A & A's Mommy Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Okay I have a Dell Laptop with 40G and about 4 G left available so my lap is starting to really crawl. I'm purchasing memory today so that will help but I need more room for my scrapbooking files. I looked into upgrading my hard drive but I can't get the space I need in a laptop and without the funds to buy an entire new computer I thought that an EHD might be the way to go. Question is this....if I buy a whopper EHD can I access it just as I would my own hard drive or will it be very slow and is it not good to be reading and writing to it daily? Any advice, help, suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks!! A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah in VA Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 A, it should work just like your built it hard drive. Just fine! And they are making some nifty, really small EHD that have a tremendous amount of space on them. And they connect with a USB so they are completely portable. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicole_j Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I use my EHD for digi scrap stuff and photos which take up a huge amount of storage and the EHD works quickly opening these files. I have 80 GB on my laptop and 160 on the little EHD... I even velcored it to the lid so it's always with me (someone on the boards here awhile ago mentioned doing that). Now they have the little EHDs with 250 GBs of space!! wow! I have not used it to run a program from though... not sure that works well. HTH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Debbyo Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 A -I just this weekend copied all my files over to my new EHD as I am close to full on my PC's C: I got a 500 GB EHD and hope I won't need to upgrade for a while with this. I've found everything is working just great and I now put my SG daily downloads (and boutique purchases) straight into the new drive in my old files. I keep checking to see that everything is there because I'm so paranoid -but I think I can relax, go on my holiday to Florida with my EHD and my laptop and merrily scrap along...just hope golf doesn't get in the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A & A's Mommy Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Awesome Ladies Thanks! That's what I was wondering! I don't want to run programs from it, just keep everything else on it. One more question...any brands that you recommend? Thanks, A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah in VA Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Mine is a Western Digital, if that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A & A's Mommy Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 It does, I don't even know where to begin researching..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Showers Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 We have lots of different brands of external hard drives. I'd look for one at a good price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Debbyo Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Well I opted for the "Personal Media Drive" that goes with my HP Media Centre PC. It slids right into a slot right in the front of the tower, clicks in and away it hums. Pretty slick. And I remember when I got the PC and look at this thing, I thought "what would I ever need this for" I thought I could never fill my hard drive! Haa! So I say -"go big or go home" from now on, so I got 500 GB...This SG's stuff has a way of growing on its own overnight, I think ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryJo Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Mine is a Seagate 500mb I haven't even put a dent in the thing. It cost me about $100 .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leigh Ann Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Your EHD should run as fast as your main drive UNLESS your USB port is a 1.0. New-ish computers have 2.0 and it's much faster. You probably have 2.0 but you might check just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needadietcoke Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I have a horrible question. How often do EHD's fail? I want to get one, but if I move everything to it, then it's not a back-up anymore. How do you gals safeguard yourselves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Showers Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I honestly haven't had an ehd that I bought as an ehd fail. They're just a hard drive in a case, so the failure rate should be comparable. Unless of course you beat it up. We have lots of other ehd's that Bob put together, and I think we've had 1 or 2 fail. But then we have a large stack of ehd's. We've had about the same number of internal drives fail. They really are the same product. I back-up everything several times. I have DVD's with all my stuff on it that I update every few weeks. I have everything on my own internal hard drive, and I back up to a nice sized EHD. Then we have back-ups that we do several times a year that go in the safe deposit box. I know, an online back-up would be easier, but dh figured out this system long before they were available to everyday consumers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SewKitty Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I have had an EHD fail and it is devastating! Most times they will start to show signs of failure. Not mine, it just went. My back up had not been working for a couple months even though it said it was backing up. I was stupid and did not check. I lost pictures for 3 months. We are talking, Christmas and my nieces birth! Luckily I had some saved on my online photo album and had emailed quite a few to my daughter. I did a LOT of research on EHD after that. I need them for my business as well. I use Seagate. Mine have little fans built in them. If you think about it, you want your computer to stay cool. Why? So it does not over heat and kill it. Same goes for an EHD. Make sure you keep it clean and dust free on any vent areas and keep it in a cool place if at all possible. I don't leave mine running when I am not using them as well. I did before. If you even just shut it off at night it will make a HUGE difference in how long it lasts. EHD CAN and DO fail gals. They are just like an internal HD. So take the right steps and hopefully you won't have to worry. Hugs, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alg35536 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Do you have a Best Buy by you? Right now they have a great sale on Western Digitals. That or go with a Seagate, the only one that my ods would let me get, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A & A's Mommy Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Thanks for all the great info. I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent 500G EHD it was on sale at Office Max for $119. Already my computer is running better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Arell Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I bought one made by Western Digital called My Book and I love it. I have two of them now and have had no problem at all with either of them. The newest one holds a terabyte, so I am hoping it is the last one I'll need, but if I keep shopping, I am sure that even a terabyte won't hold it all! Good luck. Look into the My Book and see what you think about it. It was recommended highly to me by the guru computer geeks at Staples and I have gotten to know them well and trust them. Let me know what you decide to buy. Sara Arell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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