Portable External hard Drive Site

The most common method of attaching your portable external hard drive to your laptop or computer is with a USB connection.  Nearly all computers that have been purchased in the past decade have a plethora of USB ports that accept devices to be attached to them.  Much the same way you would attach a travel printer or a wireless laptop mouse, simply plug in your external disk drive to the USB port and wait.  Normally a popup window will come up after a short while that will allow you to decide what you want to do with your external drive.  It will allow you to open up your files and see what is on the drive with Microsoft Windows Explorer, do a simply copy of your files to your external drive and so forth.  If the popup doesn’t come up after a few minutes, don’t fret, you can simply open up your Windows explorer manually and look for the external disk among your drives.  It will normally be around a drive lettered f through j, but it is different on every computer.

The important part of an external drive using a USB port is when you to go remove the drive from the port.  It can be very damaging to the drive to simply unplug it at any time. Sure it may not have any impact the majority of times you do it, but it only takes once and considering it can be devasting in impact (up to as much as rendering your external drive corrupt or ruined) it is worth the half a minute it takes.  Simply go to the bottom right of your screen and look for the “safely remove hardware” icon (looks like an arrow with a disk drive underneath it).  Once you have found that icon click it and follow the on screen pop-ups.  It will ask you to locate the device you want to stop, so look through the options it gives and select the appropriate icon.  If you get a message that you can’t stop the device it is almost always because a program is using the device and it won’t let it stop.  Most often this is Windows Explorer, but it can be another program.  Make sure they are all closed and not trying to contact your external drive.  Once you have stopped the drive it will be safe to unplug and move on with your life.

That is the great part about external USB hard disk drives, they allow for quick backup and easy transfering of files and can be stored far away when not in use.

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A common question asked once you have decided on which portable external hard drive to buy and now have it at home waiting to be filled with your important information is how to transfer files to it.  THere are a few ways that this can be accomplished and it really is personal preference from there.  The three most common ways to transfer files to you external drive are to use Microsoft Windows Explorer, use the external hard drive popup window that comes up when you first plug your device in, and to use a software program that will automatically schedule your backups for you once it is set up.  All of the above require the external drive to be plugged in, so ensure that you have power to your external drive (most require external power via a electrical cord, but some are powered by the USB port) and then you plug the drive into your computer (most often accomplished by a cord running from the portable disk drive to the USB port on your desktop or laptop computer).

Transfer files to an external hard drive using Windows Explorer

The method that I prefer to use is a program called Windows Explorer.

Windows Explorer Showing All Your Drives Including Your Portable External Hard Drive

Simply open up the program from your start menu or similar and look at what is there.  I have included a picture to the right of something similar to what you will see.  As can be seen the Windows Explorer program will show all of your available drives and you can select accordingly.  In general the C: drive represents your internal hard drive and the D: drive almost universally represents your CD or DVD drive that is attached to you computer.  Normally your external drive will pop in as a drive further up the alphabet, maybe a J: or K: drive.  It will be different based on your portable hard drive and your computer.  Once you have located your external hard disk drive all you need to do is search in the other drives for the specific files you want to transfer, select them and then “drag and drop” them on to the external hard drive icon.  To drag and drop you simply left click once on the file of your choice (or it could be a folder) and then hold down the left mouse button while you drag the file to your external hard drive.  You will literally see the file move with your mouse icon.  Once you have decided on your final destination for that file simply release the left mouse button and it will copy the file for you to that location.  Rinse repeat for all the drives you want to move and you are set.

Use the popup window to transfer files to your external hard drive

This method if very similar to that listed above.  Once you insert your external drive cord into the USB port your computer will notice that something has been added and on many systems it will pop up a small window that shows the device that was added.  To transfer files in this method simply do as described above as this popup window works the same way that Windows Explorer does.

Use a program to automatically transfer file to an external hard drive

The final method that I utilize and it pretty common and popular is to set up and external program that will automatically backup your files to your external hard drive.  Often this type of program comes complete with your Anti-Virus software.  I use Microsoft Windows One Care as it comes free with my ISP’s service package, but many others have very similar type anti-virus software that will do the exact same thing.  The premise behind these programs is to setup the locations of the files that you want to have moved to your external drive and it will (at a predetermined time frame set up by you) either prompt you to connect your external drive or if it is already connected transfer the files for you.  This is kind of a set it and forget it approach that is nice because it will prompt you when to do your backups and ensure that they are done at regular intervals, something which never seems to occur often enough given everyone’s hectic schedules these days.

How do you transfer files to an external hard drive?  If they are different that above I would love to hear it.

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For many the purpose of a portable external hard drive is straight forward and easy.  However, there are several ways that these electronic  storage devices can be used to best take advantage of what they have to offer.  To that end, this article is aimed at answering what the purpose of an external hard drive is and the best practice uses are.

Best Practices When Using An External Hard Drive

There are several ways that people use external hard drives to store information.  Using them as an emergency backup for your computers tends to be the way that most people view using a portable hard drive.  In addition, they can be used to make files available to many different people (thinking a traveling marketing person for a corporation), as a central hub in your home to transfer data to and from several devices, in your car to carry a large amount of media (songs, movies, etc), as an add on to your DVR, as an add on to your gaming system, and as a place to store all of your files that contain privacy information that you don’t want constantly connected to the internet and away from prying eyes.  The next paragraphs will delve into some detail regarding all of the reasons noted above.

Use Your External Drive As An Emergency Backup

We likely all know of the person that had their dissertation on their computer hard drive and it crashes.  Poof, no more dissertation.  Or perhaps more often it is the person that had all their pictures on their hard drive and a similar catastrophe happens.  The thought of losing the digital pictures of all my kids formative years is not a pretty thought.  To that end, one great purpose of an external drive is to use it as a backup for your internal hard drives.  This way you can put all your important information on your external drive and store it safely away from harm in case of a problem.  In addition, if you are so inclined, you can store it offsite (thinking safe deposit box or similar) or in a fire safe in your home / office with the sole idea being to keep it away from a major emergency.  In addition you can setup external hard drives in a RAID (redundant array of inexpensive drives) and always have them connected to your device. This allows for the most bulletproof way to ensure that your data is safe.

Use your external hard drive to make files available to many different people

If you have a number of computers (desktops, laptops, you get the drift) and want to have access for all parties and computers to the same data, then using your portable hard disk drive to store this information is a great way to ensure all have access.  All the people need to do is plug in the hard drive and download/upload what they want.

Use your portable disk drive in your car to carry a large amount of media

Gone are the days of yesteryear when kids were board stiff in their parent’s car.  Now we have .mp3 players, DVD players and the like.  Take it to the next level and find devices that can read memory from a hard drive and then store all of your movies and music on your hard drive.  This is a great way to allow a humongous amount of media to be transported at all times.  A portable drive can store thousands of songs and a hundreds of movies.

Use your external hard disk drive as an add on to your DVR

Many people are well versed in the beauty that is the DVR (digital video recorder).  If you have one of these and use it often enough (and trust me, once you get one you will be using it like crazy) it isn’t long until you are running out of capacity.  Even with the large capacities that come with today’s DVRs you can run into this problem, and if you have a DVR that is a couple of years old you definitely can run out of space.  Simply connect an external drive and increase your capacity to whatever level you purchase.

Use your external drive as an add on to your gaming system

Similar to the DVR concept, if you save a bunch of games or information on your gaming system, adding an external drive to your repetroire is a good idea.  Many systems allow a simple plug and play to add capacity.

Use your external drive to store all your private files

Finally, no one wants to get their computer hacked from the internet and have their private information stolen and used for heaven knows what.  I am a big advocate of keeping no personal information on my computers at all.  Social security numbers are usually a key target as are credit card numbers.  One key example of why a SSN would be on a computer if for those among us (myself included) that do their own taxes using Turbo Tax or similar.  The file will hold all your information and if someone finds a way in they can steal that number to committ identity fraud.  From the reports that you hear about what happens that isn’t something I want to go through!  To that end, simply store all this information on your external disk drive and only plug it in when you need it.  By going this route you are greatly diminishing the time that you personal information is being available on your computer.  A great way to keep that peace of mind while surfing the net.

As can be seen, there are many ways that you can answer the question what is the purpose of an external hard drive.  What are your thoughts?  Did I miss any?

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A common question people ask when first looking at purchasing a portable external hard drive is how to use the drive.  The concept of stroring your data on a hard drive that resides away from your primary computer may seem obvious to many, but the actual act of doing it is a little less straight forward.

So let’s start with the most basic premise behind all of it.  The external drive must be connected to your computer.  This normally happens via the USB cord that comes with the hard drive when you purchased it.  Simply plug the cord into your external hard drive and then plug the USB portion into one of your USB ports on your computer.  Depending on your external hard drive you may also need to plug a separate cord into a wall outlet or another USB port to give the device the power it requires to work.  Some devices simply work straight through your 1 USB port.  Once you have it all conneted and powered up you should see the drive pop up in your lower right hand portion of your screen.  This will allow for the drive to be seen on your Windows Explorer or similar.  Open up whatever program you like to see what is currently on the external drive and how much space you have remaining.

One easy way to use an external hard drive is to utilize a program that is living on your computer.  Many anti-virus program suites include a data backup portion of the software that will schedule for your data to be backup up.   The setup allows you to determine which files you want backed up (or more importantly, files in what areas of your hard drive) and how often such a backup should take place.  Once that is setup, it is plug and play from there.  Once the specified amount of time passes the program will prompt you to hook up your external hard drive and it will backup the files.  I use this exact method and it has made the process much easier and more likely to be followed (I was notorious for forgetting to backup my files in a timely manner and would then be forced to take care of 6 months at one time!).

Another method that often is the first one that people go with is to simply use a program such as Windows Explorer to select which files you want to backup and manually drag and drop them to your external hard drive.  The important thing here to remember is that you want to know what files you have already backed up and what files should be backed up.  A game plan from the outset is often the best approach.  Of course the “my documents” folder is a must, but what about other areas of your hard drive?

A final method is that some hard drives come with a software program that allow for a one button backup.  I have a Seagate external hard drive that comes with such a software.  Similar to the anti-virus program, this software allows for a simply press of one button on the external hard drive and everything will be backup up according to your settings.

As can be seen there is more than one way to skin a cat.  The key point being that using one of the above methods will help you to understand how to use an external hard drive.

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Commonly the first question people ask when looking at buying a portable external hard drive is how much capacity is needed.  This of course depends on what type and how many files you have to put on the drive.  In additional it should be noted that the amount of space required correlates highly with its intended use.  Meaning if the intended use it to back up only your music or pictures, the amount of  capacity required will be much different than if you are using your external hard drive to backup your laptop hard drive.

So let’s take a deeper look at some standard uses for portable hard drives.  A common use for external drives is to keep a separate backup of all of your music files and pictures/videos.  A great way to gauge how space you would need obviously starts with the current space consumed for these file types.  Simply go into Windows Explorer or similar and highlight all of the files of this type and sum up the space required.  From here some idea ust be understood of the ratio of new storage requirements would be needed going forward.  A good rule of thumb is 25% per year, but that will change based upon your current usage base and whether you are planning on adding some new functionality to your electronics or computer.

Now if you are looking to use your portable hard drive as a full system backup, again a baseline is required.  Similar to before go to Windows Explorer or similar and check ou the usage of your C: drive.  From here again we need to quantify our growth rate.  When compared to the full size used on a hard drive this rate should be much less than the previous example of a music/picture/video backup drive.  I would estimate that a 5% growth rate should suffice, but your Western Digital Portablmileage may vary.

Important to note is that no matter which brand you are going to finally choose (be in Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital, Iomega, LaCie, or other) you are still going to need to do this step first.  Finding the capacity need is paramount in the beginning of deciding what to buy.  That said, a last point I would like to make is that the cost delta between the low and intermediate (or “average” ) capacity of an external drive is minimal.  If you complete your calculation and you find yourself on the low end of this scale, I would suggest seriously considering upgrading to the median capacity model.  The needs of capacity can be outdated quickly in the hard drive game, and there is little money saved to be on the low end.  The high end will be pricey indeed, but the difference between the low and middle range of the drives tends to be negligible.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait…

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