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internal to an external hard drive


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#1
j.blackbird

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so after about 8 years of my trusty old pc - i went and bought a new one from dell...kinda snazzy too, a dell hybrid which is so tiny, i love it actually (and its good for the environment or at least that was the marketing ploy). and it came in red (i'm such a girl). take a look
now that i have it and have been learning more about computers - eh, it was an impulse buy and i could have done better but it's still cute.

But since there was essentially nothing wrong with my old computer, i removed the hard drive and after tons of browsing purchased this external hard drive enclosure
and yes, i color-coordinated. i know.

so here's what i'm wondering - what can i expect when i go to install this thing? do i have to reformat the drive or install anything aside from the install disk it'll come with? first time doing this and i'm already a bit worried/anxious and i havent even started. oi.
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#2
Fllash

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So long as the drive you are going to place in the enclosure is formatted for windows (FAT32 or NTFS etc), which it probibly is, as soon as you plug it in and power it up, it should be recognized straight away, and the contents visible. If you want the drive to be clean, you could always format it the usual way.
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#3
j.blackbird

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hmm ok no problems there, then.

now question is, i have a pretty huge music collection. should i use this for music, photos, etc. or as a backup - which i havent made as yet?

so many options! ha. its an 80 g western digital so i'm not sure what the best use would be.

what's your personal opinion?
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#4
Spyderturbo007

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Depending on the size of your collection and the size of the drive in the new PC, I would suggest using the external as a backup. My media collection is rather extensive as well, and I choose to use a secondary drive for my backups. Inevitably a hard drive will fail, it's not a question of "if", but when it will fail. It's always best to have a copy of your sensitive data on a separate hard drive and preferably you want that copy to be off-site in the case of fire.
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#5
123Runner

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The Hybrid does look "cute" and in a pretty red.

I like the enclosure also. It looks easy to open and get to. Thats what I look for.

The 80gb drive you are putting in it from the other computer most likely has data on it that you want to keep.
It will already be formatted and contain the previous OS.

I would move/ save all your data to the new computer because it looks like it has a 320gb drive (as per the specs).
I would then reformat the drive in a NTFS format to get it clean.

You can then keep the data on the main drive and also back it up to the new enclosure/ 80gb drive.
That way you have original and a backup.

The drive enclosure specs show it comes with a driver CD. I am not sure what that is because the drive would not require drivers.
It should be recognized by the OS.

# Stores and mirrors digital content, such as music, games, photos, documents and more to securely back up important files
# One-touch button for simple backup, restore and synchronize

I suspect that the CD is to "format" and install some type of backup software that would run automatically.
Personally I do not like that type of software, but prefer Syncback Free Version.
I feel I have more control.

123runner
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#6
j.blackbird

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The Hybrid does look "cute" and in a pretty red.

I like the enclosure also. It looks easy to open and get to. Thats what I look for.

The 80gb drive you are putting in it from the other computer most likely has data on it that you want to keep.
It will already be formatted and contain the previous OS.

I would move/ save all your data to the new computer because it looks like it has a 320gb drive (as per the specs).
I would then reformat the drive in a NTFS format to get it clean.

You can then keep the data on the main drive and also back it up to the new enclosure/ 80gb drive.
That way you have original and a backup.

The drive enclosure specs show it comes with a driver CD. I am not sure what that is because the drive would not require drivers.
It should be recognized by the OS.

# Stores and mirrors digital content, such as music, games, photos, documents and more to securely back up important files
# One-touch button for simple backup, restore and synchronize

I suspect that the CD is to "format" and install some type of backup software that would run automatically.
Personally I do not like that type of software, but prefer Syncback Free Version.
I feel I have more control.

123runner


thanks runner. the hard drive enclosure is awseom. it was easy to install and the hard drive fits securely and snugly within the case itself - i have often heard that one of the major issues with these cases is that is doesnt hold the drive at all - which rattles in the case.

i didnt need the software but you were right it was an automatic back up program. instead i used Runtime's DriveImage XML - which was really easy to use.

but after reading up on different image and backup programs, i am so tempted to do a clean install of vista and just add programs that i need and then create a fresh image off of that. plus a bootable disk just in case. and now i want to actually get a larger external to hold my backup and recovery stuff and have this smaller one for my music, photos, and documents.

ahhh the possibilities are driving me crazy!
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#7
123Runner

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ahhh the possibilities are driving me crazy!

How true it is. And there are many out there that we will never see.
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