External USB hard drive enclosure and OS (Full Version)

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ritarun -> External USB hard drive enclosure and OS (8/23/2005 16:53:21)

OK -- all of you hardware folks. Is it really true that you can buy an external USB enclosure case that will hold an old hard drive stripped out of a computer and just be plugged in to work as an extra drive?

What if the desktop computer is XP and the old hard drive has Win95 OS and data files on it? Will it still show the data files?

Wanting to confirm a response I read in another location.
Sounds too easy to me. Would think that there would be a problem with different OS.



bobby -> RE: External USB hard drive enclosure and OS (8/23/2005 17:46:30)

quote:

Is it really true that you can buy an external USB enclosure case that will hold an old hard drive stripped out of a computer and just be plugged in to work as an extra drive?
yes, should run around $30 US

quote:

Will it still show the data files?
Should be no problem, though I'm not sure how it will react if Win95 is still installed on the drive. Unless your BIOS tries to boot from the external drive you should have no problem...

If you plug it in and your machine won't boot, just unplug it and restart your system. It should come back. It always has for me in the past with internal drives that I tried it with (never would boot correctly, but didn't harm my main system when removed)

should I knock on wood? [8|]

You can use Knoppix (3.8 or newer) to boot your primary machine without using any hard drive, then transfer all the files you want to keep from the external drive to the main drive... then format the external drive and have fresh mobile storage.

XP will never know that 95 was there [;)]



ritarun -> RE: External USB hard drive enclosure and OS (8/23/2005 18:06:51)

Thanks! Can you PM me with any specific recommendations about what to look for brand name wise? There are so many choices and models how do you know what ones are the best? I would assume I would look for a fan (to keep it cool) but not sure what else would be important in an external enclosure case.



bobby -> RE: External USB hard drive enclosure and OS (8/23/2005 21:02:19)

a fan isn't even necessary in most cases. Your system won't be spinning this drive up unless you access it. So it's not going to generate as much heat as the one in your PC (and it doesn't have that hotbox of a little processor warming it up either)

Look for a brand you trust or a screamin deal... you might even be able to pick one up used for under $10. Make sure you get the right size (for your HDD - not a laptop sized one, for instance)

Other than that it's not a really technical piece of equipment. IDE interface to a USB or firewire, plastic box... the important part of the equation is the drive that you put into it... [;)]



ritarun -> RE: External USB hard drive enclosure and OS (8/24/2005 6:41:26)

Thank you so much for the advice! Off to the city to the computer store after work tonight!



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