[cate]

Hi there,
I've got an HP ZE4323EA laptop that i bought a couple of years ago (hard drive = 20Gb, memory = 128Mb Ram). I bought the computer for 'average' domestic use - writing CVs, checking emails, surfing the net. However, I bought a 20 GB iPod last year when i was in the States - the computer is now pretty much full of music, and there's now hardly any space for anything else. Has anyone got any suggestions for the best way to resolve this problem (not including my dad's, which is to forget the iPod and stick to CDs!) ?
I thought of:
- paying for someone to put in a new, larger hard drive
- moving all of my music to an external hard drive
Does anyone have experience of either of these options?

Also, the computer has USB 1 ports - will this be a problem with an external hard drive? and is there a way that i can update those as well?
It would be great to hear some views on this problem!
Thanks, Cate

[Advertisements]

i would go with the external hard drive....as far as the usb port..just get youself a cheap little usb hub....you can get 4 port usb hubs for almost nothing now adays..

[dsenette]

i would go with the external hard drive....as far as the usb port..just get youself a cheap little usb hub....you can get 4 port usb hubs for almost nothing now adays..

[Tyger]

I'm with dsenette, the external drives are very handy and make good backup drives, especially since you can turn them off when you don't need them, protecting it against even power surges.

[cate]

Hi, thanks for your replies. My worry with an external drive is that because i've only got USB 1.1, it will make using the computer really slow. I can't simply move to USB 2 by buying a hub, can i?
Also, can i ask what 'dsenette' is? I've googled it, but couldn't see what you mean.
C

[dsenette]

dsenette is me....and....since this external hard drive should only be used for data storage (music, pictures, documents) it shouldn't slow your computer that much...the only time that it would slow you down noticably would be if you were running applications from it....you may notice a slight lag when first accessing mp3s from it...but...after y ou load a couple...it would speed up...

[cate]

Thanks for your reply. I'm afriad I still don't really understand what you mean - how would this external hard drive work? would i need to go on to the internet to access it, rather than through a USB 1.1 hub?

If installing an internal drive is the best thing to do, I'm prepared to do that - I am just not sure what the best thing to do is to increase my hard drive, and be sure that my music (which is what is taking up most of the space on the computer) will be safe and easily accessible.

[dsenette]

since you have a laptop...it would be easiest to get an external usb hard drive...which is simply a hard drive in a box that sits on your desk...you will not have to get on the internet to access it....all you would have to do is plug it in and go...there may be some configuration neccessary...but it would be very minimal....you will be able to access it through my computer like you do any other hard drive

[cate]

Thanks! do you know whether the fact i've got USB 1.1 and not 2.0 will be a problem? I'm aware that my laptop doesn't seem to like my 'high speed' iPod, so i'm concerned this could be an issue with an external h.d?

[dsenette]

usb 2 is supposed to be backward compatable with usb 1....but you can probably still find a usb 1 drive if you look..

[MikeFromNY]

As far as I know any USB 2 drive WILL work with USB 1.1 ports, just like your iPod does. I would go for a USB 2 drive either way for the fact that if in the future you get a better computer, you will have full utilization of the 2.0 speed instead of running the USB 1.1 drive on a USB 2.0 port.

Am I making sense?

[cate]

Thank you, Mike. Do you think that accessing my music etc on an external drive through a USB 1.1 port will be really slow? Would you still say that it is better to have an external drive than to install a new internal hard drive?
Cate