Introduction
Nowadays, users need more and more space to store data. Even 1TB or 2TB of space is not enough. To satisfy their storing needs, user depends a lot on external hard discs. Some tips for external hard disc are given below:
Step 1
1. Internal Hard drive to external USB drive: You can always convert your internal hard disk to an external USB hard drive using a USB to IDE or SATA adaptor. This adaptor will have two ports. The first IDE port connects your IDE or SATA port on the internal hard disk, and the USB cable to your computer’s USB port.
2. Backing your essential Data: Using your external USB hard drive you can back up your sensitive data. This can be done automatically in Windows 7 using the Windows Backup integrated along with the operating system. Hence, no more data loss.
3. Cloning one complete drive: If you have an internal hard drive of capacity lower than the external USB hard drive, then you can always clone the internal one directly into the external drive. This avoids the pain of selecting files and folders for backup individually.
Step 2
4. Backing up the already backed up data: Though, you have already backed up your sensitive data on the external USB hard drive, but in order to keep it even safer, you can select Windows home server or online backup technology, where you will be able to access data anywhere and anytime.
5. Using firewire enabled hard drives: If the external USB hard drive has firewire enabled, then you can cache all your files using it. Especially, while converting or editing videos this can make your computer a lot faster than expected. The pressure on internal hard drive is also lifted.
6. You can always use the external USB hard drive in place of the internal hard disk. This swapping enables you to use as many operating systems as you want, by installing them in the external drive. Even the speed of the computer is also increased by this.
Step 3
7. Use the IDE- USB controller of the external drive: You can use the IDE-USB controller of the external USB hard drive in order to connect old peripherals, which are only IDE based to your USB. But remember that opening the external drive can void your warranty.
8. Playing console games using external drive: If you are an Xbox fan or PlayStation fan then you can use your external USB hard drive in order to save your games. Xbox, PlayStation, and even Wii allow you to save your games in an external device like the external hard drive.
Tips
9. Copy all your media playlists to the external drive: Till date, if you have been saving your playlists and media library on the internal drive, then now you can copy them to your external USB hard drive. This will save you a lot of hard drive space in the internal disk.
Additional Information
10. XBMC for entertainment: Now you can turn your external USB hard drive into a full-fledged XBMC computer by just installing it in this drive. No need to use XBMC on the internal drive anymore. This too will enhance your media experience and help you save a lot of space on the computer’s internal drive.
