Removable hard drive - more than a flash drive

Since the appearance of the first personal computers, users have had the need to transfer information from one computer to another. Initially, the only way to solve this problem was various portable media (punched cards, punched tapes, and a little later - floppy disks). Gradually, with the development of network technologies, affordable and affordable network solutions have emerged that allow large amounts of data to be transmitted over long distances. But, no matter how perfect the network technologies, a person still periodically needs to transfer (literally) the data between different devices.

Nowadays, the most common means for such transfer of information are optical disks (we are talking, of course, about DVD, not Blu-Ray) and USB flash drives. But there is another option, which, although not exotic, is nevertheless much less common than the first two - a removable hard disk (or external, as it is sometimes called). Obviously, compared to a conventional flash drive, this type of device will have one significant plus - volume.

At its core, a removable hard drive is a conventional hard disk drive, placed in a special case. The body must perform three functions:

1. Protection of the hard disk from external influences, in particular, from moisture, mechanical influences and other things.

2. Cooling the device. As you know, hard drives are very sensitive to high temperatures. Therefore, often a removable hard drive is equipped with even active cooling. In addition, the hull itself thanks to a competently constructed passive heat sink system can be a kind of radiator.

3. The ability to connect an external hard drive to a computer or other electronic device through one of the most common data transfer interfaces . Typically, a removable hard drive is equipped with one of three interfaces - USB, eSATA or FireWire. Many devices have not one, but two interfaces. This allows you to more flexibly use the strengths of the external drive, for example, using, if possible, faster eSATA, and in case of its absence - a slower, but more common USB 2.0.

To operate a removable hard disk, as a rule, additional power is required. It is realized either as a separate power supply, connected to a standard 220 V socket, or as a power supply from the USB port.

Manufacturers of external hard drives, intended primarily for active transfer from place to place, use compact drives for laptops. This approach allows, first, to save on the size and power consumption, and secondly, such drives have sufficiently reliable data protection systems from accidental fall, which is very important for a portable device. However, there are quite a few models on the market with 3.5 "drives, they are less compact, require a more cumbersome cooling system, but they have a larger volume than compact models.

From manufacturers it is very difficult to single out someone specific. This is due to the fact that the filling of such devices is done in the same factories (Samsung, Hitachi, Western Digital, Seagate), and designing a case and a beautiful box is less complicated than designing a reliable "screw". Because this market can be found as products from famous brands (HP, Samsung, Transcend, etc.), and frank Chinese noname.

When connecting to a computer, there are usually no problems. A person who has ever dealt with a new internal hard drive will easily figure out how to format an external hard drive. Utilities for this - the sea (though, unfortunately, many of them are paid). You can also use standard operating system tools, but the programs familiar to most administrators, such as EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition, Easy Disk, Norton PartitionMagic, or Acronis Disk Director Suite are much more convenient when you need to quickly create hard disk partitions, including a removable one.

Later, such a device, already properly formatted and marked up, can be useful as system administrators (for creating and storing system backups and user files), and for ordinary users (as a replacement for a good dozen flash drives). Especially useful removable hard drive will be for those who are accustomed to a mobile lifestyle, but not accustomed to the problem of lack of space on your laptop's hard drive.