External Hard Drives

balllad21

Hi, i have a 10 year old Dell inspiron laptop and the hard drive is completely full with my music, photos etc. I am thinking of getting an external hard drive to free up some space but im not sure if my USB port is fast enough (USB 1.1) because alot of the drives ive looked at are USB 2.0, will these still work on my laptop? Would appreciate some help!

CrinkElite

as far as i know most, if not all usb2.0 drives are compatable with 1.0 make sure you get one with a seperate power supply ie. a wall plug of it's own.
it will be desperatly slow though

gamer

Any usb 2 ,drive will work on your pc thru your dell usb port .IT, TAKES about 4 mins 2copy 700meg thru usb 1.YOU wont notice any slowdown,cos you dont have usb 2 anyway.ITS worth your while to get an external hd.OTHERwise at some point you can lose data,or winxp will sLow down cos the hd has no room left on it.1000GIG DRIVE on www.komplett.ie is 89 euros approx.say your hd is 40gig, it wont take long to copy a data to the usb drive.THERE are hds with rj45 network ports and usb port, but they tend 2be more expensive.
i dont think you will find it slow at all.
ON my dell i use a pcmia 3port usb adaptor.I NEVER checked is it usb 1,or 2.
YOU might only use the usb hd once a day,so the speed in megs per,seconds is not an issue.
ON www.adverts.ie for sale computer hardware.,dual core 15inch widescreen STATE of the art laptop 2.oghz intel core duo 200gig hd 1gigram DVD/RW dvdwriter is 250euro on average,it WOUlD MAkE MORE sense to buy a faster laptop, in my opinion ,ie that woud be 5times more powerful than the pc u have now.
the cpu on that must be 700mhz if its ten years old.

balllad21

Thanks, are most ext hd's plug and play or do you need to install software to make them work? My cd drive is broken too so that could be a problem if i need software! I prob will get a new laptop or desktop soon enough cause the one I have is getting a bit old and no cd drive is a bit annoying. That poses my next dilemma, get a laptop or a desktop that I can hook up to my 42" LCD tv. It prob better value to go for the desktop, more spec for same money?

CrinkElite

any software you need should be preinstalled on the actual drive, an autorun should prompt you to install it. In any case the drive will most probably work without installing anything

gamer

winxp picks up any usb hd no drivers needed,,if you have windows 98 ,you have 2 install driver from cd.on hd box it will say windows xp,win98 compatible.Use friends pc ,copy win98 cd to a usbkey.click on setup/install file.if you use pc for net acess ,music , podcasts i think a laptop is handier and cheaper,i doubt if you are a big pc gamer ,if you are using a tenyear old pc.
AS I SAID you can get a very powerful laptop now superfast 4 250euro,on adverts.ie.obviously for games a pc is better,easy to upgrade.
MOST DUAl CORE laptops now can do everything apart from play crisis.
get a least 140meg vram video ram graphics card.Whatever you buy.
unless you need a specific superfast 500meg graphics card,or wanna play certain games eg cod4,i think a dualcore laptop is cheaper,at the moment.

wolfric

You should be fine. drivers will be fine and usb 2.0 will work with any low versions. I just find it so funny for people to beat around the bush about their "family photos and music" we all know you're torrenting movies :P gamers got the right idea with his timing for 700 megs :P

CrinkElite

wolfric wrote: »

You should be fine. drivers will be fine and usb 2.0 will work with any low versions. I just find it so funny for people to beat around the bush about their "family photos and music" we all know you're torrenting movies :P gamers got the right idea with his timing for 700 megs :P

easy now!

balllad21

Ha, wrong assumption, I've never downloaded a movie, I just buy the dvd after a few months and they only cost a few euro, you get a nice box too! I just have a big cd collection and burnt out my cd drive trying to get them all onto the laptop

gamer

MOST providers have a ten gig dl cap,i doubt if hes got torrents running on a ten year old pc 700mhz,20gig hardrive,with no external drive.the hd would be full in a week.Hold on to the dell for 5 years and it,ll qualify as a collectors item.
when you say , a pc is cheaper ,im presuming you mean an up2date dual core cpu 1gig ram ,mid range video card.cpu 2.oghz.
if you have say 250 2spare ,id say buy a fast laptop,1.5ghz dual core cpu 1gig ram mimimum. then buy a usb drive to backup your data to.WHEN you can afford it.

spartacus93

You could get yourself one of these http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=311108

Will add USB 2.0 to your laptop. Had one on a inspiron 8100 years ago, works grand. Just does the job. Probably the most boring piece of technology you'll ever buy! (Will speed things up greatly tho)

gamer

Save your money ,just buy a faster pc,at least 1.5ghz cpu .1gig ram,that woud be a waste of 20euro.keep the dell as a backup pc.

spartacus93

gamer wrote: »

Save your money ,just buy a faster pc,at least 1.5ghz cpu .1gig ram,that woud be a waste of 20euro.keep the dell as a backup pc.

no it wouldn't

he asked about adding usb 2 connectivity, not about buying a new computer

CrinkElite

spartacus93 wrote: »

no it wouldn't

he asked about adding usb 2 connectivity, not about buying a new computer

you'de get a second hand machine with usb capabilities for under 200, I mean if your gonna spend 100 bucks on a ext hdd and 20 bucks on a usb 2.o adaptor (which will take up you wireless card slot) you may as well consider buying a new rig, there's no point on throwing money away on patchwork upgrades for a prehistoric machine.