External Hard Drives
e.g. Something to store extra files on
You might have seen me mention external hard drives to some Inner Circle members, usually while discussing the subject of backing up files. Most people backup their files onto a DVD, CD or memory stick. Well, an external hard drive is almost like a giant memory stick. You plug it into your computer’s USB port, and copy your files onto it.
I use an external hard drive to keep a copy of all of my pictures, documents, music and videos that I have on my PC. That way, I know that if my PC ever has a problem and I lose my files, I will always have a copy on my external hard drive.
You don’t need to go and buy one though, it’s only really useful if you have a LOT of files to back up. For example, I take lots and lots of pictures. Every time I go somewhere scenic, or go out with friends, I am always the one who takes a hundred or so pictures. Now they might not all fit on a DVD or a memory stick, so I put them all onto my external hard drive, which will hold over 20,000 pictures. If you only have a handful of pictures you want to keep though, you would be fine using a DVD or a memory stick.
Hope that helps!
Georgia
October 25, 2013 at 12:29 am
Re reply to Mary about backing up files; could you please put it in writing for the benefit of of some of us who have forgotten how to do it.
Thank you.
October 15, 2013 at 3:21 pm
I cannot gain access to Clubroom 2013 through your website (as I pointed out in my email last night,(I type in the given pass word “warm” I get the 4 stars then it goes blank – the box still remains, it remains to be seen whether or not this one gets through but if this one works I still cannot gain access to recent posts thru “normal” channels Hope you can sort it out. Regards Pete
October 17, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Hi Pete. Very sorry about this, we have been having an issue with the Clubroom website. Should be resolved soon! Is there anything I can help you with until the Clubroom page is back up and running?
October 7, 2013 at 7:31 pm
Hi Tim
Your e-mail has just come at the right time because i have been discussing with Georgia about getting a external hard drive but as i dont copy music or have large amount of documents , and my photos dont run into thousand i can see i only need to stay with dvd or the memory sticks
Thank you
Ronald
October 7, 2013 at 5:18 pm
I ask the same as Mary. Does It keeping backing up until full?? then what/how ??
October 17, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Hi Deanna. It doesn’t back up your files automatically, you would have to manually move your chosen files onto it, just like you would with a CD or DVD. It’s just like using a CD to store a file on, but you choose what goes on there, instead of it automatically transferring all of your files. Hope that helps 🙂
October 7, 2013 at 5:04 pm
Can you install programs on an external hard drive?
Jeanne
October 17, 2013 at 3:36 pm
Hi Jeanne. You can’t “install” them as such, but you can put the installation files onto an external hard drive. It’s not like a computer, its just like a memory stick. So you can put files on it, but not run programs on it. Hope that makes sense!
October 18, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Thanks Georgia. Probably better to think of it as a giant sized memory stick rather than as a Drive!
October 7, 2013 at 5:02 pm
I have one of these and fortunately so far not had to use it in the event of a computer crash. But what does puzzle me is how can you check it is backing up your files? Apart from being plugged in!!! I have thousands of photos and quite a lot of music which I do copy onto memory stick or dvd for personal use but I know these can deteriorate over time.
Mary
October 17, 2013 at 3:40 pm
Hi Mary. It doesn’t automatically back up your files, you would have to manually move the files onto the external hard drive, like when you manually move files onto a CD or DVD. If you like, I can talk you through how to do this?