How do external hard drives work and what is a base price range ?

Question

I've been thinking of getting an external hard drive for my laptop for my music. Are they as easy as hooking up and popping open itunes or is there importing/exporting involved?

also, what is a good brand that is inexpensive?

Answer 1

It's very easy to use. It connects via USB cable. Go here for to get one for a good price: http://www.newegg.com

It will typically run you ~$100 - $150, but it's well worth it to back up your files.

Look for something ~500GB. This should last you quite a long time.

Answer 2

Generally, external hard drives hook up to your computer through USB or Firewire - I'm not familiar with iTunes, but you just plug them in like you would your printer.  Plus, if you're running Windows on your Dell, it'll probably auto-detect the hard drive and that's it.

When you're transferring files to & from an external hard drive, it's just like transferring files between folders on your current hard drive, though it could be a bit slower.

As far as a good brand, I've had a 250Gb Western Digital external drive for a couple of years and it's still running great.  However, I've had good luck with Seagate as well.

If you're looking for a deal, I would head to fatwallet:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/

and CheapCheapCheap:

http://www.cheapcheapcheap.com/

and look out for good deals.  On fatwallet there is user feedback, which may help you to choose something that'll work well for you.  Also - these two websites list deals that can be found online & at the store - so you may be able to pickup your hard drive locally if that's what you're looking for.

Answer 3

That are often regular hard disks with a USB interface for connecting to a computer. You only have to plug the USB cable into an empty USB port and the operating system will automatically detect it.

Most of them come preformatted for Windows, so if you use Linux or a mac, you may have to reformat them for that system.

I bought a Western Digital unit, 500GB, at best buy a week ago for $99. It's about the size of a large paperback. It's externally powered, so it has to be plugged into the wall. Some are powered by the USB port, but the tend to have smaller drives and are more expensive. If you just need a place to backup files, the AC powered devices are fine.

You don't need to import anything, just copy your files like to any other drive.

Answer 4

They are as easy to use as a floppy drive or CD ROM... You just plug it into a firewire or USB port and use it.

They start at arounf $79