[mark thorpe]

i didnt have to install an OS on my one, no.

thats a really good price, i paid £80 for my 80GB one, but its also pretty small, so thats probably where the expense came in.. that sounds like a good deal to me . no probs with the quick reply.. (and thanks for saying thanks!)

 

[Trivium Nate]

as probally stated aboe by Thorpe you plug it into usb and turn on the drive and then if it is windows xp it will auto read the drivers and install them then you go into my computer and it will show up as an external drive

 

[saviornot]

Awsome! Thanks very much too both of you guys. This is just the info I needed! I think i'll be getting that drive hopelfully! Reps for both of you!

 

[Trivium Nate]

Thanks you (I rem when I went to the store looking for a 30 dollar 1gb thumb drive but went home with an external 250gb hardrive ) I know that doesnt have any thing really to do with this topic but o well

 

[Trivium Nate]

I forgot to say​

Welcome​

 

[saviornot]

Thanks for the welcome Nate! Just an update for you guys. I got my 250gig at the price of $133 today. I got it unrapped and running as soon as I got home and sure enough it works great!! My comp. took a few seconds to recognize the new usb device and that was it.

Its already down to 160gigs because I'm transfering all of my movies and stuff over to free up my main hard drive. Its transferring about 1 gig a minute-which is due to my hard drive speed, not the usb 2.0 connection I think. The package said it could do like 1/2 a gig a second. The only thing that I'm just a little upset about is that only 232 gigs are useable. The rest is reserved for something I'm sure.

Overall I'm very happy with my new external hard drive and if anyone is thinking of doing the same don't hesitate to get one!! Just make sure you shop around for the best prices first!

peace!

 

[abowlofrice]

very simple to, MOST xternal harddrive are usb 2.0, so just plug it in ur computer and if u computer has windows xp it will recognize the drive like any other usb device =)